What is the difference between Fairies Tales and Folk Tales?

A folk tale is a story that has its roots known as an oral tradition, and this means that the story has been passed down through generations. Since folk tales are seldom discovered through the written word, the story can have added or excluded elements as they are told by the person telling it. On the other hand, a fairy tale also takes its roots from oral tradition, but it involves magical aspects, including dragons, princesses, princes, witches, and unicorns. While the folk tale is told from a base of real-life experiences, fairytales are pure fiction.

Both types of storytelling contain morals within the stories focusing on characters who go through something but end up making things right. In folk tales, the characters resolve their issues using their human abilities. The reader is made aware of what is at stake for the main character, and there is a real-life lesson to be learned.

The folk tale is usually centered on common folk and their culture, and Folklore is told. Fairy tales are created, and the characters are stereotypically based on certain fictional elements such as fair maidens and evil stepmothers. The Princess has to be saved by the prince, with magical creatures' assistance, perhaps a dragon or troll. Fairy tales usually remain true to one or two specific themes. However, both fairy tales and folktales are popular genres in children's literature.

A folktale is a kind of story that gets its origination from a particular tradition or the other. These traditional stories are usually transferred orally from one generation to another. One thing about folktales is that they are usually added to or subtracted from by the narrators of the stories. Nowadays, folktales are usually in written form. Likewise, fairytales also have to do with traditional stories, but they entail magical creatures like unicorns, ogres, witches, and dragons. Folktales are well associated with real-life events, while fairytales are mostly made-up. It can be said that folktales are more or less like a fact, while fairytales are more of fiction. One good thing about both folktales and fairytales is that they are both instructive in nature. These kinds of stories tend to be scary sometimes, which makes them instrumental in instilling morals into children. Folktales are less aristocracy inclined when compared with fairytales.

Folk tales and fairy tales may seem the same in the beginning, but there is one major difference that will let you know which is which. When you say folk tales, these are stories that are based on things that may have happened before. People have created stories from actual events that have happened.

There are also instances when people have exaggerated the stories, or the stories have passed on from one person to another, so the details may not exactly be true. Still, the fact remains that the story came from something that truly happened. Fairy tales, on the other hand, are fictional stories that have been created by people based on their imaginations.

A folktale can be said to be a story that has to do with some traditional origins which are passed from one generation to another via oral communication. However, due to this means of passing the stories, addition, subtraction, or modification are made about the stories across generations.

This can be based on the perspective of the storytellers and hearers. In these modern days, folk tales are now written for better documentation. On the other hand, the fairytale is also verbally passed from one generation to another, but it involves magical practice and creatures like dragons, witches, unicorns, and ogres.

Folk tales are usually facts that can be traced back to the ancient happenings, while fairytale stories are usually fictional works. Though both folktales and fairy tales are usually instructive and also instill discipline into young ones, especially, the folktales usually present conflict within humans and nature, while fairytales present conflicts between humans and magic.