CENG 222: Fairy Tales and
Fantasies
Week 1 - Introduction
Today
• Ice breaker
• Syllabus
• Introducing fairy tales
• “Instructions” by Neil Gaiman
• Writing exercise: using imperative sentences
• Introducing the oral presentation assignment
Allow me to
introduce myself
Icebreaker: Pictionary
Syllabus
Questions?
What are fairy tales?
Retrieved from [Link]
[Link]/dictionary/fairy-tale
Why do we tell fairy tales?
Fairy tales as part of our life
The evolution of fairy tales
• Originally oral stories passed down over centuries
• Wide audience: adults and children
• In 17th century wealthy young women started telling fairy tales as a kind of
party game
• They were eventually written down
• Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was an important figure known for his literary versions
• Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1785/1786 – 1863/1859) collected German
tales and published them in popular editions
• Later editions were aimed more towards children
• Other collections aimed at children appeared throughout 19th and 20th
century
• Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was a key moment
“Instructions” by Neil Gaiman
What are some stories that you recognize?
“Instructions”
• Walk through the house. Take nothing.
Eat / nothing.
• Trust the wolves, but do not tell them
where / you are going.
• There is a worm at the heart of the
tower; that is / why it will not stand.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Proserpine [Persephone],
Tate Britain, 1874. Retrieved from
[Link]
“Instructions” cont’d
When you reach the little house, the place your
journey started,
you will recognize it, although it will seem
much smaller than you remember.
Walk up the path, and through the garden gate
you never saw before but once.
And then go home. Or make a home.
Imperatives
When you make a request, offer advice, issue a command, or give an
instruction, you use the imperative mood. Sentences that use the
imperative mood are known as imperative sentences.
To put it bluntly, an imperative sentence is a sentence that tells
somebody to do something. That “somebody” doesn’t necessarily have
to be another person—when you use voice commands with virtual
assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant, you’re using imperative
sentences. Similarly, when you tell your dog to sit, stay, leave it, or
come, you’re speaking in imperative sentences.
Source: Kramer, “What Are Imperative Sentences?”
Imperative sentence structure
Imperative sentences nearly always start with imperative
verbs. Imperative verbs are the root forms of verbs that, when followed
by the objects of their sentences, form imperative sentences.
Take a look at the imperative verbs bolded in these examples:
• Follow me.
• Go back to school.
• Walk on the right side of the pathway.
As you can see, the verb usually comes first in an imperative sentence. But
this isn’t always the case. Take a look at where the verb fits into these
examples:
• Make sure you understand why we do this exercise.
• Please don’t spoil the movie.
Source: Kramer, “What Are Imperative Sentences?”
Imperative verbs in “Instructions”
Do not be jealous of your sister.
Know that diamonds and roses
are as uncomfortable when they tumble from
one's lips as toads and frogs:
colder, too, and sharper, and they cut.
Remember your name.
Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found.
Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped
to help you in their turn.
Writing exercise:
• Write a poem of 10-15 lines
• Use at least 5 imperative verbs
• Possible topics include
• How to train a dragon
• How to find a magic lamp
• How to escape a haunted forest
• How to kill (or tame) a monster
Oral presentation
For this presentation, you will tell the class a fairy tale. Choose a tale
that is personally meaningful to you (maybe it was told to you by your
grandmother, maybe it comes from your home culture); it must be one
that we are not covering in class. The presentation has two
components: 1) the tale itself and 2) context (why you chose it, what it
means to you, etc.). The presentation as a whole should be 5-10
minutes. Once you’ve decided on your tale, use the online sign-up
sheet to pick a date.
In-class diagnostic