Once Upon a Time
From Cinderella to Jack and the Beanstalk, there are fairy tales you likely read as a child that have stuck with you—so much so that you now read them to your own children. But which ones are the true classics, and do you remember what they were each about? Let's take a trip down memory lane: here are five timeless tales that never seem to grow old.
mydisneyadventures on Wikimedia
1. Cinderella
One of the most classic fairy tales we all know of is Cinderella. Centered on a young woman who gets mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, she's granted a chance to go to the royal ball. There, she meets and dances with a prince, who makes it his mission to find her after she loses her glass slipper.
2. Goldilocks & the Three Bears
Goldilocks and the Three Bears tells the tale of a little girl who stumbles upon an empty house. There, she finds three beds and bowls of porridge, all in differing sizes: too big, too small, and just right. Unbeknownst to her, the house belongs to a family of three bears: a papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear.
The_three_bears.djvu: McLoughlin
derivative work: Theornamentalist (talk) on Wikimedia
3. Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood is a story about a little girl sent into the woods to deliver goods to her sick grandmother. On her way, she meets the Big Bad Wolf, who learns of her destination and gets to her grandmother's house before her. There, he swallows up her grandmother and disguises himself as her, hoping to trick the little girl. In some versions, a hunter arrives to save Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.
Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 – 1935) on Wikimedia
4. Three Little Pigs
Another story that features a wolf as the villain is Three Little Pigs. In this fable, three pigs build houses of different materials—sticks, straw, and bricks—to keep out the Big Bad Wolf. The wolf is able to blow all of them down except for the brick house, which saves the three pigs.
Christopher Carson on Unsplash
5. Jack & the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is about a boy who trades a cow for magic beans, much to his mother's dismay. However, the magic beans are magic, and they grow a tall beanstalk that leads Jack into the skies, where he meets a giant.
