Ways to Start a Fairy Tale

Magic lanterns appear in fairy tales.

Fairy tales are stories with a special magical twist -- a pumpkin turns into a carriage, or a frightening beast transforms into a handsome prince. Sometimes there's even a fairy involved, as with Cinderella's special fairy godmother. But fairy tales are more than magic. Often the story has a moral, such as "don't judge people by the way they look" or "be kind to others." Many fairy tales begin with the words, "Once upon a time," but after those four brief words, the fairy tale can start in a number of ways.

Character

Many fairy tales start with an intriguing character. For example, one popular fairy tale starts by introducing readers to a girl with eyes so blue and hair so long and black that everyone calls her Snow White. Goldilocks begins with a family of bears, one big, one medium-sized and one very little. Fairy tale characters can be romantic, dangerous, foolish or wise.

Setting

The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel begins with a little cottage in a dark wood. There lives a woodcutter with his two children, and when the cruel man decides to rid himself of his children, he takes Hansel and Gretel deep into the woods. There they wander around amongst the trees until they stumble upon a magic candy cottage, occupied by an evil witch. Think how powerfully the setting affects this fairy tale. What sort of setting can you think of? You can start your fairy tale with a magic castle, a cottage under the ocean or a secret cave.

Situation

Many stories start with a situation or problem. For example, the fairy tale about Thumbelina begins with a woman who thinks she can't have a baby. She goes to a witch and asks her how to find one. Other traditional situations in fairy tales include a woman who wakes up from a hundred-year sleep and doesn't know where she is, or a young man who discovers a magical beanstalk outside his house. Starting with a situation guarantees that the fairy tale will have action.

Morals

Many fairy tales were written with a specific moral in mind. One of the best known involves the tortoise and the hare. The proud hare taunts the tortoise that he can beat him in a race. But then the hare gets distracted and the slow tortoise plods across the finish line. The moral: slow and steady wins the race. Starting with a moral gives a fairy tale focus. Morals can range from uplifting to cautionary, and can even be funny. So-called "fractured fairy tales" offer twists on well-known morals.

References

• "A First Book of Fairy Tales"; Mary Hoffman and Anne Millard; 2006
• Ivyjoy: Hansel and Gretel
• Ivyjoy: The Tortoise and the Hare
• Fractured Fairy Tales: What is a Fractured Fairy Tale?
• Ivyjoy: Snow White
• Ivyjoy: Thumbelina
• Ivyjoy: Goldilocks