Who's Who: Fairy Tale Pairs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gretel

The story of Hansel and Gretel was first published in "Grimm's Fairly Tales" in 1812.

The brother and sister are from a poor family and are kicked out of the house because they eat too much. The plan, that was their mother or stepmother's idea, is to take them deep into the forest and leave them there. Clever children, when they hear their parents' plot, they come up with a plan to mark the route with stones, and are able to safely return home. After a couple of similar episodes, the children find themselves locked in the cottage and unable to collect stones. They use bread crumbs, which are eaten by the birds and the children end up truly lost. As they wander through the forest they come upon a gingerbread house (yummy!), but find it was made by an old witch who really just wants to eat them. Gretel saves them buy tricking the witch and trapping her in a hot oven. Before Hansel and Gretel go home, they find gemstones belonging to the witch and take them to their father (their mother/stepmother has since died). They all live happily ever after.

Child abandonment was a real problem during the Middle Ages, when food was difficult for some people to obtain. In addition, stepmothers are pictured as not always caring about their husband's children. Interestingly, some people think that the mother/stepmother died when the Gretel killed the witch!

Answer: Rose-Red

A German tale, "Snow-White and Rose-Red" was published in "Kinder-und Hausmärchen" by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm in 1812.

In the story, Snow-White and Rose Red are sisters who are being raised by their poor mother who is a widow. The girls are different, as Snow-White is very shy and likes to read and do housework, while Rose-Red is more outgoing and prefers to be outside. One winter a bear appears at their cottage and asks to warm himself by the fire. They let him in and became friends. When the bear leaves in the spring, he tells the girls that he must guard his treasure from an evil dwarf. The girls, walking in the forest, find the dwarf, but his beard is caught in a tree. They cut the beard and free the dwarf, but he is ungrateful and is angry that they ruined his beard. One day they happen upon the bear who has captured the dwarf. Even though the dwarf begged the bear to eat the girls instead, the bear killed him and turned into a handsome prince, ending the evil dwarf's spell over him. He married Snow-White and his brother married Rose-Red.

In the story, children learn to be grateful for what they have, even if they are poor. The girls were different, but both loved each other and were loved by their mother as well. The value of a close family relationship is seen throughout the story. In addition, their hospitality and kindness to the freezing bear changed their circumstances dramatically in the end; while they extended the same kindness to the dwarf, he was ungrateful and perished.

Answer: Beanstalk

An English fairy tale, "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" was first published in 1734 by J. Roberts in a collection called "Round About Our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments", and was retold by many authors after that.

Jack is a poor boy whose mother told him to take the family cow to sell at market. Instead, he trades the cow for some magic beans which produced a giant stalk that reached into the sky. After climbing the beanstalk Jack finds that he has reached a giant's castle, and that the giant isn't very nice. Jack discovers that the giant has taken many items that had belonged to his family, including a goose that produces golden eggs. He is able to outfox the giant and return the stolen belongings to his family. And guess what? They lived happily ever after!

So, what's the moral to the story? Bad guys finish last! In some versions of the story, the giant not only stole from Jack's family, but also killed his father. Murder and robbery are wrong. If crimes are committed, there is a price to pay!

Answer: Shoemaker

A story from "Grimm's Fairy Tales", published in 1812, "The Shoemaker for Whom They Did Work" is one of three stories about elves.

In the story, a poor shoemaker decides to just trust in God when he finds that he doesn't even have enough leather to finish a pair of shoes. He goes to bed and the next morning the finds the shoes finished on his workbench. He sells them for more than his usual price and buys more leather. This happens again and again until the shoemaker and his wife decide to stay up and see who is helping them so much. They find two elves busy making shoes. To show their gratitude, the couple make the elves clothing and shoes as a gift. While the elves never return, the couple continue to live well and their business thrives.

Of course, the purpose of the story is to remind people to be thankful and show their gratitude to those who help them. When someone does something nice for you, it brings a blessing to do something nice in return.

Answer: Forty Thieves

The story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" was added to the collection of "One Thousand and One Nights", believed to have originated with the Sassanid Persians. They are the stories of Scheherazade, whose famous storytelling earned her both her life and the title of queen. The story of Ali Baba was added to the group in the early 1700s by Antoine Galland, who had heard the story from a native storyteller.

Ali Baba, a poor woodcutter, hears a group of thieves in the forest who are visiting their stolen treasure lair in a cave. He learns that the rock that hides the cave moves when the words "Open Sesame" are spoken. Ali Baba only takes a bag of coins from the cave, but his older brother, Cassim, learns of the treasure, and plans to remove all of it from the cave. Just imagine how Cassim felt when he was inside the cave and forgot the magic words. The thieves find him there and kill him, quartering his body and leaving the pieces at the entrance to the cave as a warning to anyone else who would like to take their treasure. Ali Baba must enlist the help of Cassim's slave, Morgiana, to make his death look natural, but the thieves, realizing that someone else knows about the cave, find the tailor who sewed Cassim's body together. Morgiana saves Ali Baba's family over and over again as the thieves try to find the other person. She finally kills all the outlaws and their leader and is rewarded by marrying Ali Baba's son. Ali Baba is now the only one who knows the whereabouts of the cave, and the family is now wealthy and safe.

Actually there are two morals to the story. One relates to Cassim who died because he was overcome with greed. The other moral is related to the actions of Morgiana, who was loyal and smart, saving her master's family from the thieves. Good things come to those who display these attributes.

Answer: Beast

"Beauty and the Beast" is a French folktale, first published in 1740, by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in "La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins".

In the story, a wealthy trade merchant has three daughters, but only one of them, Beauty, is kind and pure of heart. When his wealth is stolen by pirates, the family is forced to live in a barn and work; Beauty resolves to make the most of the situation and works to help her father support the family. They are hopeful when they hear that one of their ships has returned with merchandise, but, unfortunately, all the wealth is seized to repay the merchant's debts. On his return home, the merchant accepts the hospitality of a stranger, and causes offense when he picks a rose from the garden to take home to Beauty. The stranger, the Beast, tells the merchant that he now must bring Beauty to his home in exchange for the rose. In return the Beast offers other wealth and gems for the merchant to take home to his children. Although he wasn't supposed to tell Beauty about his deal with the Beast, he eventually spills the beans and she goes to the Beast's home to keep up her father's end of the bargain. She finds the Beast very generous and accommodating, but grows homesick. She is allowed to go home, but finds herself missing the Beast. Upon returning to the Beast's castle, she finds him dead. Her grief and love transform him into a handsome prince and they lived happily ever after.

Of course, it is easy to recognize the similarities in this story to many other stories, including "Cupid and Psyche", which goes all the way back to ancient Greece. It's also easy to see that the moral to the story is that "beauty is only skin deep". The prince was punished for not wanting to marry an old witch; the spell could only be broken by finding someone who would love him - in spite of his appearance.

Answer: Magic Lamp

There are many variations to this story added to the Arab folktales, "One Thousand and One Nights", by Antoine Galland.

Aladdin is a young boy who lives in a city in China with his mother. He was tricked by a sorcerer into going to a magic cave to retrieve a magic lamp. Trapped in the cave, Aladdin rubs the lamp and a genie appears to help him out of the cave. Once the lamp is taken home, another genie appears who helps Aladdin and his mother become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Aladdin even marries a princess after he lies to her and tells her that he is a prince. But the story isn't over. The sorcerer takes the lamp back and with it, all of Aladdin's wealth. With the help of the princess, Aladdin is able to regain his wealth and eventually becomes the next sultan.

First, it most be pointed out that the term "sultan" is not consistent with a ruler in China. It could be that the term China was used to conjure up a mysterious, faraway land. In the story, Aladdin finds that the wealth isn't what made him the man he was, it was the character that he had left after all the wealth disappeared. In addition, wealth did not buy him happiness. It was the love of the princess that made him happy, but he had to reveal his true identity before they were truly blessed.

Answer: Three Bears

A British folktale, the story was first published by Robert Southey in "The Doctor" in 1830.

The original tale is quite different than the subsequent version, so it may surprise you! Instead of being a young girl, the title character is a dirty, ugly old woman who enters the home of a three male bears while they are taking a walk so their porridge has time to cool. She eats their food, breaks their furniture, and falls asleep in one of the bear's bed. When discovered by the family, she jumps out a window and disappears forever.

A story by Joseph Cundall, published in 1842 for a children's book, turned the old woman into a pretty, somewhat spoiled, young girl, and changed the bachelor bears to a family of bears! The lesson of the story points to what happens when people are caught stealing the property of others, and the fact that those who catch the thief may be pretty scary in their own right. It also might suggest that going into the forest alone isn't a great idea. Once Goldilocks entered the story, however, the moral may have changed a bit. Her quest to find items that were "just right" perhaps spoke of the concept of being grateful for what one has and not overly picky. In some versions of the story, the bears befriend her, possibly in an attempt to teach the idea of forgiveness; in some, she is frightened, learns the error of her ways, and returns home unharmed.

Answer: Pea

The "Princess and the Pea" was told by Hans Christian Andersen, and was first published in 1835. He claimed that it was a story that he had heard as a child.

A prince who wants to marry is having trouble finding the right wife. Many princesses present themselves to him, but there is always something wrong with them. Then one night a girl came to the castle, wet and in disarray. She claimed to be a princess, but the prince's mother has a plan to prove whether she is or isn't. She placed a pea on a bed which was then covered by 20 feather beds. The girl complained the next morning that it had been impossible for her to sleep, as there was something uncomfortable in the bed, and she even had bruises to prove it! She must be a princess if she is that sensitive! The two were married and the pea was placed in a museum.

The story teaches one not to judge a book by its cover. The wet, dirty girl at the gate didn't look like a princess, but she was!

Answer: Rose

In 1888 a collection of fairy tales called "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" was published by Oscar Wilde.

In the "Nightingale and the Rose" he tells the story of a student who wishes to dance with his teacher's daughter, but she refuses him because he cannot afford to give her a red rose. A nightingale hears the student's lament, and decides to help him. She is told that if she sings her best song all night and sacrifices herself on a thorn that the most perfect rose will be produced. The nightingale does this, but when the student takes the rose to the girl, she rejects it, saying she has a suitor who brought her precious gems - better than a rose any day!

The story stresses the point that true love involves sacrifice, as the nightingale was willing to sacrifice herself for the student's happiness - and that love that only cares for wealth is not eternal.