Fairy Tales is a heading for all the stories we tell. Most important are the stories of our own heritage. I was fortunate to grow up among storytellers. My mother, my father, and my sisters and brother told me stories of my family. They repeated the same stories frequently and still do. For each of us humans, our own stories, the stories of our line, are the most precious. But the stories of our elders, the elders of our human race, are treasures that will be lost if we do not hear them. In listening to the elderly, in particular, we capture a world that will never be again. Everyone has stories. I receive numerous requests from people asking how to tell their stories. TELL THEM. Just tell them. Orally or with the silent and less potent form of the written Word.

When telling fairy tales orally, remember that you are perfectly free to change them as much as you like. For instance, who says that the children in THE SNOW QUEEN must be named Gerda and Kai? And who defines Kai's behavior when the icicle freezes his heart? Personally, I think it made him hate girls, a common affliction of young boys.... You get the idea. Also, enjoy the play of creating your own stories to tell aloud. You don't have to know how it will end when it begins; simply create a character and give the character a problem. Things should take care of themselves from there.

Books:

The Mabinogian (Everyman)

Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory

The Romance of Tristan, a new translation by Renée L. Curtis (Oxford World's Classics)

Sooo romantic. (This edition is out-of-print, other versions are available.