Posted on 06/09/2016 4:55:27 PM PDT by SteveH
When it comes to the origin of Western fairy tales, the 19th century Brothers Grimm get a lot of the credit. Few scholars believe the Grimms were actually responsible for creating the tales, but academics probably didn’t realize how old many of these stories really are. A new study, which treats these fables like an evolving species, finds that some may have originated as long as 6000 years ago.
The basis for the new study, published in Royal Society Open Science, is a massive online repository of more than 2000 distinct tales from different Indo-European cultures known as the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which was compiled in 2004. Although not all researchers agree on the specifics, all modern Indo-European cultures (encompassing all of Europe and much of Asia) descended from the Proto-Indo-European people who lived during the Neolithic Period (10,200 B.C.E.–2000 B.C.E.) in Eastern Europe. Much of the world’s modern language is thought to have evolved from them.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
Like bigger and bigger government with more and more regulations and higher and higher taxes can solve problems
It seems to me that most of the ancient Greek myths were basically fairy tales. They often used Gods and Goddesses but still basically the same thing.
Some of these folktales exist in variations in almost every culture on the planet, which are pretty good evidence for a very ancient origin. Most people have heard about universal myths like the flood stories, but folk tales and fairy stories are sometimes just as universal and don’t get as much attention. For example, the “bogey man” story, when we tell children a bad man will come and snatch them up at night if they don’t obey their parents/do their chores/etc, is found in some form in almost every culture.
Of course the “bogey man” has different names, and there are all sorts of embellishments to the story, but if you told the basic story to an African villager, or an Aborigine, or a Mongolian, they would all recognize the tale.
They don’t use original Grimm stories. In Cinderella, the two step-sister’s eyes are put out by doves as they are led away to the palace dungeon.
Oldest fairy tale: “you will be like God”.
Interesting. Thanks for the post.
They told stories about homosexuals way back then?
This article is a complete lie.
Many of the world’s favorite fairly tales were created in the U.S. By Walt Disney himself!
Nice try.
Who created the fairy tale that Hillary Clinton actually accomplished something while serving as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State?
Whomever took the biggest hit of weed and LSD at the NY Times.
Saved for reading.
Always fascinated by fairy tales. They are primal and based on dreams and of coming of age. There are girls’ fairy tales and boys’ the difference being the elements
Many good movies are fairy tales. Literal translations or just in their elements
Princess bride is a Fairy tale It is a boys’ fairy tale regardless of the title. Ditto lion king and beauty and the beast. It’s why you.catch dads enjoying them
The grimms used the newly invented press (Guttenberg) to publish age old oral tales, which exist in cultures all over the world.
Well it’s a great topic
My thinking is that superhero stories are influenced by Greek, Roman and Norse myths
Another old fairy tale, “Socialism works”
No. That’s a biblical tale it’s not a redemptive. Oming of age story. It’s actually a tragedy fairy tales have villains and evil even tragedy within but they are not tragedies. We equate them with lies but they are based on universal truths Good is good evil is bad
I despise that.
Well, I meant it in a light-hearted way, as the colloquial expression of “fairy tale” meaning something completely untrue. The serpent introduces falsehood into the world.
Ping
I’d guess that there is no shortage of Fairies at the NYT.
or a Mongolian, they would all recognize the tale.
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