5 Elements of a Fairy Tale
Deconstructing Classics To Rebuild Them Your Way
From Hansel and Gretel to Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, from Europe to Africa to East Asia, fairy tales have captivated the imagination of young and old alike. They are the inspiration for modern day movies and the basis for many a fractured and alternative storyline.
As a model for storytelling that began in an oral tradition and is now part of the current canon, fairy tales are a common genre. Most people are familiar with the original stories or some variation thereof. And a good fairytale can keep people listening, whether the narrative is current or ancient.
Many times, when I am stuck, I use a fairy tale or an aspect of it, to jump start my writing. The stories are familiar and almost instinctual. Enough so, that I can start at any point in the narrative and start writing creatively.
Writing fairy tales is so easy and fun for me, it made me wonder what are the basic building blocks of a fairy tale? How can I take apart the genre to rebuild using bits and pieces, if I wanted? What are the basic elements, the basic components, that encompass the majority of fairy tales?
It didn’t take long for me to research and then refine the list. At its most basic, there are five basic ‘rules’ of fairy tales.
They are short.
They have a very clear story structure
There is magic, including talking creatures.
There is the good character and the evil character.
There is a lesson.
Short
Fairy tales are short for a number of reasons.
Before the printing press made books more commonplace, stories weren’t written. They were passed down through an oral tradition; tales shared around a campfire or fireplace or stories told in a parlor or kitchen with a rapt audience.
As such, stories had to be easily remembered to be easily shared. And since fairy tales were more the stories of the people (a variation of folk tales), short tales stayed in people’s memories and imparted a practical life message.
Because of the ease of sharing, fairy tales traveled easily. Wherever people gathered, stories were shared. In fact, traces and influences of fairy tales can be tracked throughout the world. And even more so once trade routes began spreading and sharing cultures. Again, the shorter the tale, the easier to remember.
When the Grimm brothers documented the first set of folk tales, they managed to document an oral tradition and start printing the tales for a wider consumption.
Once Upon A Time…
Every fairy tale begins with a similar opening line.
Long, long ago…
Once Upon A Time…
Once, in the old days,
It happened or it didn’t, in long ago times…
And the ending follows the same pattern. Something along the lines of “And they lived happily ever after.”
Basically, when people hear those words, they know what to expect. They know that the real world and real-life rules don’t count here. People can fly, animals can talk, time flows differently. The audience knows to suspend their belief.
There is no questioning the strange things and creatures because it’s a fairy tale.
Additionally, just like the hero’s journey, there are certain points in the story that are all similar. The good person is given a task that seems impossible (usually by the evil bad character). Think Rumpelstiltskin (where there are two bad guys; the king and the magical helper).
Or is forced into a situation that will harm her, usually involving sabotage from the evil bad character. Think Snow White or Hansel & Gretel.
Because of their goodness and/or with a little magical help, they succeed in their task or live when they should have died or prosper against the odds.
The truth of the circumstances is revealed in the end.
Goodness wins.
Evil is punished.
Guaranteed Happy Ending.
Magic
The one thing that fairy tales have the folk tales don’t is that most impractical and wonderful magic. Either a magical world (The Glass Mountain), or the suspension of time in one spot (Sleeping Beauty), or magical creatures who can talk or guide or are even the main character of the tale, magic adds that special sparkle to a fairy tale.
There’s also the use of numbers that are magical and incidentally, memorable. Most common are the numbers 3 and 7.
3 Little Pigs, 3 Bears, 3 Wishes, 3 Billy Goats Gruff.
7 Dwarfs, 7 At One Blow, The 7 Ravens
These magical numbers are important symbols. Pre-organized religion, the number three stood for the triple goddess and after Christianity, three stood for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is also the smallest number of items that can make a pattern, making it easier for oral storytelling.
Seven has been a number cited in narratives since Hippocrates citations for medicine. Indian scripts have the number seven throughout their Vedas. Ancient Egypt has 7 holy cows. The seven days of the week are named after Norse gods. But personally, I believe that, like the number three, seven is a prime number, easily identified by humanity in patterns. Therefore, also highly memorable for oral storytelling.
And Featuring…
Fairy tales all have one thing in common when it comes to characters.
There’s a hero, a good guy, a good girl.
And there’s a villain, a bad guy, an evil woman.
I’m not going to get into the feminist interpretations here, but suffice it to say that if there’s no hero, or no villain, it’s not a fairy tale.
Sleeping Beauty/Spurned Fairy Godmother
Cinderella/Evil Stepmom
Beautiful Miller’s Daughter/Rumpelstiltskin and/or the King
Goldilocks/Bears
Red Riding Hood/Wolf
The supporting cast of characters can be wide and varied and consist of many different creatures; from human to insect. But there’s always a good person and there’s always an evil person as the foil.
The Lesson Learned
At the end of the tale, there’s a lesson to be learned. When fairy tales were still largely spoken, the audience wasn’t simply children who needed to be taught morals. Fairy tales held a wider audience. And the lesson was particular to the audience.
Either way, at the end, there was a clear message and it was usually that good people get rewarded for doing good and bad people get punished for doing bad. (Or creatures, whichever the case may be.)
The lazy pigs get eaten by the wolf in the Three Little Pigs. The smart, diligent pig thwarts the wolf in the end.
The wolf eats Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. The woodsman kills the wolf and rescues her from the wolf’s stomach.
Cinderella is obedient, good, and hardworking. Her fairy godmother sends her to the royal parties for three nights (in the original story). When everything is sorted out, the evil stepmother dances to her death in red-hot iron shoes. Gruesome but fitting.
Of course, there are other lessons, too. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t stray from the path in the woods. Don’t take shortcuts with your safety, especially with your shelter.
But in every case, good always prevails.
And evil is punished.
Write It Out
As storytellers and writers, we often know a genre of writing intrinsically. We are familiar with it. We can recognize it, read it, mimic it. However, deconstructing the narrative, knowing the elements of a good fairy tale allows you to add that information to your writing arsenal.
Fairy tales have been used as the basis for so many other stories, movies, anime, and graphic novels. Not only are fairy tales fun to read. But they are also wonderful to manipulate.
All in all, fairy tales have traveled through history, changing with the teller when it was an oral tradition. These stories have landed in our laps now.
It’s up to us to enjoy them for what they were and remake for what they can be.
