Diachronic Overview îf European Classic Fairy-Tale Evolution

Bobodzhanova Lola ORCID: 0000-0002-1238-8474 PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Higher School of Linguistics and Pedagogy, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University 195251, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Politechnicheskaya str., 29 tulipan@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Sosnina Mariya Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0002-6817-0933 Senior Lecturer, Department of Higher School of Linguistics and Psychology, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) 194214, Russia, Saint Petersburg region, Saint Petersburg, Lunacharsky str., 38, sq. 222 mmasha2004@inbox.ru

Fairy-tale literature is considered one of the most ancient forms of folk art and is part of the literary heritage. The fairy tale genre originated quite a long time ago, but writers still turn to it, developing and enriching it, adapting it to express new ideas and traditions. A fairy tale is able to reflect the national life philosophy of the people, the national and cultural characteristics of society, historical and religious experience as a mirror: it synthesizes folk wisdom, talent, imagination, it allows you to escape from reality, adjusts to a special magical way. Fictional plots transport readers to magical worlds full of dreams and adventures, where good triumphs over evil, and heroes are surrounded by miracles. Fairy tales originate from oral folk art, and therefore they manage to convey the national flavor and cultural originality of the people, characteristic of certain historical epochs, in an incredibly original and accurate way. The secret of the appeal of this unique genre lies in the fact that fairy tales can be funny and sad, touching and mocking, edifying and satirical, but they are never boring ^[1]. From the point of view of the educational function, fairy-tale literature has been considered for many years to be a kind of moral yardstick for both adults and young readers. Fairy tales challenge reality and are able to transfer to a magical world, they help to distinguish good and evil, cultivate the ability to love, teach to be honest, brave and loyal. They form the young reader's first ideas about universal values and morality. They are the custodians of a cultural code consisting of certain life ideals, beliefs, and values, thanks to which readers form a system of ideological universals that define cultural self-identification. Fairy-tale literature perfectly illustrates the process of cultural adaptation of original texts: such works are initially created for the purpose of teaching, socialization and the so-called "acculturation" of readers ^[2]. Along with other works of art, fairy tales convey national identity very accurately and vividly, they are carriers of cultural and historical information about the people ^[3]. Fairy-tale literature reflects the moral ideals and values of the people, which gives such literary works a deep meaning as opposed to the naivety and simplicity of their purpose ^[4].

         It is impossible to determine exactly when the fairy tale genre originated – it is only obvious that it happened a long time ago, thousands of years before our era. Considering that the first plots were transmitted mainly orally, a relatively small number of samples of ancient fairy-tale literature have been preserved in the modern world. At the same time, the phenomenon of intercultural, or external "migration" of the genre explains the presence of direct plot similarities found in fairy tales from different countries. Magical stories were retold and translated from language to language, while undergoing cultural processing and adapting to a new perceiving environment at the national, social and everyday levels ^[5]. The genre of fairy tales was reflected in the culture of many ancient peoples (Ancient China, India, Ancient Egypt and others). The oldest fairy tale that has come down to our time is considered to be the Egyptian "Tale of Two Brothers", which was written on papyrus in hieratic writing in the XIII century BC. The plot of the fairy tale touches on the themes of the divine principle of the Pharaoh, the role of women in matters of the transfer of the throne, the state system and the system of government of Ancient Egypt. According to some researchers, there is a definite connection between this tale of the brothers Bata and Anupu and the biblical legend of Joseph and Potiphar's wife ^[6]. The ancient Greek epic had a great influence on the formation of fairy-tale motifs and plots: the most significant figure here is Aesop (c. V century BC), the world-famous fabulist originally from Ancient Greece. Some researchers consider the figure of Aesop as the result of a certain hoax and tend to believe that fables from various anonymous sources were combined under this name. The earliest surviving collections of Aesop's fables, translated into verse by Phaedrus and Babri, date back to the I–II centuries AD and number about two hundred works ^[7]. In medieval Europe, the collection of prose fables "Romulus", written in Latin, became particularly popular. These fables were perceived as funny, and at the same time instructive stories. A distinctive feature of the later reprints of Romulus was the addition of elements of Christianization to the collection, since the morals of the fables acquired a religious coloring. Later, esopics was also reflected in the world of literary fairy tales: many European writers considered the animal epic to be the primary source of folk poetry ^[8]. In the period between the III and V centuries, another literary monument worthy of mention was created in India called "Panchatantra", which is a five-volume collection of ancient fables about animals and fairy tales, the purpose of which was to educate noble men of royal blood. Written in Sanskrit, the book was translated into Arabic and Persian, and these wonderful stories reached Europe through oral legends. It is noteworthy that the literary sources of some medieval and later authors (especially fabulists) trace the plots of this outstanding monument of narrative prose.  The world-famous collection of Arabic and Persian fairy tales "One Thousand and One Nights" is of particular value in the world of fiction, as it reflects the extraordinary culture of the East, passed through the prism of plots accumulated over centuries: up to the XVI century, generation after generation enriched the Eastern epic with new magical stories. It is important to note that all the fairy tales in the collection are united by one common storyline: the cruel Sultan Shahriyar is convinced that women are by nature dissolute, and every night forces a new bride to tell him fascinating stories, and in the morning orders her to be executed, suspecting infidelity. Everything was repeated until he married the vizier's daughter Scheherazade, a resourceful beauty who manages to outwit her master and occupies him with fairy tales for 1001 nights, and eventually completely falls in love with Shahriyar ^[7]. Each of the fairy tales has a large volume, motivated by a temporal aspect – the story had to be long so that Scheherazade could stretch it until morning and avoid death. The study of the historical origin of such a large-scale ancient collection of fairy tales and short stories is controversial among many scientists: some believe that this is the legacy of Arabic literature, others believe that this work is based on a translation of the Persian collection "A Thousand Legends", which dates back to the VIII century, which, in turn, is rooted in ancient Indian folklore. Another curious poetic collection of fairy tales, short stories and legends "Kathasaritsagara", or "Ocean of Legends", belongs to the hand of the Kashmiri court poet Somadeva and dates back to the XI century. It also has a compositional frame, and the plots of the collection originate from Indian folklore. The motifs of many tales of "Kathasaritsagara" are found in the "One Thousand and One Nights". All these outstanding literary monuments and their written translations had a significant impact on the development of European fairy tales. Ancient stories were reflected in European culture, and their plots were used by writers, including Italian storytellers, who are considered the founders of European fairy-tale literature. In the Western world, the plots from the "Book of the Thousand and One Nights" were retold by Italian merchants, but it became really famous only in the XVIII century thanks to the French translator Antoine Galland, who published a twelve-volume collection of fairy tales "Les Mille et Une Nuits" (1704-1717). It was his works that served as the basis for further European reprints of the famous Arabic and Persian literary monument ^{[8, 9]}.

 Considering the stages of development of European fairy tale literature and the formation of the genre of literary fairy tale in general, it is important to emphasize the fact that the key role in this process belongs to the medieval Italian literary fairy tale. It is partly a forerunner of the European literary fairy tale.  The history of the Italian fairy tale tradition is incredibly rich and extensive: not everyone knows that the great Niccolo Machiavelli and the unsurpassed genius Leonardo da Vinci left their mark on it by writing several Italian short-story fairy tales, some of which were later reflected in collections of European storytellers. In the Italian literary fairy tale tradition, it was customary to preserve ancient folklore plots, in the future these plots were successfully adapted to the cultures of European peoples and soon began to be perceived as an integral part of their literary heritage.  The genre of the European fairy tale begins to take shape long before the Middle Ages: the first Italian fairy tale plot can be found already in the II century – this is the famous legend of Cupid and Psyche from the adventurous fairy tale novel "The Golden Ass" (Latin Asinus aureus) written in Latin by Lucius Apuleius. The process of formation of Italian fairy-tale literature begins in the XIII century, it was during this period that the Italian short story appeared, a unique genre that combined both folk and literary traditions. Then the fairy tale acquires the same popularity as anecdotes and fables ^[10]. It is impossible not to underestimate the contribution that another Renaissance genius, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), made to European medieval literature.  Despite the fact that Italian collections of short stories in prose were known before that (the most famous, anonymous collection "Il Novellino", XIII century), Giovanni Boccaccio brought these prose works to a new artistic level, gaining fame for the genre of the Italian short story, which is brilliantly presented in the book "Decameron", which describes a hundred different household plots (ital. «Decameron», 1348–1351). This collection brought together short stories from different sources: some of which by that time already constituted a written literary tradition, while others were based on folklore. It is important that the framework narrative, which Giovanni Boccaccio adhered to in his works, later served to some extent as a model for the structural composition of collections of fairy tales by most European storytellers ^[11]. Giovanni Boccaccio's multi-volume treatise "Genealogy of the Pagan Gods" (Italian) also played a special role in the development of literature of the Italian Renaissance. "Genealogia deorum gentilium", 1360), which captures his reflections on truth and magic in works of art, on the cultural significance of mythology and poetic fiction. Giovanni Boccaccio mentioned that fiction is a way of presenting hidden truths, and depending on its severity, he distinguished four types of fiction. The latter type included fairy tales about fairies, cannibals and witches, about which the writer spoke with some irony, calling them "inventions of crazy old women" that did not contain either explicit or profound truth. Nevertheless, the humanistic ideas of Giovanni Boccaccio actually marked the beginning of the perception of fairy tales as part of the literary world, since they also had a certain narrative value ^[12]. It should be mentioned that the Decameron has been a kind of conceptual and stylistic model for many Italian novelists for more than two centuries: Franco Sacchetti (Italian. "Il Trecentonovelle", ca. 1395), Poggio Bracciolini (Italian. "Liber Facetorium", 1471), Masuccio Salernitano (Italian. "Novellino", 1476), Girolamo Morlini (Italian. Novellae, 1520) and Agnolo Firenzuola (Italian. «Ragionamenti d'amore», 1548).  The writers used similar narrative frameworks, the plots were built around motives dictated by the living conditions of that time, such as poverty, illness, sorrows, adversity, and they also show interest in the revival of humanistic ideas and the ideals of antiquity ^[13]. It is especially worth mentioning Giovanni Cercambi (Italian. "Il Novelliere", 1374) and Giovanni Fiorentino (Italian. "Il Pecorone", 1390), in whose short stories there are stories with fairy-tale plots, which illustrates the fact that since the XIV century, some Italian writers have begun to show interest in the fairy-tale genre. During the Renaissance, folklore plots were extremely popular in Italian literature, but until the middle of the XVI century, in short stories, authors prefer to rely on realistic plots rather than magical ones.

As a literary genre, the Italian fairy tale begins to take shape under the influence of the work of Giovanni Francesco Straparola (XV–XVI centuries). The two-volume collection "Pleasant Nights" published by him (ital. "Le piacevoli notti", 1550-1553) combined seventy-four Italian short stories, some of which are based on Eastern and European folklore traditions ^[7]. In the middle of the XVI century, his book Pleasant Nights enjoyed incredible popularity in Italy and, contrary to church prohibitions, was reprinted about fifty times and was translated into French (1560, 1580) and German (1791) ^[14].  It is known that Giovanni Francesco Straparola is the first European author who adopted oral fairy tales, and it is thanks to his works that many of them have reached our time. He, like his other predecessors, took the framework structure of the Decameron as a basis, but he managed to create a special compositional frame: his stories are actually told on behalf of the guests of the house of Senora Lucrezia Sforza, who, as entertainment during the carnival on the island of Murano, make riddles to each other, as well as tell stories, plots which go back to folk fairy tales. Like all his Italian predecessors and European contemporaries, Giovanni Francesco Straparola borrowed many stories from earlier folklore collections, his plots are characterized by great realism in descriptions of everyday life of that time, as well as full of sophisticated scenes of violence and cruelty with disgusting details. And although the writer has repeatedly stated the exceptional originality of his fairy-tale plots, similar motifs can be found in the novels of J. Morlini, F. Sacchetti and Giovanni Boccaccio himself ^[10]. According to researchers, the unprecedented success of this book is primarily due to the unusual nature of its content: thanks to it, Renaissance literature saw a fairy tale full of colorful dialectisms, witty proverbs and jokes, unusual characters and invincible popular optimism. ^[15]

At the beginning of the XVII century, the work of the outstanding Italian writer of the Italian Baroque Giambattista Basile marks the next stage in the development of the genre of the Italian literary fairy tale. The world-famous five-volume collection of fairy tales "Pentameron" or "A tale of fairy tales, or Fun for small children" (ital. "Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille", 1634-1636) contains fifty magical stories written in the Neapolitan dialect and united by one end-to-end theme. This is the first collection of recycled folk tales in Europe. It combines bizarre and sophisticated elements, frightening and comical plots, combines the high and low style of legends and tall tales, which were ingeniously reworked by Giambattista Basile. It should be noted that the language of the novels is distinguished by colorful Neapolitan swear words, black humor and piquant details. According to some researchers, the collection "Il Pentamerone" was created by the author solely for the entertainment of voluptuous and idle courtiers, therefore, perhaps the author did not even think to publish his brainchild during his lifetime ^[13]. The fabulous stories of J. Basile, based on the oral folk fairy tale tradition and originally written in the Neapolitan dialect, originally reflected various Neapolitan realities, unique local traditions and customs, described insidious political intrigues, human vices, family feud and hatred. ^[14].  They are so fascinating that they capture from the first lines and make you empathize with everyone: terrible monsters and princesses, fairies and witches, poor kind girls and even stepmothers, drawing a rich palette of human feelings, aspirations and hopes. Most of Giambattista Basile's fairy tales are based on Indo-European folklore, which had not been presented in European literature before: these include stories about the golden-haired princess Rapunzel, the cat in Boots, cousins Ninnillo and Nennella (prototypes of Hansel and Gretel), Sleeping Beauty, and some others ^[7]. Giambattista Basile also used the technique of frame narration, previously found in the collections of Giovanni Boccaccio and Giovanni Francesco  Straparoles, and combined all the fairy tales with a common plot frame. Moral judgments in the novels are presented in the form of vernacular moralizing, and are accompanied by a slight ironic smile. Placed in the space of a fairy tale, Giambattista Basile's short stories convey the entire palette of human passions: happiness, love, feelings of despair, sorrow, torment, etc. The use of the Neapolitan dialect, colloquial vocabulary, proverbs and sayings, metaphors, irony and subtle humor to describe the characters is an innovative technique for the literary fairy tale of that time. The language of the narrators becomes an integral part of the disclosure of their characters: the characters are characterized primarily by their actions, thoughts and dialogues. The author tried to convey the complex conflicts of the era and the characteristic features of the social environment, to reveal the life of different strata of Neapolitan society, to describe the peasant way of life and the work of ordinary people.  Like Giovanni Francesco Straparola, the narrative in Giambattista Basile's fairy tales is filled with details of terrible events and inhumane acts of the characters. However, many details (especially of a sexual and satanic nature) were censored, dictated by the Index of Prohibited Books, otherwise the book might not have been printed outside Naples ^[12].

From all this it follows that the internationally recognized Italian literary fairy tale begins to take shape long before the Middle Ages, it owes its birth to early Italian short stories, which brilliantly managed to combine original author's ideas woven into national folklore. At the same time, the literary tales of Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile are imbued with humanistic ideas of the Renaissance: Italian storytellers managed to convey the ideas prevailing in this period of time and reflect its typological features. The Italian fairy tale novels are based on the traditions of the folk short story, which embodied the Italian peculiarities of national character and mentality, carnival consciousness, which was characterized by ambivalence of perception, to which M. M. Bakhtin devoted many of his scientific works. ^[16] Under the influence of the genre of the Italian short story, the object of fairy tales becomes real life in all its diversity and authenticity, which distinguishes Renaissance literature from Medieval literature. It was a period of searching for new artistic poetic forms, which the Italian authors coped with brilliantly. All of the above allowed Italian fairy tale literature to form as an independent genre and play a significant role in the subsequent development of European fairy tale literature.

Exploring the development of the genre of French fairy tale literature, it should be noted that the genre of literary fairy tale appeared quite a long time ago. The French fairy tale tradition began to take shape in the Middle Ages, then actively developed in the Renaissance, however, it was only in the XVII century with the advent of literary salons that fairy-tale plots gained real popularity ^[11]. The French literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is distinguished by a more free treatment of folklore tradition than in other European literatures ^[1]. This is vividly demonstrated by Francois Rabelais's novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (French Gargantua et Pantagruel, 1494-1553), which creates a unique atmosphere and tells about terrible cannibals.  It is full of philosophical dialogues and reflections, allegories, criticism of society and human actions, which force the reader to reflect on deep questions of life and human nature. The French literary fairy tale of that time shows a significant influence of the Italian fairy tale tradition: the works of Giovanni Boccaccio, Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini and Masuccio Salernitano served as a model for the works of many French short story writers. The study of the history of French fairy-tale literature is closely related to the research of Jake David Zipes, who managed to describe the origin of the French literary fairy tale and trace the connection with folklore in literary fairy tales of the late XVII and XVIII centuries. In his opinion, Charles Perrault should share the palm of the first storyteller with the women storytellers who gathered in the literary salons of Paris, and not only discussed pressing problems, but also told fabulous stories. ^[17].  As for the genre of the salon literary fairy tale, it was originally formed thanks to two outstanding women authors of classic French fairy tales: Marie-Catherine d’Onua, who published two four-volume collections of "Fairy Tales" (Fran. "Les contes des f?es", 1697) and "New fairy tales, or fashionable Fairies" (Fran. "Contes nouveaux ou les F?es ? la mode", 1698), and Jeanne-Marie Leprance de Beaumont, who is known for masterfully processing well-known fairy-tale plots and creating a textbook literary version of the plot "Beauty and the Beast" (fran. La Belle et la B?te), better known as "Beauty and the Beast". Collections of their fairy tales represent such an impressive variety of folklore themes. The French literary fairy tale is characterized by a combination of oral and book sources. In particular, Marie-Catherine d’Onua in his fairy tales often focuses on the Italian chivalric poems of Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso. Literary fairy tales are full of irony and self-irony, they contain deliberate childishness combined with gallantry, negligence, elevated into a creative principle. A distinctive feature of the works of Marie-Catherine d’Onua is an irony, it permeates all her works, ironic attacks on human vices, political events and the aristocratic society of that time are often used. It was from these writers that the great storyteller and poet Charles Perrault (1628-1703) drew inspiration, who made an invaluable contribution to the development of French fairy-tale literature. He wrote a total of eleven fairy tales based on folklore. It is rather ironic that the most famous French writer of that time was actually afraid of condemnation from high society for paying attention to the culture of "commoners": Charles Perrault published his version of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" (French: "La belle au bois dormant") anonymously, and the subsequent collection "Tales of Mother Goose", or "Stories or Tales of bygone Times" (French: "Histoires ou contes du temps pass?, avec des moralit?s", "Contes de ma m?re l'Oye", 1697), was published under the authorship of his son Pierre and dedicated to the niece of Louis XIV ^[18]. Cultural adaptations of Charles Perrault's folklore tales were originally created for educated aristocrats of the Renaissance, they combined traditions, national flavor and shades of gallant, graceful style, which at that time became widespread in the literary salons of France. However, Charles Perrault transformed the "low" fairy tale genre. His versions differed from the fairy tales of Italian predecessors, they excluded scenes of inhuman cruelty and violence, they emphasize the virtue, moral and moral qualities of the characters, show the advantages of obedience and diligence, patience and foresight, etc. ^[15]. He also abandoned the use of the popular sublime writing style characteristic of traditional salon literary tales, and retained the structure and folklore formulas typical of a folk tale ^[19]. Charles Perrault was convinced that the fairy-tale genre should certainly combine both teaching and fun: each of the "Tales of Mother Goose" has an afterword, which reveals the moral of the story and which is a didactic instruction for readers ^[8]. For example, the fairy tale "Bluebeard" (French "La Barbe bleue") teaches you to restrain excessive curiosity, and the fairy tale "Tom Thumb" (French "Le Petit Poucet"), that you should not judge a book by its cover. In the XVIII century, the literary works of Marie-Catherine d’Onua and Jeanne-Marie Leprance de Beaumont, together with the tales of Charles Perrault and other French authors, were published in the anthology "The Cabinet of Fairies" (French: "Le Cabinet des F?es", 1786-1789), consisting of forty-one volumes, which also included translations of Arabic folk prose, known as "One Thousand and One night" ^[7].

The literary French fairy tale reached its special heyday in the age of Enlightenment: during this period, the philosophical fairy tale, also known as the philosophical tale, reached the heights in Voltaire's work. The characters of these fairy tales are almost always distinguished by features of the native French national character, they are sociable, inquisitive and sometimes incredibly talkative. The works are full of satire and sarcasm on French society, and describe the way of life and traditions of that time. Anatole France calls this period of literary fairy tale development as the "Golden Age of Fairy Tales" ^[1]. In the 19th century, in the era of Romanticism, interest in fairy-tale literature increased again, writers were interested in folklore, which is considered an integral element of national culture. During this period, new works were created, for example, Gerard de Nerval collected folklore tales from the province of Valois, the writer George Sand adapted fairy tales from the Berry region (a historical province in the center of France). Fabulous literary reworkings of that period are full of grotesque and satire, parody folklore canons, include modern realities of that time, as well as literary reminiscences ^[1].

Summarizing, we can say that the genre of fairy tales occupied an important place in French literature throughout the entire period of Enlightenment and it was women storytellers who played an important role in its formation. Along with Charles Perrault, they stood at the origins of not only French, but also European literary fairy tales, and had a significant influence on the further formation of the fairy tale genre.  However, comparing their works with the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, it should be noted that his works are much closer to folklore samples than their direct literary sources and some of them are considered archetypal, universal narrative models ^[15]. I would especially like to note that many French storytellers borrowed the ideas of their famous Italian predecessors: for example, Henrietta-Julie de Castelnau de Murat in the preface to her collection of "New Fairy Tales" (fr. "Nouveaux contes de f?es") writes that fairy tales are written under the influence of J. F. Straparola and his "Pleasant Nights". In turn, Charles Perrault in his fairy tale "The Donkey's Skin" (Fran. Peau d'?ne) repeats the main plot lines and elements of the works of Gianbatista Basile "The Bear" (Italian. L'orza, 1634)) and Giovanni F. Straparola "Doralice" (Italian. «Doralice – Notte Prima, Favola IV»). However, unlike the Italian literary fairy tale, in French literature magic becomes an integral part of the fairy tale. And if Giovanni Francesco Straparola is just beginning to introduce wonderful assumptions into fairy-tale stories, and Gianbatista Basile strengthens the perception of magic as a kind of help received as a reward for the virtue of heroes, then one of the key features of French literary fairy tales is the embodiment of magic in the image of pure innocence, which happened under the influence of church views and Christian values of that time ^[12].

The development of the genre of fairy-tale German literature coincides with the era of Romanticism in Germany ^[9]. In the period from 1806 to 1814, a collection of folk songs "The Magic Horn of a Boy" was published. Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Alte deutsche Lieder), Clemens Bretano de la Roche (German: Clemens Brentano) together with Achim von Arnim (German: Achim von Arnim) release old German songs, a collection of folk tales by the Brothers Grimm has been published. Ernst Hoffmann creates such famous works as "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (German: Nu?knacker und Mausek?nig), "The Golden Pot" (German: Der goldne Topf: Ein M?rchen aus der neuen Zeit) and "Baby Zaches" (German: Klein Zaches, genannt Zinnober). The above-mentioned writers are prominent representatives of Heidelberg Romanticism (German. Heidelberger Romantik). The second generation of German Romantics turned to the idea of cultural and historical tradition, the problem of finding oneself and spiritual unity with nature, and the importance of religious consciousness. Representatives of the movement also drew their inspiration from oral folk art.

The creation of the genre of German literature is inextricably linked with the outstanding folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who turned to ancient legends to preserve them in the memory of people. In 1806, they began to collect fairy-tale plots that existed among the people, paying special attention to oral texts ^[7]. Jacob and Wilhelm were not the first to turn to the genre of the German fairy tale, but their innovation lay in the fact that they tried to record and publish fairy tales in a "folk", uncorrected form. It was extremely important for them to preserve fairy-tale texts in their original form, to convey their traditional nominal features, which is why they avoided serious literary processing. At the same time, Wilhelm was a supporter of literary adaptation of texts, but his older brother managed to convince him. Although they still had a certain literary processing when working with texts. The scenes and behavior of the characters were processed, the colorful narrative was enhanced, additional edifying elements were introduced and the moralizing component was strengthened. There is still a debate about the influence that collections of French storytellers had on the Brothers Grimm and on the formation of the German fairy tale as a whole. Similar studies can be found in Paul Delarue, Marc Soriano, Ute Heidemann, who in their works point to the influence of such fairy tales by Marie-Catherine d’He is known as the "White Cat" (fran. "La Biche au bois"), or "Forest deer" (French. "La Biche au bois"), by the Brothers Grimm ^[15]. It is known that most of the fairy-tale plots of the Brothers Grimm are based on famous French tales: thanks to the French roots of their storytellers, folk variations of French fairy tales and legends became the basis for their future fairy-tale plots. For example, eleven fairy tales have been published based on the stories of Mary Magdalene Elisaveta Hassennflug. The French storyteller Dorothea Feeman told no less than seventy-six fairy tales, forty of which were completely unknown to the Brothers Grimm. Thus, almost all of Charles Perrault's fairy tales ended up in later published collections of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm ^[20]. The collection of fairy tales by the brothers Grimm has more than two hundred fairy tales. They contain fairy tales, household tales and tales about animals. The first issues of fairy tales were severely criticized, as these fairy tales were regarded as completely unsuitable for children's reading due to inappropriate content and grotesque narration ^[21]. The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm have a large number of similar elements that create a complete individual author's picture. For example, in the vast majority of fairy tales there is a theme of patriotism, the idea of German perfectionism, clarity and pedantry, as well as respect for the native language and culture ^[22].  All this allows some scientists to distinguish the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm into a separate subgenre of German fairy-tale literature, the characteristic features of which are the use of dialectisms, diminutive words, even scenes of cruelty and bloodthirstiness, and all kinds of religious references in the narrative ^[22]. It is interesting to consider the use of diminutive words in German fairy tale literature. The diminutive form in German is formed using the suffixes -chen and -lein. In the works of the brothers Grimm, similar forms of words are often found, for example: tapfere schneidelein – brave little tailor, br?derchen – brother, scwesterchen – sister, r?tkappchen – little red riding hood ^[23]. Another feature of German fairy tales is their integrity, which is determined by the specifics of plot construction. The German fairy tale, as a rule, is presented in the form of a short story, all the events in which logically follow each other. In the finale of the work, there is necessarily a climax in which the main characters commit a fateful act ^[24]. As an example, let's give the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" (German: Hansel und Gretel), where the main task of the brother and sister is to return home safely after long wanderings through the forest and meeting with a dangerous witch. In the finale of the fairy tale, the main characters perform a feat and return home, which proves the logical construction and integrity of the German literary fairy tale. In the period from 1812 to 1814, the brothers Grimm published two volumes of collections of fairy tales "Children's and Family Tales" (German "Kinder- und Hausm?rchen"), which included 156 fairy tales. In 1819, a collection of fairy tales was published under the general title "Children's Legends" (German: "Kinderlegenden"), which additionally included nine magical stories. The Brothers Grimm called this collection an "educational book" (German: "Erziehnungsbuch"), in which they strove for the greatest reliability, truthfulness and justice of the magical stories they describe. Later, when the readership began to change towards the children's, most of the inappropriate details and details borrowed from folk folklore began to be censored by Wilhelm Grimm, and thus were removed or partially modified to comply with the established ethical standards of that time ^[14]. The modern German author's literary fairy tale originated in the second half of the XX century. One of the most significant works in this genre is the collection of fairy tales "The Salvation of the Saragossa Sea" (German. Die Rettung des Saragossameeres) by J. Walter and M. Voltaire, covering a large number of fairy tales created in the second half of the twentieth century ^[25]. The main characters of German fairy tales of the new era are no longer kings, princes, poor peasants and noble knights. The usual characters are replaced by singers, builders, athletes, translators and sailors. Such a variety of characters, combined with the philosophical issues raised in fairy tales, gives the genre a touch of science fiction ^[25]. A striking example is R. Krist's fairy tale "The Old Man and the Tree" (German. Der alte Mann und der Baum) the main character is a tree planting consultant, and in the fairy tale M. The herd "The dream of a chicken and a cockerel" (German. Der Traum vom H?hnchen und vom H?hnchen) the central characters are animals with their own personal problems and hardships of life.

Summing up the above, it is important to note that the genre of the German literary fairy tale has gone through a rather long path of its formation. In the era of Romanticism, strong feelings prevailed, which were expressed either in passionate love, or in ambition, envy, and greed. In romantic fairy tales, there is often the concept of fate, which leads the hero against the circumstances and thus he proves his worth. The ideas inherent in Romanticism soon came into conflict with the progressive ideas of the coming Enlightenment era, and certainly such a confrontation could not but have an impact on the development of German fairy-tale literature. German literature of that time quite often idealized the past, showed great interest in the national history of the country, during this period sentimentalism and the struggle against philistine materialism were at the forefront. New writers appeared, who gradually modified the genre and brought something new to it. However, the most significant milestone in the development of the German literary fairy tale is precisely the collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, which served as the basis for the formation of the German literary fairy tale.

         In the focus of the evolution of the genre, the English literary fairy tale stands apart, and its formation as a separate literary trend differs significantly from European fairy tale literature. The English fairy tale began its development much later: it was only at the end of the XIX century that various folklore plots began to be collected and recorded, it was during this period that the very first collections of English fairy tales were published. It is known that the English fairy tale tradition dates back to Celtic folklore. The legacy of the Celtic epic had a direct impact on the formation of the folklore of the peoples of Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man. Elements of Celtic mythology were preserved in epic and magical literary monuments, such as the Irish sagas of the Ulad cycle, the legends of Tristan and Isolde, and Celtic stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. However, these works gained their popularity in isolation from the Celtic epic, since they were borrowed and significantly influenced by French, German, English and Italian ^[26]. Until the middle of the XVIII century, the culture and literary heritage of the ancient Celts remained poorly studied. This was largely due to the fact that the Gaelic, Welsh and Irish languages, the bearers of the cultural traditions of the ancient Celts, were spoken by a relatively small number of people. In the 19th century, the earliest editions of two volumes of English folk tales appeared (English Fairy Tales, 1890), they belonged to the pen of Joseph Jacobs, president of the English Folklore club ^[10]. Joseph Jacobs is known as the "savior" of folk legends and plots, it was thanks to him that they were not irretrievably lost. It is important that he did not subject them to literary processing and tried as much as possible to preserve the original form of traditional English folklore plots. In his notes, Joseph Jacobs compared the work done with the works of the Brothers Grimm and apologized for the "scarcity" of his collections (they included 87 stories) ^[10]. As the author himself noted, if when compiling collections of English folklore tales he had difficulty finding material, then in the case of Celtic fairy tales, on the contrary, there was a question of choosing among a huge number of texts. He also made a huge contribution to the preservation of Celtic legends and captured extraordinary fairy tales in the collections "Celtic Fairy Tales" (1892) and "More Celtic Fairy Tales" (1894).  Unique Welsh and Irish fairy tales were also presented in the collections of Jeremiah Curtin ("Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland", 1890), Peter Henry Emerson ("Welsh Fairy-Tales And Other Stories", 1894) and William Henry Frost ("Fairies and Folk of Ireland", 1900) ^[14].  In his collection, Jeremiah Curtin provides translations of fairy tales from Gaelic into English, while conveying the national and cultural characteristics and flavor of works of Celtic origin. The most authoritative collection of "Colored Fairy Tale Books" (English: "The Lang's Fairy Books", 1889-1914) was published by Andrew Lang and contained folklore and literary tales from around the world. It consisted of 798 magical stories included in 12 books, each of which was named by the color of the cover. As E. Lang himself wrote, these volumes were intended for children's reading and represented a kind of "untouched chronicle of the origin of culture" ^[27]. Thanks to the "Colored Fairy Tale Books", Andrew Lang gained fame in the English literary world and had a significant impact on the popularity of fairy tales in the UK. As for literary fairy tales, the formation of this genre of English fairy-tale literature dates back to the middle of the XIX century. In the Victorian era, fairy tales are more perceived as an effective way to teach the younger generation moral lessons. Like most European storytellers, English authors created their works for both children's and adult audiences ^[10]. The English folklore tradition is vividly traced in Charles Dickens's collection "Christmas Stories" (English "The Christmas Book", 1843-1848).  In fact, Charles Dickens created a special kind of fairy tale – a Christmas tale: his fairy tale is a sentimental, touching work full of weirdos and ghosts. It should be noted that the English literary fairy tale is distinguished by a special predilection for supernatural phenomena, infernal creatures (tales of Oscar Wilde), it is also characterized by strange and unusual actions of the characters (a Christmas tale by Charles Dickens) ^[28].  One of the most famous English literary fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland (English: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), appeared in 1865, its author, mathematics professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, published a work under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.  This is the first English literary fairy tale with a child as the main character, it is known for its witty humor, the use of language games, references to sad and even tragic motives. Subsequently, she became an example for many English literary fairy tales. ^[29]. The mysterious fairy-tale worlds created in Oscar Wilde's collection of fairy tales "The Happy Prince and Other Stories" (English: "The Happy Prince and Other Tales", 1888) reflected the struggle against taboo social themes, touched upon issues of religion and morality, raised questions of English parenting practices and their role in society.  The famous instructive stories of Rudyard Kipling, collected in The Jungle Book, introduce young readers to distant exotic countries, their customs, traditions and customs. Many fairy tales did not have the usual happy ending, which contrasted with the generally accepted literary trends of the Victorian era. Oscar Wilde's fairy tales and parables, filled with grotesque images, heavy philosophical arguments, harsh life situations and conflicts, are especially pessimistic ^[14].

Thus, English literary fairy tales arose due to different sources and fairy-tale plots fell on the territory of the British Isles in different time periods. Some stories got their spread from Celtic mythology, they adapted to local folklore, became part of it, and subsequently found reflection in collections of collectors of folk tales and folklore. Some of the fairy-tale plots came to the UK already in literary form through the works of famous European storytellers. Their subsequent cultural adaptation was part of the author's creative process and partly reflected the ideas of the Victorian era: in English fairy tales, considerable attention was paid to diligence, economy and moderation, virtue was put at the forefront, the ideas of public morality peculiar to English society of that time were increasingly broadcast in fairy-tale plots. It should be noted that the English fairy tale was significantly influenced by French fairy-tale literature and for a long time bore the imprint of Puritanism, setting itself the goal of educating the best moral qualities in a young reader. Most English authors set themselves the task not only to entertain the public and awaken the imagination of both children and adults, but also to teach them lessons of Victorian morality. In the literary fairy tale of that time, an attempt was made to retain the values of the Victorian era, to create new ethical norms based on centuries-old folk experience, which is an authoritative proof and justification of existing social norms and moral values. Writers are trying to create a system of generally binding ideals, ideas and prescriptions that can express the interests of certain social groups and be a social reference point in Victorian society.

The historical roots of the Spanish folklore tale should be sought in the controversial history of the Iberian Peninsula. Interest in the study of Spanish folklore arose in the 19th century under the influence of new ideas of the Romantic era, during the rise of national consciousness. The Spanish folklore heritage is the main link between the origins of the Spanish national culture and its present, which makes it possible to trace the development of the cultural heritage and originality of the people of Spain. The phenomenon of Spanish folklore lies in the fact that in the Middle Ages it played a significant role in the history of world folklore, acting as a kind of mediator between European and Muslim culture. Traditionally, Spanish folk tales can be understood as a variety of folklore texts, as a rule, made in the Castilian language in its dialect diversity, and which can be found in the texts of fairy tales in other languages of the Iberian Peninsula ^[30]. Just as Oriental literary monuments left a significant influence on Italian fairy-tale plots, so thanks to Andalusian literature (known as Spanish-Arabic literature), European fairy-tale literature became acquainted with outstanding examples of Oriental folklore literature, the plots of some were later changed in accordance with national flavor, traditions, mentality, ethical norms and became outstanding examples European folklore literature.

The originality and originality of Spanish fairy-tale literature is closely related to the Andalusian culture (as scientists call Spanish-Arabic literature) ^[31]. Spanish oral folk art dates back to the time of the ancient inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula: the Iberians, Celtiberians, Tartessians possessed highly developed art and possessed writing. It is worth noting that the Greek and Roman cultural heritage made an invaluable contribution to the development of the culture of the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula: it was their literature that largely served as the basis for various folklore motifs and plots ^[32]. Considering the genre of the Spanish folk tale, it is necessary to mention some facts that had a significant impact on its content and development: the various peoples who inhabited the Iberian Peninsula and the historical events that took place from the VIII to the XV centuries, the period of the Reconquista and the further formation of a single Spanish centralized state. Taking into account these factors, it can be argued that the Spanish folk tale is a vivid combination of Arabic and European traditions, which distinguishes it from the rest of European fairy tale literature. In the period from the VIII to the XV centuries, in connection with the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the genre of Spanish folk tales was strongly influenced by Arab culture. In the 11th century, King Alfonso VI of Castile discovered hundreds of thousands of Arabic books in the libraries of Toledo, including translations of works by ancient authors. This factor has contributed to the development of translation activities in Spain. During the reign of Alfonso X the Wise (1252-1284), the school of translators in Toledo became a kind of guide between the literary world of the West and the East. At this time, the collection of fairy tales, fables and parables of ancient Indians "Panchatantra" was translated from Arabic into Castilian, later it was from this source that Spanish storytellers drew their plots to create fascinating stories. In the XVI century, the Spanish fairy tale was experiencing its heyday, it is associated with such Spanish folklorists as Juan de Timoneda, Sebastian May, Melchor de Santa Cruz, Juan de Argijo and others. They collect song and fairy-tale texts and create their own literary works based on them. Collections of fairy tales and parables by Juan de Timonel were published in Valencia under the title "Sweet Viands, or the joy of travelers" (Spanish: "El Sobremesa y Alivio de Caminantes"b 1563), "Good Advice, or a Collection of parables" ("El buen aviso y portacuentos", 1564) and "The Funnyman" ("El Patra?uelo", 1565).  In 1613, the first illustrated edition of fairy tales for children, written in Castilian by Sebastian May, was published there in Valencia. Andalusian writer and poet Juan de Argijo is known not only as a brilliant sonneteer, whose works made him one of the examples of neoclassical literature along with Renaissance writers of the XVI century, but also as a narrator of folk tales, anecdotes and jokes.  In 1902, they were published under the title "Sales Espa?olas o Agudezas del Ingenio Nacional". All these arbitrariness were extremely popular among the population of the Iberian Peninsula. ^[33]

Largely thanks to Spanish literature and translations from Spanish, Europe was able to get acquainted with a large number of outstanding works of medieval literature of the East, the most popular and famous of which were the Book of the Thousand and One Nights (IX century) and the Book of the Seven Sages (VIII–IX centuries) ^[34]. The Spanish folk tale was able not only to borrow, but also to transform and streamline inherited Arab values, traditions and customs, and Indian folklore is often present in its plots. In medieval Spain, there was a genuine interest in fairy-tale motifs and plots, but it was extremely difficult to find works dedicated to oral folk art until the XVIII century. Since the beginning of the Romantic era, interest in ancient legends and tales, legends and myths has been revived throughout European culture. In the middle of the XIX century, folklore heritage began to be studied with renewed vigor in Spain. It is significant that European romantic folklorists, and first of all, the world-famous brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, had a great influence on Spanish folklore collectors. Spanish folklorists tried to preserve the aesthetic and didactic function of folklore, moreover, with the help of literary processing they managed to achieve an even greater "folklore effect" in their works ^[33].  The outstanding Spanish collector of folklore Cecilia Belle de Faber (Spanish Cecilia B?hl de Faber) is known for not only collecting and adapting various Spanish children's folk fairy tales, but also published several collections under the pseudonym Fernan Caballero. The most famous and popular "Folk and Children's Tales, sayings, riddles and proverbs" (Spanish: "Cuentos, Adivinanzas y Rrefranes Populares e Infantiles") was published in 1878 ^[31]. This collection can rightfully be considered the first example of Spanish children's literature.

In the 20th century, the number of collections of Spanish folk tales increased significantly, which is largely due to the activities of the famous folklorist Aurelio M. Espinosa (Spanish Espinosa, Aurelio M.), who presented a large number of Spanish folk tales in the form of written texts and based on them compiled his own collections, which include one of the largest collections of Spanish fairy tales – "Spanish Folk Tales" (Spanish "Cuentos Populares Espa?oles", 1926). At the same time, he managed to preserve and convey the stylistic and linguistic features of the original folklore works ^[31]. It is impossible not to mention the famous Spanish folklorist, collector of Spanish folk legends and plots Antonio Machado Alvarez (Spanish Antonio Machado Alvarez), who published the "Library of Folk Traditions" (Spanish Biblioteca de las tradiciones populares espa?olas, (1883-1886)), which included forty-four fairy tales from various regions of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the works of Antonio de Trueba y La Quintana (Spanish Antonio de Trueba y La Quintana), a famous collector of folklore of the peoples of the Basque country and the author of Basque folk tales “Cuentos Populares de Vizcaya”, Catalans Francisco de S. Maspons and Labros (Spanish Francisco Masp?ns I Labr?s), Jacinta Berdaguera Santiago (Spanish Jacint Verdaguer i Santal?). The first published three collections of famous Catalan fairy tales "Lo Rondallayre: Contes Populars Catalans (1871-1875)", the second became famous as the author of the books "Rondalles" (1905) and "Folk-lore" (1907). Subsequently, the Spanish folk tale was constantly developing, successfully combining both the traditions of European and Oriental culture. Playing the role of an important mediator between Eastern and European culture in the Middle Ages, she introduced European society to the best examples of Oriental folklore texts, many of which she later assimilated and gave them a special sound, making them accessible to the rest of the European community. It is important that the genre of the Spanish folk tale conveys not only the invaluable centuries-old experience of the Spaniards and the features of local culture, but also national and cultural characteristics, the unique national flavor of other nationalities and countries, especially the culture of the East. Among other things, the linguistic diversity on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula determines the peculiarities of the Spanish folk tale and Spanish folklore in general.

 All of the above allows us to draw the following conclusions: European fairy tale literature has gone through a long path of development and the change of epochs had a significant impact on its formation and development; Renaissance fairy tales differ from medieval plots by referring to real events prevailing in this period of time, local customs in all their diversity; the free Renaissance era gives the world an Italian fairy tale, which lays the foundation of European fairy-tale literature; Romanticism revives interest in folklore creativity and gives the world a literary fairy tale as a genre; the Age of Enlightenment changes medieval fairy-tale plots and Renaissance plots, now they more resemble edifying stories that originate from ancient myths, representing a consistent stylization of a folklore pattern with less focus on the fairy-tale canon; The Victorian era gives the fairy tales a primness and further enhances their moralizing character. The literary fairy tale of the late XIX and early XX centuries is changing established plots, new characters are replacing the usual ones, more and more attention is being paid to various philosophical reflections and judgments, which to some extent give the genre of fairy tales a shade of science fiction. It is important to note that in the European literary tradition, as in oral folk art, certain plots can be repeated and vary, which proves the proximity of a literary fairy tale in structure to a folk one. Thus, at the end of the XVII century, the fairy tale genre was firmly rooted in European literature, and the fairy tale acquired the status of a literary work.

Using the example of the development of Italian, French, German, English and Spanish fairy-tale literature, many similarities and differences have been revealed; over the centuries, fairy-tale plots reflect the worldview of various peoples, their attitude to the world around them, original traditions and customs, ideas of public morality, etc. Each culture, each author brought something new to the genre of fairy-tale literature Indian Arabic and Persian fairy tales introduce readers to the philosophy of antiquity, Italian fairy tales both fascinate and frighten, refined French fairy tales, on the contrary, are exalted and put morality and virtue at the forefront. German fairy tales are distinguished by simplicity and folk character, in turn, English fairy tales rely less on their folklore roots and focus on pressing social concerns and problems. Spanish fairy-tale literature is full of poetry and originality, it surprisingly combined European and Oriental traditions and plots, thus introducing Europeans to classical samples of Oriental folklore texts, and became a guide of European folklore traditions to the countries of the East.

A fairy tale turns into a kind of compass for society, it is able to fix fundamental traditional values in people's memory, allows them to return to the origins of culture, and is an essential element of cultural consciousness. This unique and multifaceted genre of literature carefully preserves and transmits the rich accumulated experience to subsequent generations, vividly and distinctively reflects national spiritual values, introduces the original and unique cultures of other countries. The fairy-tale plots express the system of values and moral norms of the era in which the author creates. The writer not only tells, but also fixes in his works the ideals, ethical norms and values of his historical epoch. The universal paradox of fairy-tale literature is that fairy tales create a special artistic world, embodying it in a special literary form: the artistic world created in a fairy tale lives according to its own fictional laws. Having incorporated a variety of mythical plots and images, the fairy tale is gradually enriched with new forms of artistic fiction, often acquires an unfunny, ironic tone, sets readers up in a special way and thus distracts them from everyday life. A fairy tale story is transformed into a fascinating, striking, extraordinary story, which is facilitated by traditional initial, medial and final formulas that allow the listener to join the unique atmosphere of a fairy tale. The special artistic world of the fairy tale allows you to create an extraordinary magical reality that is able to preserve the fundamental values inherent in both an individual nation and civilization as a whole.  All this allows fairy tales to become a fundamental way of educating the reader not only in childhood, but also throughout life.