Help: Fairy Tales

[Crusader]

My father used to read me a lot of fairy tales before sleeping time when I was a kid and I always loved listening to these tales (ahh...priceless childhood memories). I have a problem now that came up after some beers and one of those conversations you can only have at 2 am in the morning. The problem is:
When we hear the word fairy tale the first images that pop up inside your head are a knight/prince in white armor on his white charger and a dragon that has captured a damsel/princes in distress.

Now the real problem is that I can't put these images into a non modern fairy tale. Has Hollywood/Disney/Dreamworks created those images in the last few decades or do they really have an old origin in fairy tale folklore.

So my fairy tale books have all moved to the attic or my aunt's kids and tonight I spent some time on the web and in my memories without any luck. But some of the people here on the forums do have kids of their own now and maybe they spent their precious time on telling them those timeless stories...and so they might be able to help me on my quest for finding a fairy tale including these images.

[Ryan Pode]

Most of the modern fairy tale movies tend to be based off the Grimm Brother's stuff. The Brother's Grimm collected their fairy tales from word of mouth throughout villages in centeral Europe. If that's the information you're looking for.

[Darven]

They are almost all based off the Grimm's brothers fairy tales or Anderson's fairy tales - but even those were no more than collectors of folk tales that had existed for hundreds of years and were passed down from generation to generation. Interesting enough every culture has their own YET they still sound similar.

It's a shame that nowadays almost every fairy tale book one picks up has the same kind of (mental) pictures in it.... there's not much variation of it anymore. And they're horribly short, and to the point, etc...

I've got a couple of old books at home with fairy tales, and I can tell you, they are nothing like the "modern crap" we have nowadays. Not just that the tales are a lot richer in expressions and detail, but also that they paint a much richer image.

Try "The King of Elfland's Daughter", by Lord Dunsany. Or any of the proper collections of Grimm's fairytales.

[Crusader]

Thanks for the replies but I think I have not explained my point right.

I am looking for a fairy tale that features a knight in shiny white armor that slays a dragon in order to save a damsel in distress.
The point is that I doubt that such a tale exists although it is quoted by movies like Shrek or Enchanted as the ultimate archetype for fairy tales.

[Ryan Pode]

Look up the myth of Saint George. And finally, taking a class on mythology pays off.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thanks for the replies but I think I have not explained my point right.

I am looking for a fairy tale that features a knight in shiny white armor that slays a dragon in order to save a damsel in distress.
The point is that I doubt that such a tale exists although it is quoted by movies like Shrek or Enchanted as the ultimate archetype for fairy tales.

Well I don't think there is a fairy tale that fits that maybe Sleeping Beauty to some extent. The most famous story about a knight saving a damsel in distress is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. That was written sometime in the middle ages. Pretty much most of the King Arthur stories detail stuff like that.

[Peter McCoy]

You won't find an original, pure fairy tale in literary form - the original tale will have been passed around by word of mouth, changing slightly each time - (the oral tradition) - until it was eventually written down by whomever decided to do so.

One fairy tale that stems from the oral tradition, which I think would fit the knight in shining armour saving a damsel from mortal peril archetype is Sleeping Beauty. But I'm basing that off the Disney version so you may find the 'original' to be different if you locate a copy.

Check out stuff by hans Christian Andersen, apparently his tales are all original and did not originate in the oral tradition (but that doesn't mean the word-of-mouth tales weren't his inspiration).

But to my knowledge, fairy tales are a lot more child-like than the knight vs dragon situation. That's more into the realms of 'high/heroic/epic fantasy' and 'sword and sorcery' - Arthurian fantasy is another fantasy genre.

Really the archetype you're looking for would be considered fantasy of some kind, and fairy tales are a genre of fantasy so they may overlap somewhere if you look hard enough. But my guess is you won't find an 'original' fairy tale with a dragon and a noble knight - I'm betting that image is fairly rooted in heroic fantasy - the genre's may have just intertwined somewhere down the line.

Furthermore, Dragons are older than fantasy - at least fantasy in it's literary form. Dragons traditionally come from mythology, particularly Nordic mythology. And the image varies depending on the location the myth originates from. The typical european dragon is the stereotypical one (think Harry Potter or Dragonheart) whereas chinese dragons are much more snake-like.

As for a heroic figure slaying a beast to save his romantic interest, you need only look at the tale of Perseus, who cut Medusa's head in order to defeat the Kraken who was going to eat Andromeda just because Hera was having a hissy-fit over the queen saying her daughter was more beautiful than the wife of Zeus...

Gotta love those ancient Greeks :p

[Razielle Alastor]

As for a heroic figure slaying a beast to save his romantic interest, you need only look at the tale of Perseus, who cut Medusa's head in order to defeat the Kraken who was going to eat Andromeda just because Hera was having a hissy-fit over the queen saying her daughter was more beautiful than the wife of Zeus...

Gotta love those ancient Greeks :p

Exactly so. Very nicely said.. :) The Greek tale's are what I read to my kids most nights - albeit kids safe versions.