This is my fourth post, and I would like to explore a little bit the emotional outcomes of reading and writing fairytales and other stories in the classroom.

Fairytales are usually seen as something innocent, created for children by adults, with the only aim of being amusing. Sometimes, we try and go deeper into the stories, and the result is that we get to the conclusion that they also transmit values and pieces of advice. But my question is: Is it everything fairytales have to offer? My answer is a big round NO.

When the writer creates a story, and when it is a good one, all of a sudden the characters are brought to life. They have something to say, they are somebody, and the reader or the listener will connect with their emotions, feel sorry when they are sad, compassionate when they suffer, full of joy when they succeed. And all of this wouldn’t be possible without empathy.

I am sure that all of you understand this term perfectly, but just in case, let me introduce you a definition by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , according to which, Empathy is

the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else’s feelings.

Why is it important?, and how is it related to health? It is important because when we are teaching literature, or English, or whichever subject you prefer, we are also transmitting values, helping our pupils develop to their full potential, and it includes allowing them to be themselves, to build self-confidence and to be able to understand others’ needs, which is a proof of mental health.

What does it have to do with Fairytales? In fact, a lot. In order to be told or read, a tale needs to be created. And it is at that point of creation, where the pupils have to imagine their characters, and to provide them with a personality to make them deeper and catchy for the reader. Focusing on the character’s aims, dreams and hopes, fears and faults, the pupils will use  the language they know, the literary figures we have taught them, but also their own experience about life.

For example, a kid who is happy, will more likely create happy characters, and it is possible that only good things happen to them. On the other hand, if another child is going through something, it is possible that this process of creation can help him/her to externalize needs, fears, or experiences, just like they were the character’s and not theirs.

This is one reason that makes children prefer stories whose characters have something in common with them. If they go on an adventure, so are the readers. If they become friends with a vampire, suddenly it turns from a horrifying creature, to the best of companies. If they are mice who can cook, they will want to be super chefs.

And what about you? can you see any other reason to consider fairytales good for health? I am looking forward to read them!

As you may have noticed because of the topics the majority of the last posts were about, these two last weeks we have been working on one of the most important elements and resources in Children’s Literature: tales.

According to Wikipedia, tales are “generally short stories based on real or imaginary situations, inspired or not in previous writings or legends, with a simple plot protagonised by a reduced group of characters […] and that have been passed from generation to generation, both in an oral or written way”

In my previous post, I shared with you The original stories behind the tales we know, like the real Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears or The Lion King; and, as this past Monday we learnt about the characters that usually make up tale stories, in this post I would like to go deeply on this topic. So, here I present you the different types of characters we may find in every tale story:

-   Hero/Heroine: The character that protagonises the story, and, although in most of the stories it is a male character, due to the historic tradition of giving the man the power and strength, there are also female characters as heroines. Some examples are the Superheroes, such as Spiderman or Superman; Peter Pan, or the Disney Princesses, like Mulan or Belle.

Furthermore, one of the main characteristics of heroes is that they often move vertically, and we can notice that in the way the Superheroes climb or fly.

         Shrek (Shrek)         Source: Wikipedia

-    True Love: The character that the hero/heroine is in love with, and for whose true love he/she fights. As an example, we have Fiona, in Shrek; and, although it can be not considered a fairy tale (although I believe that every story can be transformed into a fairy tale for kids), I think that Dulcinea, the True love of Don Quixote, perfectly fits to this definition.

     Esmeralda (The Hunchback                of Notre Dame).              Source: Galleryhip

-    Villain: The character that opposes the hero, related to evil powers and wicked actions. The best examples are Disney Villains, such as Scar, Ursula or Jafar; but also there are evil prototypes in traditional tales, like the wolves, witches and stepmothers.

            Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)                Source: Wikipedia

-     Elder: The character, usually a king or a father, who normally remains at home (sometimes disabled) or does not change so much along the story. Examples of elders are Mufasa, Rafiki , Papa Smurf or Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother.

                 Mufasa (The Lion King)                    Source: Fanpop

-    Helper: The powerful or magical character who gives advice or valuable gift to the hero/heroine and often tests them; like, for example, Tinkerbell, Cinderella fairies and Jiminy Cricket.

                 Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)                   Source: Wikipedia

-     Friend: The character that accompanies the hero, often belonging to lower class. In this case, I would like to emphasise that it is usually my favourite character in every tale story, and I think that also for many kids; as it is fun, loyal and a little bit crazy. Some examples are the amusing Timon and Pumba in the Lion King, or the charming Donkey in Shrek.

                 Dory (Finding Nemo)                 Source:  Pixar Wikia

-     Messenger: The character, human or not, that brings news. In case of Disney, it could be Sebastian or Hermes; and in traditional tales, the birds or royal postmen.

       Sebastian (The Little Mermaid)    Source: allfreevectors

Now, that we have learnt the character motifs, their characteristics and some examples for each one; Raquel has told us that it is our turn to create a new example for one of the motifs. I am working on this activity now, and it is really amazing, as there are plenty of possibilities to take and it could lead to crazy stories.

And, I am sure that it would be great if you also join us in this journey of being character creators, and you also make up an interesting character for a new and surprising story!! We would be glad and excited to know about them!!

Finally, I hope you all liked this post!!

Thank you for visiting! See you next week!

Those horrific stories were originally passed on orally from generation to generation until some writers, such as Perrault, Brothers Grimm or Walt Disney decided to convert the tales into books and films, making some changes until the stories evolved to the current happy tales we all know.

This is what we were learning during the last week’s medium group session, when we read two versions of Cinderella, Perrault’s and Grimm Brothers’, and compared them with the one we have watched in the Disney film. I was really impressed about the evolution of the story and the big differences among the versions; and, as I really liked discovering this, I would like to share with you the real cruel stories of some beautiful tales that we all know (I wish I do not ruin your childhood… :P).

Firstly, we can start with the innocent Little Red Riding Hood. In our version, she disobeys the advice of her mother in her way to visit her grandmother and walks slowly and entertains through the dangerous forest. Then, as the wolf is faster, he arrives earlier to grandmother’s house. He eats her, dresses up with grandma’s clothes, waits for the girl and eats her too. But a hunter discovers what happened and takes a knife to open the wolf’s abdomen; so, Caperucita and her grandmother go out of the wolf, they fill his abdomen with stones and finally the thirsty wolf goes to drink water to a lake, falls down and sinks because of his weight. However, the original version is more sadistic, as the wolf makes Little Red Riding Hood drink her grandmother’s blood before carving up and eating her. (You can find the different versions of Little Red Riding Hood here).

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is one of the most changed stories. We think that Goldilocks is a curious little girl who discovers the three bears’ house and touches some furniture and eat some soup before she sleeps in one of their beds. When the bears come, they get angry because someone has been in their house, but when they find Goldilocks in the bed, she is faster that the bears and escapes through the window before they kill or eat her; or, in other more recent versions, the bears behave well and even help her. Contrary to that, in the original version, Goldilocks was an old and hungry woman that was tortured by the bears and impaled in the spire of the bell tower. (You can find other versions of Goldilocks and The Three Bears here and here).

In case of The Lion King, the king is killed by his jealous brother and his son wants revenge. Although Rosencrantz (Timon) and Guildenstem (Pumba) try to distract him, he finally kills the jealous brother. And actually, in some versions, everyone dies.

Finally, I would like to share with you some interesting links where you can find more information about this topic: all versions of one tale, the history of the evolution of some stories; the reasons why each version was like it was depending on the social, economic, political and cultural circumstances, etc.:

• The real stories behind these Disney Movies will ruin your childhood
• The real stories behind 9 Disney Movies
• Top 10 gruesome fairy tale origins
• Children tales as they used to be (in Spanish)
• When children literature was for adults (in Spanish)
• The Real Snow white: Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina von Erthal in Carmen’s post in this blog.