Fairy tales are special stories that are different from other kinds of stories. How can you tell when a story is a fairy tale? Well, there are things in the story called elements that will help you decide. Let's take a look at some of the elements of fairy tales. Not every fairy tale has all of these elements, but a story must have at least a few of them to be called a fairy tale.

One of the elements of fairy tales is that they often start and end with special words like "once upon a time," "a long, long time ago," and "they lived happily ever after." When you read those words, you know that the story could be a fairy tale.

Another element of a fairy tale is that the story often takes place in a castle, a forest, or a town. This is called the setting. The setting is where the story takes place. Little Red Riding Hood is set in the forest, and part of Cinderella is set in the castle of the prince.

Fairy tales always have at least one good character, or person, in the story. An example of a good character is Cinderella. Fairy tales often have bad characters, too, like Cinderella's mean stepsisters. Another example of a bad character is the evil witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Very often, one of the characters is royalty, which means that the person is a king, a queen, a prince, or princess. A good example of this is The Princess and the Pea. Characters may also be animals, like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, or the bears in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Magic is often an element of fairy tales. In Cinderella, there is a fairy godmother who helps Cinderella go to the ball in a fancy dress and carriage. In Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack buys magic seeds that grow into a beanstalk.

One of the most important elements in a fairy tale is that they always have a problem that must be solved. For example, in the Princess and the Pea, the prince wants to find a real princess to marry. His mother, the queen, helps him find a real princess by putting a pea in the bed to find out if the princess can feel it.

Click here to see and listen to the fairy tale Cinderella. When you have finished, come back and click here to take a quiz on the elements of fairy tales. When you finish the quiz, come back and click here to see and listen to more fairy tales.