Fairy tales

   Sprookjes & Pravljica

“  Once upon a time there were four girls on an exchange. They lived in countries far, far away. Two of them came from Slovenia. Their names were Cinderella (Maja) and Ariël (Karmen). The other two lived in the Netherlands. Their names were Belle (Fenna) and Jasmine (Aditi). Together they had a great adventure. One day there came a messenger to their castle, which was beyond beautiful. It was breath taking. He brought the message that four princes were locked up in a very high tower. The tower was defended by a very dangerous dragon. Many knights were already killed by the dragon. The pretty girls were the last hope of saviour for the handsome and very sexy princes. So as brave as they were, they accepted the quest and started the journey. But they couldn’t save the princes on their own. In the magical forest where their castle was set, lived a lot of their friends. One by one they came to the castle to offer their help. “And who are you?” the brave Belle said. “I’m Little Red Riding Hood (Robin), I’ve come to bring power wine.” “I’m snow white (Lana), I’ve come to bring my dwarf army for your battle against the dragon. “ “I’m Rapunzel (Juliëtte) and I brought you a rope made from my hair.” “My name is Sleeping Beauty (Diana) and I’ve come to bring a sleeping potion.” “I’m Peter Pan (Gijs) and I have some flying powder for zou.” “My name is Pocahontas (Ana) and my raccoon will show you the way to the tower.” “We are Hansel (Joep) and Gretle (Simone) and we brought you food from the candy house for during the way.” “My name is Tom Thumb (Juš) and I have, for you, boots for the way.” “I’m the Wolf (Jakob) and I brought you six goats (one is still in the clock) that you use as distraction for the dragon.” “I’m Alice from Wonderland (Mateja) and I’ve come to bring you potion to become smaller, so you can slip through narrow passages.” “My name is Hercules (Tilen) and I will give you some of my strength. “ “I’m the Gingerbread man (Menno) and you can eat me for power. “ “I’m the Fairy Godmother (Itske) and I will magically give you good luck. “ “I’m Pinocchio (Ziga) and I’m not afraid!” His nose grew.  “I’m Prince Charming (Joep G) and I brought a picture of myself for your trip, so you can always look at me.”  “I’m Puss in Boots (Bart) and I’ve come to bring you my sword. “ “I’m Goldilocks (Guus) and I brought a piece of my hair for luck.” “I’m the Giant (Gregor) and I will carry you over the fast flowing river.” “I’m the Fakir (Anže) and I will bring you a bit closer to your goal, on my flying carpet.”

    And so, with all the help of their friends, the lovely princesses started their journey. They used all the help of their friends and so slaying the dragon was no problem. They fought bravely and saved the handsome princes. They lived happily ever after.”

Hello everybody,

of course this is a beautiful story, but it is not very realistic. In real life our names are Fenna van der Loop, Karmen Ciber, Maja Tomsic and Aditi Sharma. We are all 17 years old. We participated in an exchange program between Slovenia and the Netherlands. We have had to make a research project and we chose the subject 'fairy tales', because we thought this subject was very general and interesting. Our research question is: what are the visual differences and similarities between the fairy tales in Slovenia and in the Netherlands? The story you just read is our introduction fairy tale with all of the exchange students in it. After the introduction we're going to tell something about our subthemes, our excursions and our questionnaire.
Enjoy!

   

     Our sub questions:

1. What is the influence of fairy tales in Slovenia and the Netherlands?

2. What are the most popular fairy tales in both countries? What are the subjects of the fairy tales in Slovenia and the Netherlands?

3. How do people think about fairy tales? (Based on a questionnaire)

4. How were fairy tales created? Where do they come from? What is the original? 

5. How do fairy tales change during generations? (Influence of people on the storyline)

     1.     What are the most popular fairy tales in both countries? What are the subjects of the fairy tales in Slovenia and the Netherlands? (Karmen)

     The fairy tales in The Netherlands are more moral than those in Slovenia. In Slovenia the subject is (most of the time) history: about the nation and about the land and country.

      In Slovenia the most popular stories are: Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. In The Netherlands the most popular stories are Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

     We figured out that the most popular fairy tale in both countries is Cinderella, because the story is easy to understand and you can identify yourself with her. Many parents can teach their children with this book.

     Children in both countries like to read Grimm stories.

     The history of Slovenian fairy tales

     The first written story in Slovenia was created in the 10^th Century. Primož Trubar was the first person who named the different kinds of stories. A lot of fairy tales were collected by Janez Vajkad Valvasor. Some others stories were kept by Janez Svetokriški. Matjaž Ravnikar was the first collector of fairy tales and stories. Every nation has different symbols, heroes in their stories.  The most popular symbols in Slovenian stories are: elves, fairies, golden apples, snakes, mountains.

     The most important part in Slovenian stories is the place where the story is set. Sometimes this is making creepy and scary atmosphere. Like the little houses in the forest or an old castle.

      In Slovenia there are some different kind of stories:

·         Mythological fairy-fables,

·         Pure magic fairy

·         Biological fairy tales and fables,

·         Clean animal fables,

·         Fairy tales "of origin",

·         Humorous tales and fables,

·         Moral fables.

     The most important stories for history of Slovenia are: Kralj Matjaž,  Lepa Vida, Peter Hlepec, Martin Karpan.

     The history of Dutch fairy tales

     People have been telling each other fairy tales since ancient times. It is very significant literature genre. Fairy tales are presented in all cultures around the world. In comparison to myths and legends, the time and place of occurrence in fairy tales are not defined. The characteristics of fairy tales include the appearance of fantastic elements in the form of talking animals, magic, witches and giants, knights and heroes. It wasn't until the 17th century that fairy tales in Europe were written down and preserved for future generations. 

      In Netherland there are no stories like in Slovenia: which are important for history of The Netherlands. 

     Subjects of Slovenian and Dutch stories

     The subjects of Slovenian stories are animals, religion, marriage, magic and so on.

     The subjects of Dutch stories are evil, magic, love and trueness.

     The subjects are almost the same but in Slovenia, fairy tales talk about nature and the other things that are real. In the Netherland fairy tales are more about relationships.

2.     How do people think about fairy tales? (Dutch answers: Aditi & Fenna, Slovenian answers: Maja & Karmen)

      For our fourth sub question we made a questionnaire. We asked Slovenian and Dutch children around the age of 13 the following questions:

-     - What is magic?

-     - What is your favourite fairy tale?

-     - Which fairy tale character would you like to be?

-     - Do you believe in fairy tale love?

-     - What do you think is the most important part of fairy tales?

-     - Can you compare evil people in reality with evil people in fairy tales?

In the Netherlands most children think magic means conjuring or doing magical tricks. Other regularly occurring answers were special powers or 'I don't know, because it doesn't exist'.

     

      The top 3 of favourite fairy tales were:

      1 (Shared place): Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White.

      2 Hansel and Gretel

      3 (Shared place) Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Tom Thumb.

      It was interesting to see that the top 3 exists of the most common and most well-known fairy tales. But there were also answers like Joris and the Dragon and The New Emperors Clothes. Those are not internationally known.

     

     For the third question:

     The answers to the fourth question actually did not surprise us that much. From the 51 children, 41 said they didn’t believe in fairy tale love. 9 said they did and only 1 said he had no idea…

     Clearly the most important part of a fairy tale is the happily ever after. More than the half of the children voted for this. Other answers are the exciting part or the moral of the story, fantasy is also very important.

     With the last question we discovered that 30 of the children thought that evil people in fairy tales aren’t comparable with evil people in reality, because real people can’t use magic and don’t die or disappear. The other children said ‘Yes, it’s comparable with reality, because evil is evil in every way’.

      Slovenian answers:

1.       Magic is a gift which some people have in fairy tales and movies. It is something unbelievable and it is not material.

2.      The most famous and liked fairy tales are Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.

3.      The most of the children answered that they wanted to be Cinderella, Ahil, Sleeping Beauty, Martin Krpan.

4.      The most children believe in fairy tale love, but the students don’t.

5.      The most important parts of the story are love, happy ending, happiness and power.

6.      The children think that evil people exist in Slovenia. The reason for their belief is that the same events can happen in reality.

3.       How were fairy tales created? Where do they come from? What is the original? (Aditi)

      “Once upon a time...” or “in a land far, far away...” are the famous words to start to tell a fairy tale. Nowadays, fairy tales can be found all over the world, written down in large or small books. But where do they actually come from? How were these fairy tales created?
The Dutch word for fairy tale is ‘sprookje’. The word origins from the Middle Ages’, from the word ‘sproke’ which means ‘narration’. Because of that we can assume that fairy tales have been told from generation to generation before they were written down. Most of the fairy tales are so old that nobody knows who has invented them. What we do know is that fairy tales have survived the ages because they were told orally. In that time most people couldn’t read or write, so they just told the stories they knew to each other. They did this for their amusement, but there always was a lesson hidden in the stories too. The moral thought is a very important part of a fairy tale. Without people noticing that they are actually learning something, they discover the same solutions and thoughts as the main character of the fairy tale. In this way they actually learn a lot. Because the story went from human to human the original stories changed time after time. People forgot how the story really went or they thought another ending was more exciting. In that way the stories we know now were created. This also is the reason why stories can be known differently in other countries than your own.

      The original stories were actually meant for adults, for their amusement and so that they could learn something. While in the present the stories are most of the time meant for children. In this way children can learn on a playful way something about life. It are great bed time stories too. Fairy tales have a great impact on children’s fantasy and dream. That’s why some tales have been changed so that it has the typical “happily ever after”. We can’t tell the children that their favourite character died of course. In former times the stories weren’t told for fun, but more as warnings. The main goal was to make people more careful in life and watch out for the untrustworthy. As you see fairy tales were created for lots of reasons.

Let’s take for example the story ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, written by Charles Perrault in the 17^th century. This story is about a girl with a red hood and cloak. She has blond hair. In the Middle Ages she stands a symbol for the perfect and innocent. The bad wolf in the story has black hair. He disguises himself as her grandmother and with this list he manages to eat them both. Who doesn’t know the sentences: “What a big mouth you have”, “The better to eat you with!” The original story ends here, with Red Riding Hood being eaten and the lesson that you shouldn’t be so naïve. In the village you’ll be safer, do not search for the dangers of the woods. However, we all know a happy ending in this story. This was actually thought up a long time after the original story. A lot of his stories are rewritten by the Brothers Grimm. In their version a hunter comes to rescue the girl and her grandma, by cutting the sleeping wolf open. The wolf dies and they all, of course, live happily ever after. In this modern version there actually isn’t very much left from the original story, but everyone likes to read a happy ending better. If you go even further back in time, before Perrault, you’ll see that the story also has been told in the way described before. I for example didn’t know it, but in some original stories the wolf leaves the meat from the grandma for Red Riding Hood to eat. In which she eats her own grandma, a horrible thought and of course not for the ears of the children nowadays. Very often the wolf also isn’t just a wolf, but a werewolf. The story is actually more exaggerated. There could be several reasons for that. For example that they wanted to scare everyone even more, but it could also be that they just didn’t have that much knowledge and maybe even believed in such things. This is for us a very strange thought, but you’ve to think as a person who lived in like the 10^th century now.

       One of the most famous fairy tale books that have ever been created is ‘The fairy tales of Grimm’. The book has been published around a million times in more than 160 different languages. Who doesn’t know the stories about Little Red Riding Hood, the Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella? Around 1806 the German brothers Grimm started to collect fairy tales. Both of the brothers studied languages. They wanted to be sure that the generations after them would get to know all these fairy tales too. So they travelled around during 13 years to collect all sort of old fairy tales. A lot of people think that these are the original stories. They are actually modern versions of folk stories from a long time ago. These folk tales travelled a long way all over the world and eventually arrived in Holland and Slovenia too. 

4.       How do fairy tales change during generations? (Fenna)

       As long as we know, mums, dads and grandparents have always been telling their children the most beautiful stories about the brave princes, beautiful princesses, witches and talking wolfs. They learn their children about the country far away and a long, long time ago. And in all of these beautiful stories, the characters live a happily ever after.

Behind all of the fairy tales we know, is an entire history. Someone must have made up these stories, or maybe someone has really seen one story happen. But how does someone invent a story about a wolf eating a grandmother and a little girl who cuts open the belly of the wolf? How does he make up that a goat hides itself in a clock? We can be pretty sure that these things didn’t happen in real life. We can conclude that the first storytellers didn’t really tell these stories exactly how we know them now. The stories changed during the generations and during the ages.

       For hundreds of years fairy tales have been told. In the times that most people were not able to write or read, the tales were verbally passed on from mother to daughter and from father to son. Because of this fact, it is not that strange that the stories slowly changed. Think about how a sentence changes when a few people pass it on to each other. Every time someone tells a fairy tale to someone else, he forgets a part or changes a part. He maybe sets the story in a different time or place, or changes the character a little bit. When that happens, the fairy tales will be told differently after some generations, but the storyline more or less always stays the same.

       Of course there must be a reason for the fairy tales to change. We know the people have much influence on the story, but why do they tell the stories not exactly how they are told to them? An important reason must be the fact that it is hard to remember the story exactly; we might forget a part of it. To make sure the story isn’t too short if we forget the part, we just fill it up with something else, something we have made up. The person you tell the story to doesn’t know the differences from the original, so he will just pass it on the way he does know it. What is also a possibility is the fact that people always want a happy ending. People don’t want to know about the end of the world and they don’t want to think about how and when they are going to die. People like to deny that those things exist, so why would we tell a story in which those things do exist? Why should we tell our children about someone who dies or is unhappy? We can change the story and create a happy ending; we can just make ourselves happy with a story about a perfect life. And that is the way the story will be passed on.

       As you can see the influence of people on fairy tales is very big. Humans pass on the stories, they make sure they don’t stop existing. But they also change the stories in the way they like it. And this process is able to stop. If a fairy tale is written down by someone and the book is bought by lots of people, the story will more or less stay the same. Still I believe stories will not just stop changing. They will change to a modern shape. It is already visible with the fairy tale: Cinderella. Several movies have been made about it, the same story line, but in a modern way. This is something that will be seen much often in this modernising world. But we can be sure the big line in the fairy tale will stay the same and there will always be a happily ever after. 

5.     What is the influence of fairy tales in Slovenia and the Netherlands? (Maja)

     Reading fairy tales is important for the improvement of the relations of families, relatives and environment in general. Fairy tales and stories are important for a healthy and stimulating child’s development. With the help of fairy tale toddlers  are amused and learn various skills and abilities (from counting forms of discrimination sizes, materials, colours, letters, numbers, lacing shoes).By telling the story parents can tell, explain everything that can’t be told through daily conversation.

     Reading the book, especially fairy tales, children develop imagination, and are encouraged to various forms of creativity. Through their imagination, fuelled by fairy tales, it is easier to cope with everyday problems and situations. At the same time through reading and listening to fairy tales, they better respond to reading other literature which helps them through life to a greater overview of the different areas. Fairy tales are intended for both children and adults. Raising a child is definitely not easy, sometimes it can be very difficult. But many parents are able to help with the story. It seems insignificant but tales and stories have a great impact on the development of children: through the world of mythical creatures, animals, cartoon characters, the child learns about the world.

     People and events in fairy tales embody and represent the internal conflicts, which very skilfully advises how to resolve these conflicts and what are the next steps towards greater humanity. Fairy tales are told in a simple, everyday language, the listener does not require anything. Therefore, even the smallest child does not seem that the fairy tale forces his act in any particular way, as he never gives rise to feelings of inferiority. The fairy tale does not require anything but encouraging, given hope in the future and the promise of a happy ending. Therefore, it is Lewis Carroll called the "gift of love" - a description that would be difficult to use for myth. Of course, these criteria do not meet all the stories that can be found in the collections of fairy tales.

      A fairy tale funs baby while he talks about himself, and facilitates the development of his personality. It is important to so many different levels and enriches a child's life in so many ways that no book could describe the many and varied benefits of such stories. "The implication of this story is - as with all great art - for everyone is different, different even for the same person at different life stages. Same story emerges different meanings according to children’s interests and needs over time. The heroes and the stories in general have an impact on later literature. For example: Lepa Vida is a character from a fairy tale, but later used by poets and writers in their poems and stories (the symbol of longing) like in France Preseren poem.

     Very many stories developed all over the world. Some tales were used as basis for a movie so that fairy tales are important for the film industry, for example. The Brothers Grimm wrote, collected Germen national tales and wrote them later. Many stories later Walt Disney cartoons and movies were produced one their stories, for example Cinderella, Snow White… Through watching movies children are learning what is actually happening in the stories, they imagine their heroes. So the fairy tales become more influential to the people, not only the written versions. Fairy tales have a certain motives that are repeated like love motive. Fairy tales can have a bad influence: certain people are getting things from fairy tales as true, so they could de afraid of the dark. Some people believe in fairy-tale love "Prince Charming" and things like that. They think that could also be the case in real life. They are looking for love, which never can happen.

      For Slovenian fairy tales are characterised as neighbouring peoples, through traditional myths and legends, mixing in a rich cultural heritage. At the same time they are an inspiration to many modern literary creations, such stories as fables, tales, or songs.

     For example, for Mojca Pokrajculjo is a typical Carinthian Slovenian fairy tale. Tales and poems about King Matjaž are based on the medieval Hungarian king Matija Korvin, but they are intertwined with some local specialties. A lot of fairy tales and fables are closely related to fairy tales, which were collected and recorded by the brothers Grimm, as our county was also closely linked with the brothering countries on the North ... Fairy tales are in fact the same in Slovenia, as everywhere else in the world. They played a strong unifying role among people with common roots, though apparently not always the common interest

     Fairy tales are somehow the part of our life that sometimes the boundaries between real life all of a sudden disappear. However, if such a thing is possible, it means that one of us while telling fairy tales, including their own indeed. The real sadness and pain, joy and fear, sorrow and happiness, love and hate, envy and despair, good and evil, but a whole range of emotions, feelings and experiences that are woven into this fictional.

      A lot of hidden in fairy tales messages, develop children's imagination. When taking about overkill stuff (ghosts, fear), children could be encouraged to enjoy and relax (drawing, cutting, movement). For these hidden factors tales will never lose its value.

      Most fairy tales were created in the distant past and have never had a literary meaning. In their symbols a deeper secret of archetypal significance is revealed, because of containing general, universal elements. The truth transmitted to us, regardless of time, place and cultural orienting can discover our own, inner potentials and possibilities that can become a driving force of our noble efforts and activities. The fairy tale is like a magic mirror that reflects our inner world and suggests steps that are essential to our development.

     The content is also very important for adults helping the children through written explanations broaden their horizons, it can give the idea of the adult’s educational approach. We can say that fairy tales treated as adults.

The project excursions (Aditi & Fenna)

     To gather some more information for our research project we have undertaken two excursions, one in The Netherlands and one in Slovenia. First we went to The Efteling in The Netherlands, which is a fairy tale park. In this park there are a lot of attractions that are all bounded with certain fairy tales. They also have a fairy tale forest, in which you can walk and meet all sorts of fairy tales on a very special way. You can walk through the houses of the dwarves, see in to the well of women Holle and fight with the dragon. It makes you believe that fairy tales are for real. The motto of The Efteling says: fairy tales exist. We brought Maja and Karmen there, because it is fun, but it is also a way to find out which of the stories they do not know. All the stories in the park are known by the Dutch. For example the story of women Holle was not known by Maja and Karmen, also Longneck and Rumpelstiltskin were unfamiliar to them.

When we were in Slovenia we went to the city Library in Ljubljana. Here we read a lot of books about Slovenian fairy tales. It was very instructive and informative. We found out that a lot of important Slovenian stories are about the creation of their country. While in The Netherlands the stories are more about the moral and love, and are often known in a lot of other countries too. The Slovenian fairy tales were actually more folk tales, but it was great to read them. The excursions were very useful for our project.

      Conclusion (Aditi & Fenna)

     So after our research we can conclude that there are many differences between fairy tales in The Netherlands and in Slovenia. In Slovenia the fairy tales and stories talk about the history of Slovenia, about how the country was created. The fairy tales in The Netherlands are more about the moral of the story. From this we can conclude that the stories from Slovenia are based on legends of history and those in The Netherlands are based on lessons in a good story. These stories changed during the centuries. We had much fun doing this research and really learned a lot.  

Thank you very much for reading this. We hope you all live a happily ever after!