The Brothers Grimm are best described as what?

Collectors and editors of existing oral tales

Original authors of the stories

Hans Christian Andersen differed from the Grimms in what way?

He wrote original stories rather than collecting them

He published nothing in his lifetime

He collected only Norwegian tales

Cinderella is notable because what?

Hundreds of versions exist across many cultures

It appears only in French sources

Early versions of many familiar tales differ how?

They are considerably more violent

The motif of the youngest of three siblings succeeding is an example of what?

A recurring folkloric motif catalogued across cultures

"Once upon a time" functions as what?

A formulaic opening signalling the kind of story to expect

A translation of a Latin phrase

The Arabian Nights reached Europe largely through whom?

Antoine Galland's French translation

Charles Perrault published his collection when?

In the late seventeenth century, well before the Grimms

Why do similar tales appear in distant cultures?

A mixture of shared ancestry, contact and independent invention

Only because of colonial contact

Because all stories come from one source

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Mythology & Folklore Medium ⚡ 10 Questions ⏱️ ~7 Mins +100 XP

Fairy Tales and How They Travelled

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The versions most people know are late, edited and considerably gentler than the originals.

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About this topic

Fairy tales are usually assumed to be old and fixed, and they are old and highly unfixed. The Grimm brothers were collectors and editors rather than authors, and they revised their own collection substantially across editions — softening violence, adding Christian references, and moving cruelty from mothers to stepmothers. These questions cover where the familiar stories came from, how folklorists actually track versions across cultures, and which famous elements were late additions rather than ancient features.

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Fairy Tales and How They Travelled: all 10 questions and answers

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1The Brothers Grimm are best described as what?
- A Translators of French novels
- B Collectors and editors of existing oral tales Correct
- C Original authors of the stories
- D Illustrators of earlier books
Answer: B. Collectors and editors of existing oral tales

Why: They were scholars of language gathering material from informants, and revised their collection heavily across seven editions.
2Hans Christian Andersen differed from the Grimms in what way?
- A He wrote original stories rather than collecting them Correct
- B He worked only in German
- C He published nothing in his lifetime
- D He collected only Norwegian tales
Answer: A. He wrote original stories rather than collecting them

Why: The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling are his own compositions, which is why they have a single fixed version.
3Folklorists classify recurring story structures using what?
- A An alphabetical author list
- B Publication dates
- C Country of origin only
- D A tale type index Correct
Answer: D. A tale type index

Why: The Aarne-Thompson-Uther index assigns numbers to types, so versions can be compared as variants of a defined structure.
4Cinderella is notable because what?
- A It appears only in French sources
- B It has no known variants
- C Hundreds of versions exist across many cultures Correct
- D It was invented by Disney
Answer: C. Hundreds of versions exist across many cultures

Why: A ninth-century Chinese version predates the European ones by centuries. The glass slipper is a late and probably French detail.
5Early versions of many familiar tales differ how?
- A They always rhyme
- B They are considerably more violent Correct
- C They are much longer
- D They have no characters
Answer: B. They are considerably more violent

Why: The Grimms softened successive editions for a family readership, and several original endings are grim by modern standards.
6The motif of the youngest of three siblings succeeding is an example of what?
- A A recurring folkloric motif catalogued across cultures Correct
- B A modern invention
- C A specifically German device
- D A translation error
Answer: A. A recurring folkloric motif catalogued across cultures

Why: Motif indexes catalogue such components separately from tale types, so a story can be described as a particular arrangement of them.
7"Once upon a time" functions as what?
- A A statement of historical date
- B A translation of a Latin phrase
- C A modern publishing convention
- D A formulaic opening signalling the kind of story to expect Correct
Answer: D. A formulaic opening signalling the kind of story to expect

Why: Most traditions have such markers, at the start and often at the end, telling the audience how the tale should be taken.
8The Arabian Nights reached Europe largely through whom?
- A Marco Polo
- B Ottoman ambassadors
- C Antoine Galland's French translation Correct
- D A German monastery
Answer: C. Antoine Galland's French translation

Why: Aladdin and Ali Baba do not appear in the older Arabic manuscripts and entered through Galland, who said he heard them from a Syrian storyteller.
9Charles Perrault published his collection when?
- A In the Middle Ages
- B In the late seventeenth century, well before the Grimms Correct
- C After the Grimms
- D In the twentieth century
Answer: B. In the late seventeenth century, well before the Grimms

Why: His 1697 collection gave us influential versions of Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood — the last with a much darker ending.
10Why do similar tales appear in distant cultures?
- A A mixture of shared ancestry, contact and independent invention Correct
- B Only because of colonial contact
- C Because all stories come from one source
- D Coincidence alone
Answer: A. A mixture of shared ancestry, contact and independent invention

Why: Which explanation applies has to be tested case by case, and the answer differs from story to story.

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