6 TALES, 6 TEACHINGS. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM FAIRY – TALES?

Hi everyone! What was your favourite fairy-tale when you were children? We are not children anymore,  but we still truly love fairy-tales. We think they have so much to teach to readers of any age and you can discover different messages behind them each time you read them. These are are our best favourite!

Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German fairy tales (they are 209) first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm. We know them as the Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales. They are the most famous fairy tales in the world so we had to include them in our post!

We have chosen our favourite ones and the ones we consider the most meaningful. Did we really get their meaning when we were little and we sleepily listened to our parents telling or reading them at night?

The wolf and the seven kids

The story is about a goat that had seven children. One day she went to buy something and left them alone at home making sure they would not open the door to anyone because there was a wolf that

was prowling in the greenwood to look for some food.

MORAL: never trust people you do not know and always do what your parents say

 Hansel and Gretel

They are the children of a woodcutter who one day has to leave them in the greenwood because his wife forced him. Nevertheless, Hansel traced their path with some pebbles and they went back home. The day after their father abandoned them in the greenwood again, they had left crumbles on their path but, unfortunately, the birds had eaten all the crumbs and they couldn’t find their way back. Since they were lost and couldn’t go home, they entered a house made of marzipan belonging to a wicked witch . The horrible woman wanted them to eat a lot so that they became fat and she could eat them. It’s a story full of suspence but as it very often happens in fairy-tales, all’s well that ends well! Hansel and Gretel come back home and stay with their father because their mother died.

MORAL: learn to do things by yourself.

 Little red riding hood

This is one of the most popular fairy tales in Europe. It is about a little child called Little Red Riding Hood who one day had to go to her grandma’s house to fetch her a basket of goodies. Her mother had told her not to talk to strangers but, along the way, the little child meets the Big Wolf and tells him where she was going. The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding Hood, knocked at the door, Grandma opened the door, he ate her and waited for the little child. When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to her Grandma’s bedroom The wolf ate her too. Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest heard her and came to the house. The Big Wolf ran away never to be seen again.

MORAL: Never talk to strangers

 The little mermaid.

This is one of our favourite. We used to know a completely different story from this one.

The story is about the youngest daughter of the Sea King. She had a beautiful voice and she used to 

sing for her family. She loved staying with them in the palace but she had a dream. She wanted to go up to the world of humans because she loved a young captain who she saw on a ship every day. The young princess could only go and live out of the sea if she drank a potion that made her feel like she was walking on knives. She did it, but things did not go as she expected. The captain married another woman and Little Mermaid threw herself into the sea, where her body dissolved into the sea foam.

MORAL: follow your dreams but never take them for granted.

The Frog Prince

Once upon a time, there was a king who had a beautiful daughter, so beautiful that the sun was amazed at her beauty. The princess loved walking in the wood. One day she met a frog who spole to her! He said that if she helped him , in return, the princess would become his girlfriend . The princess thought the frog was joking, but it was no joke at all. In fact, the frog followed the princess into her castle, where the princess’s father forced his daughter to respect the pact. Therefore, the princess kissed the frog, who magically turned into a prince. The frog, in fact, was a prince under the spell of a witch and only a beautiful princess could save him.

MORAL: Never stop at appearances.

 Rapunzel

It’s the story of a man and a woman who really wanted to have a child. When the woman became pregnant, she began to want to eat a particular flower , the “Rapunzel” , which the woman was given by a witch. The witch proposed a pact to the two spouses; in fact, she would give the woman the “Rapunzel”, if the woman would deliver her their child when it was born. The spouses agreed, so they gave their baby, whose name was Rapunzel, to the witch who locked her in a tower. So Rapunzel lived all alone in the tower, but one day , when she was already grown- up, a prince stepped by the tower and saw beautiful Rapunzel looking out of the window. He fell in love and one day he climbed the tower and fought the witch to save the girl.

MORAL : All good things will happen eventually, we must always face bad times seeking happiness.

Martina & Alice