Tara's
Favorite
FairyTales
Once upon a time, there was a girl named Tara. Tara
lived in a land named Michigan. She had a normal life until she was
about four years old. When she was four her mother moved to another
land called Oklahoma. Tara could not go with her mother because her
father told her that she had to live with him. Tara’s father was
never home because he was always off fighting fires and saving lives.
When he did come home he expected Tara and her sister to have all the housework
and laundry done. She never could go out and she could never have
friends over to the house. Tara had to rely on her imagination to
have fun when she could. One day Tara got a gift from her mother.
Tara
got all excited so she tore the brown paper wrapping away and what she
found was several different stories. One rainy day Tara decided it
would be a good time to embark on an adventure so she started to read the
stories that her mother had got her. Each story was better
than the last. They were filled with kings, queens, and happily ever
afters. She read this one story that had a princess named Snow
White. Tara fell in love the seven dwarfs, evil queen, and
the handsome prince that saved Snow White.
Tara wanted to know who come up with these wonderful stories. The
only person’s name that was on these stories was Walt Disney.
Tara
then asked her father if there were any more stories by Disney and her
father said yes. One day her dad came home and brought her a movie.
Tara watched the movie and she fell in love with it. The name of
the movie was Cinderella and the reason she
loved it was because she could picture herself as Cinderella.
All Tara wanted was to get married to a prince that would save her from
all the cleaning and laundry she had to do. Tara watched this movie
over the years and she daydreamed about the day her prince would come.
Whenever Tara heard about a story
or a movie that Disney came out with she would either read it or watch
the movie. Tara could not find a story that could match Cinderella
or Snow White until The
Little Mermaid came out. The reason Tara liked this movie
was because she had dreamed of being a mermaid. It also had a prince
that rescued the girl.
Even
thought Tara grew up and when she was twenty-one she felt her life was
still the bad part of a fairy tale. Every time Tara had a bad day
she would turn to these stories. The fairy tales would give her hope
that her life would turn out with a prince and a happily ever after ending.
Though Tara’s life still has not turned out yet, she thought that she would
help others that had her same problem. She decided to put her favorite
stories on a web page so others could read them and get hope that every
thing would turn out. Tara lived happily ever after?
The End.
What
can take you on a magic carpet ride? What can make you fall in love
with talking animals? What has princes, princesses, evil villains,
and mermaids? What has magic pumpkins and fairy godmothers?
What can take you from this world to another world full of happily ever
after’s? Fairy tales can.
When
you hear someone talking about fairy tales you probably think of Walt Disney.
Well, there is more to fairy tales than Disney. Disney likes to retell
classic tales. They take fairy tales from authors that have written
them a long time ago put a little twist on them and then turn them into
a children’s blockbuster movie. Not to say this is a bad thing.
It is a good thing, because if Disney did not retell these stories they
would be lost.
I
remember when I was a kid and I first heard of these stories my mom told
me that they were not the original ones. I wanted to know what the
difference was, so she told me how the originals went. I think it
is a good idea to let kids know where their favorite Disney movie came
from. In a way the originals are history. Who knows if they
did not really happen?
What
I have done with my web page is put three different stories on it.
I put Cinderella, The
Little Mermaid, and Snow White on my
web page. The reason I have chosen these stories is because I think
they are the most popular and they have been retold in many ways.
Also Snow White was Walt Disney's first animated
movie in 1937. What I have done is told Disney’s version, the original
version and other versions of these fairy tales as well, so you can see
the differences. I also pointed some of them out in the introduction.
I hope you enjoy this. It is kind of neat to see how Disney changes
the way the story was written. However they have kept the main theme
the same. I think it is neat the no two authors in the world tell
the same story the same way, and this will show when you read the different
stories.
Look
at Disney’s Cinderella. In third version the
ball only lasted for one night and in Grimm’s version it was a festival
and it lasted for three days. In Grimm’s Cinderella
it was a dove that gave Cinderella what she
wanted and in Disney’s Cinderella it was a
fairy godmother. Disney also used Cinderella's
name as her given name, but in other Cinderella
stories this name was her nickname. Her stepmother gave it her because
she was always covered in cinder and dirt.
Disney
also changed the story of the Little Mermaid.
Disney goes as far as to change the ending of the story. In
their version the story ends happily bit in the original one it does not
end happy. In Anderson’s version of the Little Mermaid
his
characters had no names and in the Disney’s version they have names.
Also in the Disney version there is less focus on the sisters and in Anderson’s
version he tells of the sisters. Another thing that is different
is the role of the sea witch. In Disney’s Little
Mermaid Ursula interfears with Ariel’s plans to get the prince to
fall in love with her. But in Anderson’s Little
Mermaid the only role the sea witch plays is in giving the princess
the potion that will change her into a human. Though the fact that
there is a magic potion remains the same in both stories, the price changes
a little. In Disney’s story the price was Ariel’s voice and in Anderson’s
story the price was her tongue.
In
Grimm’s Snow White, Snow
White’s evil stepmother tries three times to kill her and with each
attempt she fails. In Disney’s Snow White
she only has to try to kill Snow White once.
In the end of the Disney’s Snow White a prince
has to kiss her in order to save her life. In Grimm’s version when
the prince sees Snow White he persuades the
Dwarfs to let him have her. When his servants began to carry her
off they drop the casket and the piece of apple falls out and she wakes
up. The way the evil stepmother is killed in each story is different
too. But you’ll have to read the stories to find out how the are
different.
The
way Disney retells a fairy tale is sometimes the writers add things that
would appeal to a child. They add fun things like talking animals.
In Cinderella and Little
Mermaid both of the main characters have animals as best friends.
In both fairy tales the animals help out and get the main character out
of trouble. For example, in Disney’s Cinderella
the mice and birds make Cinderella a dress
so she could go to the ball. They also help get her out of the locked
attic. In Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Flounder and Sebastian help Ariel to the surface of the water when she
cannot swim with her new legs. Sebastian also directs an orchestra
of fish during Ariel’s and the Prince’s boat outing. So he
could add a romantic setting. Snow White
also has friends that are animals. She befriends them when she is
lost and scared in the woods. Disney adds songs that are easy and
fun for kids to sing along with. Like in Snow
White the song that the seven Dwarfs sing when they are coming home
from work (hi-ho hi-ho…). Each story has characters that kids can
hate and characters that kids love. Oh yeah, lets don’t forget the
handsome prince that rescues the girl at the end of the story. Disney
is good at making most stories end with happily ever after.
Disney
also takes out things that would be inappropriate for kids, like when in
Cinderella
the
two stepsisters cut part of their foot off. They also took out the
part when doves pecked out their eyes as punishment. In Anderson’s
The
Little Mermaid someone had to kill someone (which did not happen
in Disney’s version) but I don’t want to tell you too much of the story.
With Snow White
the fact that the evil stepmother tells her huntsman to kill Snow
White and bring back her heart remains the same in both stories.
However Disney left out the part when the evil queen tells the huntsman
to bring back her heart and liver so she could eat them. Disney changed
the way the evil stepmother dies because in Grimm’s version it’s just not
appropriate for kids. To find out why you will have to read the story.
I
got most of my information from reading the stories. I went to the
Norman Public Library and looked up fairy tales. I did get some of
the stories off the internet and for those I provided a link to them.
For the Disney stories I just watched the movies and then went to the Disney
web page and read them over. With Cinderella
and Snow White I got the original story from
the book The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Pantheon Books inc..
I got the original version of The Little Mermaid
from the book Dulac’s the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson.
When
you read these stories I hope you clear you mind and let them take you
to world the story takes place in. I like to read these stories because
they let you have fun. They let you know that there is happiness
out there. Do not think that just because the stories are fairy tales
that they do not have some truth to them. How else do you think the
author got the idea to write the story? What I mean is once
you find the right person for you ta person will be your prince or princess.
If you live your life to the fullest you might just find the happily ever
after ending. Fairy tales give you hope in that through adversity
good wins and you can get you prince and live happily ever after.
A good time to read these stories is when you are having a bad day.
You should even watch Disney’s movies because they are funny and feel good
movies.
Disney's
Cinderella
Grimm's
Cinderella
Cenerentola
Conkiajgharuna,
the Little Rag Girl
Disney's
Little Mermaid
Hans Christian
Anderson's
Disneys
Snow White
Grimm's
Snow White
Crystal Casket
Golden Tree
Story Bibliography
Picture Bibliography
EMAIL
ME
Disclaimer: The University of Oklahoma explicitly
disclaims any legal liability for the contents of this page or information
accessible from this page. Web pages are provided as a privilege to OU
students to enhance their life long learning experience, and the opinions
expressed herein are not necessarily those of the institution or its student
body.