10 Most Popular Fairy Tale Stories of All Time

“Once upon a time”, when we were kids, bedtime stories used to be the best part of our lives. It took us to a completely different world of imagination where we could fly over the clouds and swim in the chocolate fountain. Among them, Fairy Tales are the most fascinating ones, they grip us in the enchanting new world of beautiful fairies, captive princesses, wretched witches, brave soldiers, talking animals, and many other characters. 

Listening to them we always wanted to be a part of those tales, we imagined how exciting it would be to live with the dwarfs as Snow White or visit a ball with Cinderella. These were not only mere stories but taught children values of life, such as kindness, endurance, perseverance, etc. 

10 Most Popular Fairy Tale Stories of All Time

So here are some classic fairy tale stories for your children, siblings, or even for yourself, we have picked the most famous ones: 

1. Cinderella

“This one is everyone’s favorite and one of the most popular fairy tale!”

Cinderella is a tale of a sweet and humble girl who lived with her stepmom and evil stepsisters who made her life horrible. But as the story moves forward she was given the most beautiful gift of life, her prince charming (thanks to her glass slippers), and lived happily ever after. In our childhood, we all wanted a fairy Godmother to change our life like that. We wanted to wear that beautiful dress and look the prettiest.

The story of Cinderella has many versions and was first written by a French author Charles Perrault wrote it again in the year 1697 under the name “Cendrillon ou la petite pantoufle de Verre”. After that in the year 1812, the Grimm brothers wrote it again in English, after the death of a little girls’ mother. But the version by Marcia Brown became the best and came out to be the most popular among all. Though, the book became alive in the year 1950, when Walt Disney produced the animated musical fantasy “Cinderella” and showed us the ability to achieve success through positive behavior surrounded by negativity. 

2. Sleeping Beauty

“This child on her 16th birthday shall get pricked on finger by the spindle of spinning wheel and DIE”, called out old witch Maleficent, and that’s how the story of Sleeping Beauty began.

The beautiful Princess Aurora was the only child of the king and queen of France and was gifted to them after many years of marriage. On her name day, the king and queen invited every fairy in the kingdom except Maleficent, which made her angry and she cursed the child. But with the help of good fairies, rather than dying Aurora slept for 100 years and that’s how the story proceeds. After 100 years the sleeping beauty was found by her prince charming who kissed her and she woke up from her long sleep and got married to him. 

Reading this story in childhood always taught us “Good things take time” (prince charming). Though the fairy tale was first published by an Italian poet Giambattista Basile, not a complete book but in his book of tales The Pentamerone (published posthumously in 1634). Although the most popular version came out to be the movie produced by Walt Disney in the year 1959 which was based on the version of Charles Perrault and is loved till today.

3. Rapunzel

The long beautiful hair of Rapunzel was the dream of every girl. The tale takes us back to the 16th century where a small girl was snatched away from her parents and kept as a prisoner by a witch in a long tower. She was the prettiest and her golden mane about 70 feet long was the biggest attraction. 

Again written by the Grimm brothers in their classic fairy tales of short bedtime stories where Rapunzel finds her prince charming after a lot of struggle. The witch used to climb the tower with her hair and was once seen by the prince who did the same. But the love story comes to an end when the wicked witch finds out about it and cuts the beautiful long hair of Rapunzel and makes the prince blind. Though the story proceeds, the love birds get back together and live happily ever after. 

After Grimm Brothers wrote it in the year 1812, the story was adapted by many writers in different languages. Another version Friedrich Schulz (1790), was written by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force in french. Although the book was great, we absolutely loved the movie by Walt Disney named Tangled released in the year 2010.

4. The Frog Prince

One of the most popular tales of the 19th century The Frog Prince is a sweet quirky story where the princess accepts to help a frog in return for marriage.

The story begins when the lovely princess loses her favorite golden ball in the pond and the frog comes to her rescue. The frog asked her to take him with her and as he starts living with her the curse breaks and comes out the handsome prince who was enchanted by a witch. Though the princess was reluctant to stay with the frog buts she still kisses him, upon seeing the prince she was taken aback by his personality and they both lived happily ever after.

The first version of the book was written by Grimm Brothers in their collection Children’s and Household Tales in the year 1812. After that Hilary Robinson adapted it and wrote a complete story, which was loved by all. The movie came out in the year 1986 in Germany which was a musical film. After that many animated movies were released and liked by everyone.

5. Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

“Mirror Mirror on the wall; who is the fairest of them all? and do not lie, we also said the same line standing in front of the mirror many times.”

As the name suggests, Snow White was named after the color of her skin, which was fair as snow, lips red as rose, and hair black as coal. She was the most beautiful girl but her beauty brought devastation to her life. After the death of her mother, Snowwhite’s father married again and the queen was self-obsessed. She used to see herself in her magic mirror and asked “Mirror Mirror on the wall; who is the fairest of them all?

Though every time the mirror said her name, but one time when the mirror saw Snow White it took her name her name. Enraged with anger and jealousy queen asked her men to kill the child and bring her heart. But listening that Snow White runs away into the deep forest where she meets her rescuers the “7 Dwarfs”. As the story moves forward fate helps Snow White and she wins the heart of many with her gentleness and kindness.

Again written by the Grimm brothers in the 19th century it was one of the most popular bedtime stories. It was adapted by many writers but when Walt Disney produced the story in the year 1937 with the name Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, children just went crazy about it and the producers earned a lot of profit. It was also released as a cartoon and I bet you all must have watched it in your childhood. 

6. Beauty and the Beast

This is the story of a sweet girl Belle from France who was taken to prison by the fierce beast while saving her father. Once when Belle’s father who was a peasant coming back from the market after selling his things was attacked by a pack of wolves, who then for saving his life takes shelter in an abandoned castle. Without knowing the truth the castle is cursed and living inside is a beast. 

On seeing the intruder in his castle the beast without listening to anything captures the man. After hearing this Belle cannot stop herself but goes to rescue her father. But upon watching such a beautiful girl in years the Beast asks Belle to take her father but in return, she will have to stay with him. As the story progresses Belle falls in love with the beast and with love and kindness, Belle turns him into a good human being.

The original version of this bedtime stories was written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in the 18th century (1740). It was again rewritten by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in Magasin des enfants (a children’s book). Apart from these, this book had many versions and people liked them. Now talking about the movies, Disney produced 4 versions between 1971-2017 and all of them pleasantly enchanted the audiences. 

7. The Snow Queen

Snow Queen is the story of friendship and love between friends, who loved each other for eternity. The evil snow queen who lived far away in Lapland captures Kai and takes him away with her into the frozen land. That’s when his friend Greda starts searching for him and finds him after defeating all the obstacles. They find each other and with Greda’s courage and determination, she brings Kai home to his family. Originally written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen was published in the year 1844. 

The interlard described in the book mesmerized us and as small children we were flattered about the talking animals. The struggle between good and evil caught everyone’s eye hence book was loved by all. The Snow Queen was then adapted by Disney and they released their own version of the movie named “Frozen” in the year 2013, the characters Anaa and Elsa were admired and the movie was an ultimate success. Smitten by that the makers made 3 more parts and they were also loved by all.

8. Hansel and Gretel

Another famous bedtime stories of all times Hansel and Gretel is a admired by children all over the world. The tough life of two innocent kids in jungle, keeps everyone captivated throughout the tale. Abandoned by their wicked stepmother, Hansel and Gretel while wandering in the forest eat a delectable piece of gingerbread and gets captured by a wicked flesh eating witch. In the entire story the children are portrayed doing struggle for escaping that horrifying place and they get success by shoving the wicked witch into the fiery oven.

The complete narrative is full of dangers and has been showcased as a source of wholesome entertainment for children. The book Hansel and Gretel is believed that the adaptation was inspired by the Great Famine of Europe during the 14th century. But the most famous version which is loved by the people all round the world was recorded 500 years later since the original event by Grimm Borthers.

9. Jack and the Beanstalk

As kids we used to love adventours stories and Jack and the Beanstalk is one of them. Jack a small kid who loves to play and prank one time fo a couple of magic beans trades his family cow. But little did he know that those beans were going to change his life forever. The magical beans just the night after sowing them the beans sprouts into a giant tree and fulfilling his wish of climbing the giant’s castle and stealing his magical possessions.

The most famous bedtime stories Jack and the Beanstalk was written by many and the first version came out in the year 1734, by J.Roberts. It was titled as Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean. But in the year 1890 Joseph Jacobs penned down the most famous version which people liked a lot. In the year 1922 Disney released a Laugh-O-Grams film which was directed by Walt Disney. Then in the year 2001, Jim Henson Company created a mini series as Jim Henson’s Jack and the Beanstalk which was directed by Brian Henson.

10. Puss in Boots

In every fairy tale we have seen animal who help the protagonist but, here in this story animal is the STAR! This puss is swaggster, trickest and what not, but is adored by all. In the movie he pretends to be a servent of a noble man and while working there he gets the man do everything for him, thus gaining amazing swashbuckling boots. The story setback in 16th century and during that time when people used to walk barefoot, cat having boots was quite astonishing.

The story symbolizes wit that how cat gets boots as having shoes during those time signified the wealth of people. This book first time was written by Charles Perrault (1628–1703). However, there are numerous adaptations but this bedtime story got most famous when in year 2011 animated movie was released. There are 4 parts of the movie, Puss in boots, Puss in boots the three Diablos, The adventure of puss in boots and Puss in boots the last wish.

Conclusion

So, here were a few of the best fairy tales or bedtime stories of all time which gave us some real-life lessons. Helps in exploring new things and encourages one to do good deeds. So, now go and read out these amazing books and fall in love with the amazing characters!!