Tales

Folktales and folklore have always been my favorite since I was about four or five years old. My first piece of literary reading is the famous tale, The Red Riding Hood. I never know it was literature, but I love it and eager to have my sister teach me how to pronounce the words. It was very interesting for me to read by myself then, and later I kept asking for more books to read.
For me, folktales are part and parcel of a child’s growth and that every one of us might have our own favorite tale, no matter whether we have read it somewhere or heard it from our parents as bedtime stories. According to Carl Tomlinson and Carol Lynch-Brown's Essentials of Children's Literature, folktales are stories that grow out of the lives and imaginations of the people, or folk. They are a form of traditional literature which began as an attempt to explain and understand the natural and spiritual world. Interestingly, the folktales that traveled by land changed a great deal because of the retelling process, while those that traveled by sea were more similar in version.
There are several distinctive elements of folktales. First is the introduction which introduces the leading characters, time/place of the story and the conflict or problem to be faced. These may be short such as "Once upon a time". Setting is also stock such as a road or a palace or in a forest. Then the action mounts steadily until it reaches a climax, where the problem or conflict will be resolved. Typically, the hero or heroine faces many obstacles and is usually reduced to helplessness before the climax. Finally is the conclusion which is usually short and sweet. The heroes and heroines are happy and the villains are punished. One convention conclusion is "and they lived happily ever after." They also appeal to a child's sense of justice – good is rewarded and evil is punished.