What are your favorite fairy tales and why ?

The one we had was a very little book, and I think the only colors were blue, black, and white. The teeny tiny woman was drawn too small to distinguish her face very well, but she had a blue dress and black hair up in a bun.

[edit]: I tried to find an illustration online, and there are tons of different versions, but none of them are mine. :( I distinctly remember the "After all, this is a scary story" thing though. That's from the one I had. But I guess it's a fairy tale after all; apparently it's an "Old English Ghost Story."

I love H.C. Andersen, well most of them. but I read the Grimm fairy tales as a kid and always hated the fact that the bad guy dies so often, I don't think that is the message we should send out.

There are some guys in the UK that have made movies aout the dark side of the fairy tales. Snowwhite was very good, the dwarfes were workers that had been in trouble with the law and that's why they were deep in the woods and the prince was a doctor seduced by the evil stepmother, I really liked it.

A woman I know was telling me about a course in her university about the Grimm fairytales were the real meaning is tought. like the reason why little red riding hoods hood is really red (a symbol that she was maturing and becoming a woman) and the angry wolf is really a symbol for a guy that is seducing a young girl away from her track to rob her and much more in the same tone.. very interesting

there are many versions of cinderella i suppose. in my country it's called upik abu (dusty little girl)..but if im not mistaken somehow it's adapted to fits the local culture, where eventually all of them live hapily ever after. (local value here is related to familyhood).

i have several fairy tales stories which came from my local cultures, and when i compare them to stories from the west, one of the biggest difference is that the stories from i come from always related to God and obidience towards Him.Im from Indonesia btw..

cherrs

I love faerie tales with a passion. It is said by W.S.W Anson the "these fairy stories are not written for the amusement of the idle, they embody the profound religion of our forefathers"

From what I have gleaned it appears that faerie stories, classically speaking tell about the separation of the human soul from the spirit or from the Heavenly Father and the intense struggle to reunite the two to their first divine state. The way Tolkien describes it as the Fall and the longing to go home and the struggles contained therein.He said that the gospel was the greatest Faerie story ever told.
For instance did you know that the Cinderella story is as old as ancient Hindu and is to be found in all of europe and even Egypt.
So because of the horrible struggle between good and evil, light and dark that is why the stories are often graphic and harsh and we need to be careful to not let little ones be exposed to a version or a concept that will frighten them at certain ages.
You might notice that the different characters represent our dual nature as it were or our struggle and it is always the pure girl who is welcomed by the King and His son the prince and enters into a sort of divine state of happiness in his kingdom . And like the garden of Eden there is often a direct correlation between the breaking of a rule and bad consequences.
My favorite is one by Hans Christian Anderson about a convict in a massive stone prison. the man is hard and dark hearted but one day a shaft of sunlight comes thru the bars and a tiny bird flies into his cell. he gives it no heed at first but then as he contemplates the bird his heart begins to melt just a little and he becomes aware of the beauty of this world and something of the divine nature of the bird. the soft sunlight warms his heart for the merest fraction of time as if God has pierced his heart by his love. but then the bird flies out, the sun goes away and instead of letting that revelation change him the man chooses to become hard and cold again.



"my grandma what big teeth you have" little red ridinghood.

Does the Beauty and the Beast counts, I've only watched the Disney adaptation but it's my all time favorite

All fairy tales are fantastic. It shows children and adults alike, how to dream. Some forget about dreaming and some of us don't know how to dream. Me, I love dreaming and love all fairy tales.

I'm a Little Red Riding Hood girl.

I'm taking a children's literature class currently:

The thing that struck me about Snow White was that when she was in a coma after eating the poisoned apple, and put in a glass coffin by the dwarfs- the Prince tries to buy her from the dwarfs!

What does the creepy Prince want with a hot dead chick in a glass box?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Night_Lamp

(...) What does the creepy Prince want with a hot dead chick in a glass box?

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:) what did the russians want with a tepid dead revolutionist in a glass box? -- Admire? Adore?

And as to the actual question of the thread, My favourite fairy tales are "brother and sister" and "Hans in Luck".

I smell a thesis:

Snow White as the oppressed socialist- she did live communally with the 'worker' dwarfs- poisoned by the capitalist evil step-mother, jealous of their happy share-all lifestyle. She is rescued by Prince Lenin...