fairy tales

Old Wives' Tale

Old Wives’ Tale

Old Wives’ Tale An old wives’ tale is a supposed truth which is actually spurious or a superstition. It can be said sometimes to be a type of urban legend, said to be passed down by older women to a younger generation. Such tales are considered superstition, folklore or unverified claims...

John Bauer's illustration of trolls and a princess from a collection of Swedish fairy tales

Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale A fairy tale, fairytale, wonder tale, magic tale, or Märchen is an instance of a folklore genre that takes the form of a short story. Such stories typically feature entities such as dwarfs, dragons, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, mermaids, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments....

Storytelling Fantasy Dragon Knight Tale Story

Why Are Folktales Important?

Why Are Folktales Important? This article covers the answer to the question: “Why Are Folktales Important?“ Folktales can be used to help children develop strong reading skills, study other cultures, model positive character traits, and discover a love of stories. Our collection of folktales was developed to immerse children in...

wolf and warrior

What are Folktales and What is Their Function in Society?

What are Folktales and What is Their Function in Society? Folktales, including other forms of mythological tales which were the precursor of folktales, were and are essentially moral stories initially told by word of mouth from parents/elders to children for the purpose of educating and entertaining the next generation (ie....

Folktales

Folktale

Folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally, and may refer to: Categories of stories Folkloric tale from oral tradition Fable (written form of the above) Fairy tales Folklore in general Old wives’ tale Storytelling Perform Folktales are generally passed down from one generation...