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Traditional or ‘folk’ tales include myths, legends, fables and fairy tales. Often originating in the oral tradition, examples exist in most cultures, providing a rich, culturally diverse resource for children’s reading and writing. Many of these stories served an original purpose of passing on traditional knowledge or sharing cultural beliefs.
They tend to have themes that deal with life’s important issues and their narrative structures are often based on a quest, a journey or a series of trials and forfeits.
Characters usually represent the archetypical opposites of good and evil, hero and villain, strong and weak or wise and foolish.
The style of traditional stories usually retains links with their origins in oral storytelling: rich, evocative vocabulary, repetition and patterned language, and strong use of imagery. When written in a traditional style, they also use some archaic language forms and vocabulary. Many regional stories include localised vocabulary and dialect forms.
Different types of traditional tales tend to have some narrative features (purpose, characters, language, style, structure) of their own:
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Purpose: Fairy tales were originally intended for adults and children. They were passed down orally to amuse and to convey cultural information that influences behaviour, such as where it is safe to travel and where it is dangerous to go. Fairy tales are found in most cultures and many derive from the oldest stories ever told. Some modern fairy tales could be included in the more recently categorised genre of ‘fantasy’. Link to:
Year 1 Narrative - Unit 2 - Stories from a range of cultures/Predictable patterned language |
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| Generic structure | Language features | Knowledge for the writer |
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Setting is nearly always vague. (Once upon a time ... A long, long time ago ...) Structure is most typically a recount in chronological order, where events retell what happened to a main character that came into contact with the ‘fairy world’. Often the hero or heroine is searching for something (a home, love, acceptance, wealth, wisdom) and in many tales dreams are fulfilled with a little help from magic. ‘Fairy tale endings’ (where everything turns out for the best) are common but many fairy tales are darker and have a sad ending. |
Formulaic sentences are used: Once upon a time ... There was once a ... Long ago in the ... And it came to pass ... Language often reflects the settings, in the past, using archaic or regional vocabulary and grammar: Say these words thrice! I shall return and take thy gold. He knew not where he was. |
Characters may be fairy folk or even talking animals but make sure they are still interesting, believable characters your reader will care about, e.g. a good-hearted hero, a scheming villain, a wise helper. Decide how the world of people and the world of fairy land will come into contact and how this will cause a problem. Use numbers and patterns that usually appear in fairy tales: the numbers 3 and 7. Use phrases that have a strong rhyme or rhythm or another kind of pattern: a magic sentence is repeated several times during the story, the hero must say a secret rhyme to escape, a line is used at the beginning of each section or chapter. (On and on walked the little old man.) Use different styles of language for the human beings and the characters from the fairy world when they speak, to make a strong contrast between them:
“Eeeek! Who are you, you wrinkly old thing?” asked Tom. |
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