There are many important aspects that are common in fairy tales, from terminology, to language, all the way to the specific details. All of these details tie together to create a story with fantasy-like imaging and plot.
There are a few different descriptive words when it comes to fairy tales, all of them aren’t exactly the same but they all have one thing in common, they are some type of story. Some of the terminology words include fairy tale, novella, anecdote, fable, folktale, and chronicle, but myth and legend are what split these stories down the middle, differentiating between the two. A myth usually involves gods or supernatural creatures and from these stories, there is some sort of moral lesson the reader can draw from and apply to real life. A legend involves a human hero, who comes in contact with a supernatural being, derived typically from reality to give credit to them for their extraordinary accomplishments.
Language is another important aspect of fairy tales, as well as motifs. Repetition is extremely common in most of these stories. For example, in The Dragon Slayer, the way Silberweiss is described saving each of the princesses is the exact same every single time, from the specific language, to the battle the repetition is inevitable in these sorts of tales as Luthi explains. Another thing that is inescapable is the appearance of four numbers; three, seven, twelve, and one hundred. So far in class, we have seen these numbers in Brier Rose. The first instance in which this has appeared was in the beginning of the story with the thirteen wise women, but only twelve were invited because the king only had twelve gold plates. This is what sets the scene for the story because the wise woman that wasn’t invited grew angry and cursed Brier Rose. The second instance where the number as appeared was for the length of time in which Brier Rose was asleep. She was in this trance for one hundred years until the young prince kissed her and woke her up. Other than the numbers, a few other motifs are opening and closing lines. “Once upon a time” and “there once was” are common introductions to these tales, and “they lived happily ever after” is a common closing.
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