THE ORIGIN OF FAIRY TALES

The term of fairy tale which is used in western countries is not used to refer to all of the stories of this genre in fact. This term is first used by Madame Catherine-Anne d’Aulnoy in her four-volumes of tales book named as ‘Les contes de fees’ (The Tales of the Fairies) prepared for upper class people published in 1697. The use of term became widespread by the translation into English as fairy tales. Fairy tales are distinct genre of tales which get their origins from folk tales. In the 15th century, the oral tradition of folk tale narration has undergone a tremendous drastic change with the increase of literacy and invention of the print media. A different genre, called as fairy tales, emerged from folk tales that have been modified by talented writers. These tales began to be told in the salons to give a sense of mission to the aristocratic adults. Although children come to mind in the name of fairy tale today, these tales are written for adults not for children. Fairy tales presented to kids after their contents were made suitable for children. Almost all critics working on the origins of literary tales in Europe agree that educated authors have consciously changed their folk tales and that they have turned them into a literary genre which are on traditions, values and manners in the name of the civilization of children and adults regarding to the social codes of the day. This current study aims to conduct a literature review on the emergence of the fairy tale genre, the way that this name comes into widespread use, origins of folk tales which are the roots of fairy tales