A fairy tale is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends and explicit moral tales, including beast fables. Prevalent elements include dragons, dwarfs, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, merfolk, monsters, monarchy, pixies, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, witches, wizards, magic, and enchantments.
Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with One Thousand and One Nights, despite not being part of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, based on a folk tale that he heard from the Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab.
Chinese folklore encompasses the folklore of China, and includes songs, poetry, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural. The stories often explain natural phenomena and distinctive landmarks. Along with Chinese mythology, it forms an important element in Chinese folk religion.
Stories and practices that are considered part of Korean folklore go back several thousand years. These tales derive from a variety of origins, including Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more recently Christianity.
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: Originally published in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910), the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson, and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU index is an essential tool for folklorists, used along with Thompson (1932)Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.
The Blue Light is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a soldier who finds a magical object that provides him a supernatural helper. Many of the features from Hans Christian Andersen's later work The Tinderbox and from the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp originate with this version. Other tales of this type include The Three Dogs and The Tinderbox.
Caribbean folklore includes a mix of traditions, tales, and beliefs of the Caribbean region. Caribbean folklore was shaped by a history filled with violence, colonialism, slavery, and multicultural influences. Specifically, influences from African, Creole, Asian, Indigenous American, European, and Indian cultures converged in the Caribbean to create a blend of lore unique to the region. Caribbean folklore has a variety of different characters that portray different traits. Folklore has evolved by blending folk speech, Creole dialogue, and various other elements that create the literary form of folklore, which portrays the "spirit" and "soul" of the Caribbean. Many themes are covered in Caribbean folklore, including colonial legacies, diversity in cultures, and the search for identity. Writers such as Nalo Hopkinson use these folklore elements in their writings by weaving myths and traditions into their modern-day storytelling.
The Golden-Headed Fish is an Armenian fairy tale. It was first collected by ethnologue and clergyman Karekin Servantsians in Hamov-Hotov (1884) with the title ԱԼԹՈՒՆ ԲԱՇ ԲԱԼԸՂ.
The Enchanted Watch is a French fairy tale collected by Paul Sébillot (1843–1918). Andrew Lang included it in his The Green Fairy Book (1892).
"The Pretty Little Calf" is a Chinese fairy tale collected by Wolfram Eberhard in "Folktales of China". It is related to the theme of the calumniated wife and to the tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, in that a woman gives birth to children of wondrous aspect, but jealous relatives conspire to separate them. Similar stories are attested in East Asian literature, specially Mongolian and Korean, wherein the boy is murdered, but is later reborn in the shape of a calf.
Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the sudden transformation of men into beasts and vice versa, or by other unnatural incidents. A number of aggadic stories bear folktale characteristics, especially those relating to Og, King of Bashan, which have the same exaggerations as have the lügenmärchen of modern German folktales.
Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.
Namu doryeong is a Korean orally transmitted folktale that tells the story of the son of a tree and a seonnyeo (fairy). While riding on his father, the tree, during a great flood, the boy rescues disaster-stricken animals, marries the daughter of an old woman and becomes the progenitor of humanity. The pattern of a boy with an earthly father and heavenly mother ("地父天母") founding a new human race after the previous one is wiped out in a flood lends Namu doryeong the characteristics of a human foundation myth.
Paemshillang: Kurŏngdŏngdŏngshinsŏnbi is a Korean folktale about a woman married to a snake (baem) who breaks a promise with her husband (sillang) and conquers adversity to reunite with him. This tale of a snake shedding its skin to become a man is also known as Gureongdeongdeong sinseonbi in Korea, which means "divine serpent scholar." The hardships the wife endures while searching for her husband is regarded by some as analogous to a priest attempting to once more receive a deity.
Ureongi gaksi is a Korean folktale about a poor man who breaks taboo and marries a maiden who comes out of a snail shell until he loses his snail bride when a magistrate kidnaps her. The tale features an inter-species marriage in which a snail transforms into a woman and becomes the bride of a male human. The tale also depicts the motif of a government official from the ruling class taking away a woman in a relationship with a lower-class male civilian.
Jihaguk daejeok toechi seolhwa is a Korean folktale about a heroic figure who defeats an underworld monster that kidnaps humans above ground and steals from them in order to marry the woman he rescues. The story features the theme of quest through the journey the protagonist embarks on to find his bride as well as the theme of eradication in terms of the protagonist’s defeat of the monster.
The Sea Tsar and Vasilisa the Wise is a Russian fairy tale published by author Alexander Afanasyev in his collection of Russian Fairy Tales, numbered 219. The tale features legendary characters Sea Tsar and Vasilisa the Wise.
"Li Ji Slays the Giant Serpent" is a Chinese tale first published in the 4th-century compilation Soushen Ji attributed to the Jin-dynasty official Gan Bao. The story concerns a young heroine named Li Ji who bravely rids her village of a terrible snake.
The Wife from the Dragon Palace is a Japanese folktale collected by scholar Yanagita Kunio. A man of low social standing marries a maiden who is the daughter of a marine deity. After they return to land, a local man of higher social standing begins to desire the supernatural maiden, and devises ways to have her for himself by setting impossible tasks for the husband.
The Heavenly Maiden and The Woodcutter is a Korean folktale about the marriage between a human woodcutter and a heavenly nymph, whom he forces to be his wife after stealing her clothes. The tale has been compared to the swan maiden, a character from Eurasian tales that appears in a similar narrative.
