A fairy tale differs from more traditional stories by being very less realistic and commonly addressed to children, though some old fairy tales have become legends in some countries.
In fairy tales, the story happens “once upon a time”, in an unspecified place. Thus, every child can interpret as he wants the stories that are told to him.

Fairy tales usually become marked with magic, marvelous and imaginary characters such as ogres, dragons, fairies, princesses or talking animals...but also more archetypal characters like the good one and the villain, the rich and the poor, the beautiful and the ugly one...all of them coming in a variety of different situations and places. Fairy tales' topics often set up a growing-up experience for the protagonist who is forced to overcome difficulties as to improve or prove something. However, the main plot has to remain simple and subplots scarce.

Tales have long been told rather than written, but even when written, they remained devoted to oral transmission : adults telling stories to children. Unexpectedly, fairy tales often deal with violence, cruelty and injustice, though the presence of a moral at the end may attenuate it. Indeed, happy endings are almost unavoidable.

Cinderella's story is apparently the most popular fairy tale. Its protagonist is a pretty and gentle young lady whose dad -after his first wife died- remarries a wicked woman that uses Cinderella as her maid. Luckily, Cinderella -helped by her fairy god-mother and her only friends (some talking mouses)- will be able to go to the ball organized by the Prince of the kingdom, who eventually falls in love with her! This fairy tale, before its most-known 1697 version by Charles Perrault, was in fact a very old Chinese tale from the 4th century B.C. There would be no less than 345 versions of the Cinderella's tale!