...de mitos y cuentos de hadas

Abstract

The magic attached to monsters, elves and princesses has fascinated imaginations for many centuries. Myths and fairy tales use this magic to enhance their attraction upon us. Both of them belong to the field of the imaginary and have the ability to create fantasy worlds capable of renewing ancestral memories. Therefore, they have great impact on our intuitive lives. Nevertheless, fairy tales as opposed to myths which are linked to religion and power dynamics, fall into the realm of the secular. They are thus able to withdraw from the constraints imposed by authority. During the sixteenth century folk tales were rescued from oral tradition and became part of written literature. As such, they can be interpreted as direct predecessors of the French aristocratic Contes de Feés from the seventeenth century and the German Märchen written during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.