How old are fairy tales?
In short: Some tales are probably thousands of years old. A 2016 study by Sara Graça da Silva and Jamshid Tehrani compared versions across Indo-European languages and estimated that The Smith and the Devil may be around 6,000 years old, Jack and the Beanstalk around 5,000, and Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast around 4,000. These are estimates, and other scholars debate them.
How can you date a story that was never written?
Researchers treat tales like species. They compare many versions, build a family tree of how they relate and look at where in the world they are told. Stories that share a pattern across languages that split apart long ago are likely to be very old.
Clues inside a tale
- Objects: a spinning wheel, a tinder-box or a spindle belongs to a world in which those tools were in daily use.
- Technology: a magic mirror points to a world with mirrors. Polished metal mirrors are ancient, while clear glass mirrors spread in Europe much later, so a glass mirror can hint at a later telling.
- Water: a character who sees a reflection in a pool, as in the Greek tale of Narcissus, may belong to an older stage of the story. This is a hint, not proof.
- Language: old words and formulas, such as “once upon a time”, stay in the tale while the world changes.
Cataloguing tales
Folklorists number story types in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index. Cinderella is ATU 510A and Little Red Riding Hood ATU 333. The numbers let researchers compare tales from different countries.
Why did they last?
A tale that is easy to remember, has a clear problem and ends well is easy to retell. Every teller adds a detail, which is why no two versions match.
Timeline
- About 6,000 years agoEstimated age of The Smith and the Devil.
- About 5,000 years agoEstimated age of Jack and the Beanstalk.
- About 4,000 years agoEstimated age of Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast.
- 1500s-1800sMany of these tales are first printed in books.
Questions
Is it proven that Jack and the Beanstalk is 5,000 years old?
No. It is an estimate from a statistical model, and not every folklorist agrees.
Who first wrote fairy tales down?
Different people at different times. Printed collections start in 16th-century Italy and became common in 17th-19th-century Europe.
Sources and further reading
- Sara Graça da Silva and Jamshid J. Tehrani, Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales, Royal Society Open Science (2016).
- Hans-Jörg Uther, The Types of International Folktales (2004).
- Ovid, Metamorphoses (the story of Narcissus).