Fairytales In Fairy Tales

998 Words4 Pages
Fairy tales are extremely old. Some evidence suggests they were even around in 9th century China and Ancient Egypt. They were used to teach lessons to children. For example: don’t trust strangers, don’t wander away from home and listen to your elders. Most stories were passed around by word of mouth. One of the first written fairy tales was by written by Charles Perrault (France). The title for this story was literally, 'My Mother The Goose'. He wrote some of the earliest versions of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding-hood and Cinderella. Then, cut to late 18th century Germany where two brothers were writing fairy tales. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (Germany) were writing the stories that we've come to know and love. Fun Fact: the word 'grim'…show more content…
Now, yes, these stories seem more like a R-13 horror movie than fairytales, consider this. When you read Hansel and Gretel, did you think (and not like just it popped into your mind, you actually really thought about it) “Why does the witch want to eat children?” or ‘Why did Gretel kill the witch?”. I conducted a survey in which I asked seven people if they had thought about that. Two said yes, but they had been considerably older (around six and seven) whereas the other people had been younger (5 and under). This plus the fact that fairytales have a lesson in there somewhere. They also teach critical thinking skills by showing the consequences of actions/decisions, they can also teach a right from wrong. In the fairytale universe, the goodies always win and the baddies always lose (well, except for a select few). Plus, fairy tales are great stories to be read or read for yourself. Even now I enjoy them, though, I do like the originals now that I’m older, they seem a little less magical and more realistic (well, as realistic as fairy tales can…show more content…
They have a positive side and a negative side. To be honest, I think children 7 and under would not be ready for some of them. Though I definitely you read the more mature ones to older children and/or let them read the stories. I would leave it up to you to decide for yourself if you want to read them. Yet, think of what would happen if fairy tales were lost forever. Why? Because that’s what’s going to happen if we don’t take action. These valuable pieces of history will become unpopular. This would trigger them to be removed from libraries and stop being sold. Websites would stop providing them. We need to preserve these important parts of our culture. So please, read one of these fairytales. We need them. So… you know what we need? For you to go and
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