Magical story, usually a folk tale in origin. Typically in European fairy tales, a poor, brave, and resourceful hero or heroine goes through testing adventures to eventual good fortune.
The Germanic tales collected by the Grimm brothers have been retold in many variants. Charles Perrault’s retellings include ‘Cinderella’ and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. The form may also be adapted for more individual moral and literary purposes, as was done by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.
1. A story about fairies; told to amuse children; SYN. fairy story.
2. An interesting but highly implausible story; often told as an excuse; SYN. fairy story, cock-and-bull story, song and dance.
fairy tale, fairy-tale