Fairy Tales

Start by asking students how many of them know what a fairy tale is. Can they name some examples of fairy tales? (Examples: Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, et cetera. You may substitute any examples that are more relevant for your class, but make sure that The Three Little Pigs is mentioned. If students mention a fable such as The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes or The Lion and the Mouse, include it in the list but make a mental note to return to it later in the lesson.)

Now ask: What makes these stories fairy tales? What do they all have in common?

Have students make a list of the things that make something a “fairy tale.”

These are likely to be the characteristics listed:

• They are usually set “once upon a time”
• They typically have animals, children or princes/princesses as main characters
• They are quite short
• Characters often punished for making bad choices
• They usually have no known author

There are many different versions across time and around the world (for instance, in some versions of Little Red Riding Hood the main character and her grandmother are rescued by a woodsman, and in others they are not; in some versions of Goldilocks the main character gets away from the bears, and in others she is eaten by them.)

Now go back through the list of fairy tales and ask if each one fits this list of examples. If students earlier mentioned any fables, highlight them now; if not, introduce the idea that there is a similar kind of stories called fables with examples like The Ugly Duckling (by Hans Christian Andersen), The Lion and the Mouse (by Aesop) and The Crow and the Grapes (by Lafontaine.) (You may substitute any examples that may be more relevant to your class. Consult the different definitions of fairy tales and fables below to confirm that your examples fit the activity.)

Have students access the student chapter Fairy Tales versus Fables or project it on a screen or digital whiteboard. You can also distribute the handout version.

In whole-class or small group discussion, sort the charactersitics of fairy tales and fables into either the top or bottom circles, or in the overlap if they apply to both genres.

During the discussion, highlight the question of morals. Explain to a students that a moral in a story is more than just showing a character being punished for making the wrong choice: it is a clear lesson that can be taken from it, which is usually stated outright by the writer at the end. With that understanding, do all fairy tales have morals? What is the moral of Goldilocks (“if you break into someone’s house, don’t fall asleep in their bed”)?