The new semester is starting, and I want to have a segment on fairy tales in one of my classes. What are your favorite fairy tales? I’d love to get some suggestions so I’m not basing the choice just on my preferences. Thank you!
The new semester is starting, and I want to have a segment on fairy tales in one of my classes. What are your favorite fairy tales? I’d love to get some suggestions so I’m not basing the choice just on my preferences. Thank you!
All Things Russian: Stories, Culture, and Food 
Did you try the tales by Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson? I personally like the ones written by Hans Christian Anderson such as “Thumbelina”, “The Princess And The Pea”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Little Match Girl”, “etc. .
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Thank you for commenting!!! Yes, I also like Hans Christian Andersen more than the Grimm brothers. “The Little Mermaid” would be a great one to read and probably compare to the Disney version that most students now. Lots of difference! That would be great for a class discussion. Thank you 🙂
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It is a very good idea for kids to compare the actual story with the movie. This author uses a pretty sad tone in his writings but his stories are beautiful.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Sleeping Beauty is one I always have been fond of. My favorite actually — partially because of all the different variations; and the history behind how it changed over the centuries. From Zellandine et Troylus in Perceforest to Perrault and all the other versions.
But otherwise, I’m fond of Grimm Brothers as well (I do like the slightly mortifying versions).
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Thank you. Sleeping Beauty is a good idea. The different versions would be interesting to compare.
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I am curious: what do you teach and where? As to fairy tales, Brothers Grimm are, well, a bit grim. “Hansel and Gretel” is downright morbid, but then, it depends on the general direction of your course. What about some Russian fairy tales? We have such wonderful characters that travel from one tale to another – Baba Yaga, Kaschei, Solovei Razbojnik, etc. And that’s not even mentioning the good guys, such as Setritsa Alyonushka and Bratets Ivanushka.
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I teach basic writing and reading at a community college. The fairy tales will be for my reading class. So, my students are adults and should be able to handle the grim stuff. Baba Yaga is great, I agree. I think I found one nice translation of a really good fairy tale with Baba Yaga in it. I’ll post it tomorrow (it’s saved on my work computer).
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And I teach Educational Psychology at a community college. Funny that we should come from there to teach here! I am looking forward to reading your post.
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Some people think(and I am one of them) that Queen Zixi of Ix by L. Frank Baum is the greatest fairy tale ever written. It is available in a Dover paperback with an informative introduction by Martin Gardner.
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Interesting. I’ve never read it. Thank you for the suggestion! I’ll take a look!!
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Cool blog here, thank you for visiting Sound Bite Fiction and enticing me here.
You might consider Thomas the Rhymer, an old Scottish fairy tale based on a real person
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Thanks for the suggestion. I found one version online. Does that look right to you (if you don’t mind taking a look)? http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tsm/tsm15.htm
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There are of course many variations, but that is close to the overall idea. Try this one: http://oaks.nvg.org/scottish-tales25.html
Like most children of all ages (I am 143 yeas old!) I love Fairy Tales.
Keep me informed, please.
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Thank you very much! I like this version better, and it’s great to have a little note about the real person at the end. I’ll definitely use it!
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Really am enjoying your blog, too, Julia! So glad we came full circle… 🙂 🙂
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Thank you, Sarah! Me, too 🙂
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I love fairy tales too. The film ‘Into the Woods’ ties together four fairy tales, so it might be nice to see if there is a way to incorporate that.
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Thank you! Great idea! I just read about the movie, and it sounds really good.
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The 3 little pigs. Don’t know who wrote it though. 🙂
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That’s a good idea, thanks! I started looking for a good version, and I found this one, too. Same story but from Wolf’s perspective. Take a look :): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m75aEhm-BYw
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That is cute – puts a whole new perspective on the story!! I should have known the wolf had a reason, I just never would have thought it was a cup of sugar.
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History is written by the victors, right? Apparently, the pigs won, so all we heard for years was their story. Finally, we get the wolf’s perspective :).
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