Cinderella Cinderella Cinderella is one of the oldest known fairy tales. The Chinese story is different from modern Cinderella stories. Instead of a fairy godmother, a magical fish helps the girl in the story.
Fairy tales are the precursors to all modern fantasy books.
Although most fairy tales are just short stories, they have all the elements contained in many fantasy stories today. Although The Hobbit was the first modern fantasy book, fairy tales existed long before fantasy books did. Most fairy tales were told, not written, and passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. In 1812, the first extensive collection of fairy tales was published in Germany by the Grimm brothers Jacob and Wilhelm. The brothers were separated a year in age and worked together for most of their lives.