Fairy Tales For All

Fairy tales are a form of folklore. Varying from culture to culture these stories about a magical time and place have always been enjoyed by people of all ages.

Charming stories of prince and princess who, with the help of supernatural beings like elves or fairy god mothers, find true love, make moral decisions, and face their fears and defeat mythical beasts in one form or other are characters almost everyone can identify with.

They often take place Once Upon a time in a Far Away Land. The generic nature of setting and time represents a time and place not of the present. The where becomes less important than the theme, the plot of who did what to whom and why. These mythical or magical logistics of when and where make it easier to the listeners and/or readers to easily identify with the characters, their trials and their successes. The events in fairy tales show by example what can happen when one does or does not follow the rules or do the right thing. They offer guidance about how to handle difficult situations and they teach the importance of hope, creativity, and imagination.

A fairy tale can be a story that is far- fetched and it can also be true but might not ever happen again. Here are a few examples of unique and exciting fairy tales from around the world.

Indian: How the Raja's Son won the Princess Labam - A love story of how a lower class man wins the heart of the lovely princess. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/ift/ift03.htm

Russian: The Magic Swan Geese - A story of a brother and sister who get in trouble with the evil geese and have to find their way home. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Swan_Geese

South American: How Night Came - A South American tale of how night was created in this world. http://www.worldoftales.com/South_American_folktales/South_American_Folktale_5.html

African: The Magic Ring - A story of the value of an important possession. http://www.gymmuenchenstein.ch/stalder/texts/reading_1fi/africa/magic_ring.htm

Karen Pierce Gonzalez is the author of Family Folktales: Write Your Own Family Stories workbook. An award winning writer with degrees in Anthropology/Folklore and Creative Writing she belongs to the Western States Folklore Society. Her writing credits include Family Folktales: What Are Yours? For more information: www.folkheartpress.com