I. Literary History

The fairy tale (the diminutive German term Märchen derives from MHG maere, “tidings,” “news,” “story, narrative”; the English term has been variously derived from ME faie, fei< MF feie, fee< Lat. fata; a genre term since the 16th cent.) as a basic genre of literary narrative is ¶ characterized by elements of the fantastic, miraculous, and supernatural. Neither the authors n…