From 'Once Upon a Time' to 'Happily Ever After'

Fairy-tale scholars explore the nuanced history of the genre

Long long ago, villagers and nursemaids spun stories, handing them down from generation to generation. Then collectors like the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault came along, jotted them down, and transformed them into literature.

That's one old story line about fairy tales. To hear Ruth B. Bottigheimer tell it, that story is itself a fairy tale.

"It has been said so often that the folk invented and

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