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What is a Fairy Tale?

According to Stith Thompson a fairy tale is a “tale of some length involving a succession of
motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite creatures and is filled with the marvelous. In this never-never ending land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdom and marry princesses,” (The Folktale, 1977, 8). This is an accurate definition of a fairy tale but there are many characteristics that contribute to a fairy tale than just heroes killing villains and marrying princesses. Fairy tales always have formulaic expressions, such as “once upon a time” and “they lived happily ever after”. Fairy tales usually have the same opening at the beginning of the story and the same ending at the end. A fairy tale will usually end with “they lived happily ever after” to make the reader feel content and happy with the ending because they know all is well. They also usually have no detailed descriptions, they won’t let you know what the princess looks like, the hero or the villain or even the setting. Sometimes they will give a small description of a certain place or item that is of important significance. Lüthi concludes, “the fairy tale indicates the action and does not get lost in the portrayal of scenes and characters,” (Lüthi 51). Often times when there is a strong description it is added in as ornamentation by the writer, but the original oral tale did
not have that description. In addition, there will be isolation of characters in a fairy tale. In the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, Brier Rose is isolated from her parents when she goes up the staircase to the locked room holding the spindle. This signifies her being on her own and away from the world. The heroes in fairy tales always return at the right moment to kill the villain or save the princess and have a happy ending. Lastly, fairy tales always include magic that all of the characters accept as a fact, it is not questioned it is just a part of life. Such as, Cinderella running into her fairy god mother that turned her into a princess and the pumpkin into a carriage to take her to prince's ball.Image result for fairy godmother
https://io9.gizmodo.com/1788273919#!
https://www.designcuts.com/learning-hub/tutorials/create-magical-fairytale-poster-illustrator/
https://followingthebreadcrumbtrails.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/spindles-arent-sharp/

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