Fairy Tales

1. Fairy Tales Building Imagination While Fostering Growth Do not use or distribute without written permission.

2. Achieving Meaning in Our Lives • Greatest need for existence • Most difficult task in parenting • Child learns step by step to understand himself better • Then becomes more able to understand others • Eventually relates to others in ways mutually satisfying and meaningful • The child must make coherent sense out of the many feelings experienced Do not use or distribute without written permission.

3. Fairy Tales • Convey at the same time overt and covert meanings • Speaks simultaneously to all levels of human personality • Reaches the child as well as the adult • Reaches the conscious, the pre-conscious, and the unconscious mind Do not use or distribute without written permission.

4. Who am I and How do I fit in this World? • To gain a feeling of self-hood, self worth, and sense of moral obligation • Need to understand conscious mind to also understand the subconscious • Rearranges and fantasizes about suitable story elements in response to unconscious pressures • Fits unconscious content into conscious fantasies – enables child to deal with that content Do not use or distribute without written permission.

5. Parenting • Some believe that a child must be diverted from what troubles him • But life is not always sunny • We want children to believe all men are good • Children know they are not always good and even when they are they may prefer not to be • Contradicts message from parent and child becomes a “monster” in his own eyes • Need to steadily meet the unexpected and often unjust hardships to master the obstacles and end victorious Do not use or distribute without written permission.

6. Fairy Tale Figures • Figures are clearly drawn and details mostly eliminated • Characters are typical rather than unique • Evil is as present as virtue • Evil is attractive to kids in many ways, albeit temporarily • Bad person always loses out – crime does not pay • Child must identify with the hero in all his struggles • Fairy tale figures are not ambivalent; good or bad Do not use or distribute without written permission.

7. The Child • Choices not based on right vs wrong, but more by who arouses his sympathy or antipathy • Not: “Do I want to be good?” • Rather: “Who do I want to be like?” • Fairy tales offer solutions in ways that the child can grasp on their level of understanding Do not use or distribute without written permission.

8. The Child is Not Fooled • Knows there is no real: “Happy ever after” • But in the end there is the promise of forming a satisfying bond with one another • Promises the ultimate in emotional security with regards to relationships in life • Forming a true relationship, one escapes the separation anxiety that plagues early development • Fairy talesare future oriented and guides the child: released from need of dependency, turn toward wishingfor independence Do not use or distribute without written permission.

9. Unique to Each Child • Deepest meaning will be different for each person • Different for the same person at various moments in their lives • Separation anxiety – fear of being deserted – occur at all ages, also applicable to older children • Not age or sex related • Facilitates changes in identification in the child Do not use or distribute without written permission.

10. Aesop’s Fables Dating back to the 5th Century BC. • Fables are short stories • Illustrate a particular moral code • Teach a lesson to children. • Themes and characters appeal to children • Stories are often humorous • Entertaining for kids of all ages. • Can also be described as tales or yarns similar to a parable. • Often pass into our culture as myths and legends Do not use or distribute without written permission.

11. Who is Aesop? • The name of the man credited with the authorship of a collection or book of  fables. • A slave who many believe lived in Samos, a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea but others say he came from Ethiopia. • Name of his first owner was Xanthus. • Eventually became a free man. • Biography: Planudes describes Aesop an ugly, deformed dwarf • Famous marble statue at the Villa Albani in Rome depicts Aesop accordingly. Do not use or distribute without written permission.

12. The Morals, Sayings and Proverbs in Aesop's fables • Moral - "Appearances often are deceiving." - The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing • Moral - "Familiarity breeds contempt." - The Fox and the Lion • Moral - "Slow and steady wins the race." – The Hare and the Tortoise • Moral - "One person's meat is another's poison." - The Ass and the Grasshopper • Moral - "Things are not always what they seem." - Bee-Keeper and the Bees • Moral - "Never trust a flatterer."- Fox and the Crow • Moral - "Little friends may become great friends." - Lion and the Mouse Do not use or distribute without written permission.

13. The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCt8bg74eTs Do not use or distribute without written permission.

14. Printed • First printed in English in 1484 • William Caxton • Translation made from the French. • Not believed to have been written as Children's literature • Originally used to make thinly disguised social and political criticisms. http://www.taleswithmorals.com/ Do not use or distribute without written permission.

15. Arabic Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Fables • The exotic world • Initiates the reader into mysterious kingdoms of untold wealth and unmatched beauty. • Contain tales of genies and goblins, talking animals and heroic princes and princesses that charm and delight. • Circulated orally for thousands of years • Rooted in ancient and medieval culture and folklore including Egyptian, Persian, Indian and Mesopotamian influence. • First written down formally in the 14th century • Contained in Syrian Arabic manuscript. Do not use or distribute without written permission.

16. The Arabian Nights Entertainments • Published by Andrew Lang in 1898 • Origins of the stories in this collection are complex. • Iraqi influence is seen added to the stories in the 9th or 10th century • Original few stories can be traced back to India and Persia in the 8th century. • Rare gem for the literary world • Another Arabic fairy tale collection: “Folk-Lore and Legends: Oriental” - unknown author. Do not use or distribute without written permission.

17. Different • Source of entertainment • Not tales for moral lessons and religious custom • Unlike their European counterparts. • Tales are robust with themes of romance and magic • Offered countless evenings of entertainment • Inspired a rich culture of fables, epic poems, historical anecdotes, songs and dance • Circulated the world over. https://fairytalez.com/region/arabic/ Do not use or distribute without written permission.

18. Arabian Nights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRJ3HRp5IQ4 Do not use or distribute without written permission.

19. Brothers Grimm (Wilhelm – 1786 to 1859 and Jacob – 1785 to 1863) • Stories originated from storytelling of various friends and anonymous sources • Depended on different informants from diverse social classes to provide them with oral tales rooted in oral traditions • Did not alter the stories at first, but did so later • First edition of 1812 / 1815 – more raw, more honest • Later 1857 edition heavily edited by younger brother, Wilhelm Do not use or distribute without written permission.

20. History • Schooled in traditional classical manner in Germany • Left impoverished by death of father, they and their siblings distinguished themselves as scholars at school • At law school both came to the belief that language rather than law was the ultimate bond in people – studied old German literature • In twenties became responsible for younger brothers and sister when mother passed • Though poor distinguished themselves in Napoleonic times as scholars Do not use or distribute without written permission.

21. Early beliefs • Wanted to form a Germanic culture away from French oppression • Collected folk songs, tales, proverbs, legends, anecdotes and documents • Wanted to preserve the pure sources of modern German literature • Tales were second nature and held profound significance which deserved recognition • Not true fairy tales as we know it today Do not use or distribute without written permission.

22. Themes in the Tales • “wounded” young people • Illustrate ongoing conflicts • Struggles between parents and children • Children brutally beaten and abandoned • Soldiers in need • Young women persecuted • Sibling rivalry • Exploitation and oppression of young people • Dangerous predators • Spiteful kings and queens abusing their power • Death punishing greedy people • Rewarding virtue • Not truly children’s tales, rather “about” them • “underdog” perspective • Innocence is tested, integrity proven, rewarded in the end • Achieving goals through humility and kindness Do not use or distribute without written permission.

23. Rapunzel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD8mRNx0RNc Do not use or distribute without written permission.

24. Hans Christian Anderson • Novelist • Playwright • Travel writer • Ardent Scandinavian nationalist • Early 19th century • Balance of power in European societies was shifting to the middle classes • New wave of looking at children and childhood Do not use or distribute without written permission.

25. Themes of His Works • Forming of the self – building character • Inner beauty vs, superficiality • Redemptive power of suffering • Longing for love • Self transformation • Ultimate triumph Do not use or distribute without written permission.

26. His Life Theme was Transformation • Poor background – father was a cobbler • Education through saintly benefactors • Nations’ best beloved writer • Autobiography – “My enchanted Life” • Similar to “The Ugly Duckling” • Romantic hero • Trying to work with his heart rather than his mind • Triumph in the end • Passed on August 4, 1875 Do not use or distribute without written permission.

27. Anderson’s Characters • Suffer in protest of suffering in the real world • No justice in this world, save what we create for ourselves • Welcomed into heaven • Emotional religion of love and forgiveness • Lutheran tradition of forgiving, loving God • Tragedies often befall innocents Do not use or distribute without written permission.

28. The Little Mermaid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYgPbSQyncw Do not use or distribute without written permission.

29. Do Not Demystify the Story • Do not interpret the story to the child as to why she might be experiencing it this way • Parent / caregiver has to share in the emotion of the moment to ensure secure base within which to feel different emotions • Stay in the fantasy • To the child the parent is very powerful; they seem able to read the child’s secret thoughts, know their hidden feelings and this may be overwhelming for the child • Even when adult interpretation may be correct it robs the child of the opportunity to feel that he, on his own, has coped successfully through a difficult situation Do not use or distribute without written permission.

30. Maude Le Roux, OTR/L, SIPT, IMC Websites https://maudeleroux.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ATAMaudeLerouxOT/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-total-approach Blog http://www.maude-leroux.com/ Do not use or distribute without written permission.