Do you know the history of fairy tales?
Fairy tales belong to Children’s Literature, but they still enchant people of different ages around the world. Considered classics of world literature, fairy tales originate in ancient times and have not always presented themselves as we know them today. The fanciful and playful aspect that surrounds them today arose from the need to minimize controversial and controversial plots, typical of a time when civilization had not yet invented the concept that we know so well today: childhood. We call them fairy tales because they are stories that have their origin in the Celtic-Breton culture, in which the fairy, a fantastic being, has fundamental importance.
The first collection of children’s stories appeared in the 17th century in France, organized by the poet and lawyer Charles Perrault. The stories collected by Perrault had their origin in oral tradition and until then had not been documented. Eight stories were contemplated, Beauty Sleeping in the Woods; Little Red Riding Hood; Bluebeard; Puss in Boots; The Fairies; Cinderella or Cinderella; Henrique do Topete and The Little Thumb. Thus, Children’s Literature as a literary genre was born with Charles Perrault, but would only be widely disseminated later, in the eighteenth century, from the linguistic research carried out in Germany by the Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm).
When carrying out their linguistic research, which aimed to discover linguistic invariants originating in oral narratives, the Brothers Grimm discovered a varied collection of wonderful stories disseminated from generation to generation. Thus, they formed the collection that brought together short stories such as A Bela Adormecida; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Little Red Riding Hood; Cinderella; The Golden Goose; The Seven Ravens; The Musicians of Bremen; The Keeper of Gooses; Joãozinho and Maria; Little Thumb; The Three Spinners; The Frog Prince and dozens of other tales. However, when documenting the stories, the Brothers Grimm, influenced by the Christian ideology that already dominated the thinking of the time, made several changes to the plot of some tales, since these often presented controversial aspects with episodes of violence or evil, even involving , children. An example of this is the narrative of Little Red Riding Hood. In Charles Perrault’s version, when there was still no concern with adapting tales collected from oral tradition, the figure of the Hunter did not exist (a figure that appears to save the girl and her grandmother from a possible tragic ending). Little Red Riding Hood would get naked, lie down with the wolf and die devoured by him. In another even more obscure version, the girl was deceived by the wolf who induced her to eat her own grandmother cooked, in addition to drinking her blood served in a wine glass. Well, you can tell that the story we know is very different from the original, right?
Don’t stop now… There’s more after the publicity 😉
In the Brothers Grimm version, Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are saved, which prevents a tragic outcome. In Perrault’s version they were not spared.
The collection of Classic Children’s Literature would be completed by the stories of the Danish Hans Christian Andersen, who followed the structure defended by the Brothers Grimm. The stories should be permeated by the same ideals, defending moral values and the Christian faith. An important aspect differs Andersen’s stories from previous narratives, because, based on the Christian faith, he created elements that spoke to children about the need to understand life as a tortuous path to be followed with rectitude and resilience so that finally, in death, heaven was reached. Andersen’s tales are considered the saddest, as many of them do not have a happy ending. The story The Little Match Girl is an example that illustrates Andersen’s style well.
In the short story by Hans Christian Andersen, the girl selling matches dies of cold and hunger, ignored by passers-by.
By analyzing the origin of fairy tales, we can see the profound changes that the genre has undergone over time, changes made to lessen the negative impact of the original stories. Of course, we should note that times were different and there was still no concern with playful aspects that are so important today for the formation of the little ones. Today it is known that themes considered violent can negatively influence children and that is why we do not accept the original language used in the first versions of the stories. But, on a closer reading, it is still possible to perceive remnants of the frightening universe that inhabited the original stories. So here’s an invitation: revisit children’s classics and discover dark and sinister traits in them that will prove a far from romantic origin.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters