Old Upon A Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk

This tale has been told in many different versions. The first was in 1734, as "Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" where he planted a magical bean. He climbed to the castle at the top and became a hero, saving hundreds of people. The story was changed again in 1807 to the Beanstalk version, another time in 1845 and finally evolved into the most popular version by Joseph Jacobs in 1890.

There are actually over a dozen varieties of the story written. Most of them are about the Jack climbing the stalk and taking the treasures of the giant, racing down to the bottom, cutting the stalk and his family becoming rich! One version is "Jack and the Fire Dragon" where he comes to the aid of three sisters.

Answer: Goldilocks

In the original book it wasn't the Daddy, Mama and Baby Bear. It was the little small wee bear, the middle sized bear and the great huge bear. Now I don't know about you, but I told my son this story over and over and used a lot of varieties to the story. I even had my own voices, which he even remembers today close to 25 years later.

As a matter of fact, Goldilocks wasn't even the original little girl. They used different names until they came up with Goldilocks in 1904. We really never knew what happened to Goldilocks when she ran away from the house, but it was insinuated that she made a clean getaway.

Answer: Hansel and Gretel

We may know her as Gretel, but she was originally known as Little Step Sister back in 1812. I actually didn't realize that the children were unwanted by their stepmother. She wanted to take the children into the wild woods and leave them out there; luckily, their father didn't allow it. It was actually a few times the stepmother took them into the woods and always was mean about leaving them out there to fend for themselves. Which brought them to the house made of candy and sugar.

"Hansel and Gretel" was actually somewhat based on a true story of two hungry children during the Great Famine years in 1314.

Answer: Rumpelstiltskin

Years ago I read these fairy tales with wonderful stories and happy endings, but now that I'm looking into "behind the scenes" of these stories, they aren't filled with fun and happy stories.

The story is about a young girl's father who lies about his daughter. He makes up stories about his daughter being able to produce gold from straw. Now the king, you would think, would be thrilled to see this. He actually locked her up and said he would chop off her head if she didn't perform! Now seriously, here your dad lies about you and you, of course, can't do it. Did her father know that she was going to die when he made up the story?

I won't ruin the original 1812 version of the fairy tale, however, the character of Tom Tit Tat was the father's name in another version of the tale.

Answer: The History of Tom Thumb

"Tom Thumb" was made into a musical in 1958, with Russ Tamblyn playing the role of small Tom. The fairy tale of Tom was a unique and also sad tale. Tom would have to try to live in a world of giant things. Trying to stay alive would become a feat! Some people think that Tom was based on a real person born in 1519. If the gravestone is correct, Tom would have lived until 101 years old, but never grew more than 16 inches.

A few centuries later, Barnum and Bailey's circus brought General Tom Thumb into the circus, as a side show. He was slightly taller at 40 inches! He was actually married to Lavinia Warren for 20 years, when he passed away at the age of 45.

Answer: The Princess and the Pea

Hans Christian Andersen came up with the adorable idea of this story where a girl would have to prove that she was a Princess. Just telling the Prince's mother was not good enough. The mother had to test her by placing one small pea under her mattress. Just one mattress was not good enough, so she placed it under 20 of them! If she was a real princess, she couldn't get comfortable with one pea underneath. I will let you read the rest of the 1835 fairy tale to discover exactly what happens.

Hans believed that children and adults should enjoy his stories. The story was changed slightly from different versions. "Once Upon A Mattress" was based on this story when Carol Burnett made it into a musical version. There is also a story line in which a boy found a pea, while others showed that the tale was more about the Prince then the Princess.

Answer: Cinderblock

There were a few different versions of the story until Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in 1890. He didn't take credit for the story, since he used a form of the original book in the early 1840s by James Halliwell-Phillipps.

We've seen many different versions of the little pigs' story, but the most famous one is where the big bad wolf huffs and puffs and blows down two of the houses, while the third pig spent quality time building a strong house of bricks. Yet, the wolf doesn't give up so easily and decides to take another route into the house, with maybe not so good results for the wolf.

Answer: Little Red Riding Hood

No matter whose version the fairy tale was described, they are about a little girl with a red cape visiting her grandmother. Red is bringing her grandmother some food and she runs into a big bad wolf walking along in the forest. The wolf beats Red to her grandmother's house and replaces her in the bed. Red then makes the "big eyes" comment. I won't give you any more hints, but I do like the Grimms' version better.

There isn't much of a difference between the two stories by each author. Charles Perrault's is a lesser known version where she actually gets into bed with her grandmother and is eaten. In the Grimm Brothers version she was talking to her grandmother from the side of the bed and was rescued and not eaten.

Answer: The Little Red Hen

The story was written by Mary Dodge. A great tool in teaching children that hard work pays off at the end, it's also a story about lazy children that don't just get things - you need to earn your way. Walt Disney produced a version in 1934 which features Donald Duck, in his first cartoon.

The little red hen isn't always a hen in different versions. There's a pig in "Digger Pig and the Turnip", the version by Caron Lee Cohen. We also have an Iguana in "Manana Iguana" for the Spanish readers. There's even a version where Red Hen is making pizza by Philemon Sturges. No matter what version you read they all have the same moral. If you want to reap the benefits, you have to work for it. Nothing is for free.

Answer: The Ugly Duckling

Hans actually thought of the story while he was sitting at the lake in Bregentved, an island in Denmark. One year later he published the first version.

There's a lot of reasons that people think the story is an interpretation of Hans' real life. According to some he had a large nose, big feet and was not the looker. The Duckling did turn into a beautiful swan, and was welcomed by the other animals when he grew older. You never know what's going to happen in the future with riches in money or health. Treat everyone with respect.