Origins of Fairytales

Fairy tales have a longer history than most people believe, dating back to the 17th Century when many were written down but sometimes as far back as 3000 years ago. These stories have many versions spanning all across the world, however they all seem to share a common ancestor. There are two main theories into how these stories have evolved. One is that the stories come from a single source and have spread from culture to culture over hundreds of years, the other is that the tales reference common human experience so have ended up very similar. The oldest tales found was an Aesopic fable dates around sixth Century BC.

Over so much time these tales have grown and changed and as so many weren't written down (due to the fact that until relatively recently only the very rich could read and write so stories were all told through word of mouth) they have been misremembered  or reinvented through hundreds of generations. The way these stories have grown and changed tells us something about human psychology and what sort of things humans have always found memorable.

Telegraph. Dr Jamie Tehrani, a cultural anthropologist at Durham University, studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood from around the world. (2009) [online image] Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/6142964/Fairy-tales-have-ancient-origin.html [accessed 3rd April 2015]

One fairy tale who's origin has been deeply looked into is Little Red Riding Hood. In Europe the story is of a little girl who is tricked by a wolf masquerading as her grandmother, in the Chinese version a tiger replaces the wolf, in Iran where it would be considered odd for a young girl to wonder alone the story features a little boy, The original ancestor of this tale is thought to be similar to another tale, The Wolf and The Kids, where a wolf dresses as a nanny goat to gain entry to a house full of young goats. Stories in Africa are closely related to this tale, whilst stories from Japan, Korea, China and Burma form a sister group. Tales told in Iran and Nigeria were the closest relations of the modern European versions. The end of the tale has varied a lot throughout culture and time too from Red and the grandmother being saved by a wood chopper, to the wolf eating both and neither being saved to red eating her own grandmother first. Many of the stories have had a strong sexual undertone though with red getting into the bed and undressed with the wolf and the story seems to have originated as a warning against rape and violation.

Fairy tales date back further than Aesop, were written down fully for one of the first times by Charles Perrault, re-written again by the Grimm's and carry on being re-invented by modern authors such as Angela Carter and  franchises like Disney. These origins mean everyone knows a slightly different version but it's fascinating to see the common stories everyone around the world was raised on, dating back as far as historians can look at human history.

Teverson, A (2013) Fairy Tale. Abingdon. Routledge page, 21.

Chart of the origins of fairy tales are where they originated from.