English fairy tale

Popular Fairy Tales for Kids in English

Change Language:

Welcome to the world of fairy tales. Here you will find the best selection of fairy tales list, that will enchant the young minds with positivity of the most popular fairy tales. These fables and fairy tale characters have been collected from different cultures, and you will always find something new for the kids,including the ubiquitous king, prince and princess fairy tales. So, just scroll down and enjoy these English fairy tales. Happy Reading!

Most Popular Fable and Fairy Tales

Fables

Princes Rose and the Golden Bird

Sleeping Beauty

Thumbelina

Cinderella

Rapunzel

The Ugly Duckling

New Fairytales

• Irish Fairytales
• The Valiant Little Tailor
• Fundevogel
• The Frog Prince
• The Dog And The Sparrow
• The Fisherman and His Wife
• Briar Rose
• Hans in Luck

• Hansel and Gretel
• The Goose-Girl
• Cat And Mouse In Partnership
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The Willow-Wren And The Bear
• The Straw, The Coal, and The Bean
• The Golden Bird
• Jorinda and Jorindel

• The Finest Liar In The World

• Old Sultan

• A Tale Of The Tontlawald

• The Travelling Musicians

Fairy Tales List

• Little Red Riding Hood
• Sweet Porridge
• Donkey Skin
• Jack and his golden snuff-box
• Blue Beard
• The Twelve Brothers

• The Golden Crab
• How the beggar boy turned in to Count Piro
• The magic swan
• The Magic Mirror
• Puss In Boots
• The Golden Goose

• Celtic Fairy Tales
• Jack And The Bean-stalk
• The Frost King
• Eva's Visit to Fairyland
• The Enchanted Stag
• The White Cat

• Ripple the Water Spirit
• The Fairy Flower
• The Little Bud
• Lily Bell And Thistledown
• Jack The Giant Killer
• Monkey and the Dolphin

An Authoritative Guide to Students Loans, Grants and Scholarships

An Authoritative Guide to Students Loans, Grants and Scholarships

• Stories Main
• Moral Stories
• Indian Mythological Stories
• Short Stories
• Horror Stories
• Classic Stories
• Arabian Tales
• Greek Mythology
• Animal Stories
• General Stories
• Panchatantra Stories
• Legendary Heroes
• Bedtime Stories
• Folk Tales
• Bible Stories

Once Upon a Time: 7 Easy English Fairy Tales for Learners

By Camille Turner Last updated: December 15, 2022

Once upon a time, there was a dedicated English learner looking for a fun way to practice his language skills.

“But how will I improve my English?” he asked.

The answer came to him through this blog post: English fairy tales!

Easy English fairy tales can be a great way to improve your language skills while entertaining yourself at the same time.

Contents

• How Can Easy English Fairy Tales Help You Learn the Language?
• 7 Magical English Fairy Tales for Beginner-Level Learners
• • “The Princess and the Pea”
  • “Little Red Riding Hood”
  • “The Frog Prince”
  • “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”
  • “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”
  • “The Cat Who Could Eat So Much”
  • “The Beetle Who Went on His Travels”
• Where Can You Find Easy English Fairy Tales Online?

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

How Can Easy English Fairy Tales Help You Learn the Language?

Not only are fairy tales entertaining and fun to read, but there are many factors that make them a great choice for English learners.

For starters, they’re short, so you can usually read them in one sitting. Shorter works are also easier to start out with so that you don’t feel overwhelmed by too much English at one time.

Additionally, learners are probably already familiar with fairy tales since they’re translated into many different languages and taught all over the world to children. Already knowing what the story is about will help you follow along in English.

Since fairy tales are typically meant for children, they tend to use lower-level English vocabulary and sentence structure, meaning that they’re the appropriate level for beginner English learners.

Fairy tales also often include easy dialogue or repetition to tell the story, which means that, in addition to improving your English reading skill, you’re able to easily learn English through these stories.

7 Magical English Fairy Tales for Beginner-Level Learners

“The Princess and the Pea”

“The Princess and the Pea” is a classic story written by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the tale of a queen who devises (creates) a clever way to test whether or not a girl who claims to be a princess really is a true princess.

The story itself uses a lot of verbs in the simple past tense (the most basic form of the past tense in English) such as was, wanted, traveled and thought. This can provide great practice for English learners.

Words to know beforehand (before reading the story):

• Plight — a dangerous or difficult situation
• Scarcely — almost not at all
• Defect — an imperfection or problem
• Genuine — sincere
• Dreadful — awful

“Little Red Riding Hood”

The story of “Little Red Riding Hood” is another famous fairy tale that was written by Charles Perrault. It tells the story of a little girl who wanders (walks in a relaxed way) into the woods and is tricked by a wolf who impersonates (pretends to be) her grandmother.

This story has especially easy verbs that’ll help you expand your list of English action vocabulary and follow along with the story better.

Words to know beforehand:

• Dawdle — to go slowly
• Shadow — a dark shape or area
• Hood — a head covering, usually attached to a coat or cape
• Gobbled — ate quickly
• Cottage — a small country house

“The Frog Prince”

“The Frog Prince” is a fun fairy tale written by the famous Brothers Grimm. In the original story, a princess drops her golden ball down a spring (a place where water comes up from the ground). In order to get it back, she must befriend a frog.

The story is full of useful adjectives that provide great English practice and offer an opportunity to add some basic vocabulary to your knowledge.

Words to know beforehand:

• Jewels — precious stones
• Unwilling — not wanting to do something
• Cruel — mean; causing suffering on purpose
• Misfortunes — bad situations or bad luck
• Merriment — fun; happiness

“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”

This fairy tale comes from a larger collection of stories entitled “1001 Arabian Nights. ” The story follows Ali Baba as he has to outsmart a group of robbers.

English learners can benefit from paying attention to the common transition words and phrases used throughout the story. Transition words and phrases provide a way to get from one part of a story to the next. Some examples from this fairy tale include one day, then, at last and before. These are great phrases to incorporate (include; add) into your everyday English.

Words to know beforehand:

• Merchant — someone whose job usually involves trading
• Conceal — hide
• Heap — a large pile
• Envy — jealousy
• Prosperity — being wealthy or successful

“The Tale of Peter Rabbit”

One of the many beautiful little stories by Beatrix Potter, this tale shows what happens when a young rabbit named Peter gets into trouble for stealing food from Mr. McGregor’s garden.

There are plenty of wonderful vocabulary words related to nature and food in this story for English learners to discover.

Words to know beforehand:

• Mischief — misbehavior
• Loaf — a quantity of bread or another baked good
• Rake — a gardening tool used to collect leaves
• Wriggled — squirmed; moved around wildly
• Puzzled — confused

“The Cat Who Could Eat So Much”

“The Cat Who Could Eat So Much” is a great little tale by writers Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe. The story is about a cat who meets a host of (several different) characters as he eats everything he can find.

The story uses a lot of repetition, which makes it slightly easier for English learners to read, and it includes a lot of animal names and vocabulary to learn.

Words to know beforehand:

• Mush — a type of soft, wet food
• Stable — the structure in a barn where a horse lives
• Seized — grabbed
• Hardly — not very much at all
• Orchard — a large field of fruit trees

“The Beetle Who Went on His Travels”

This fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen follows the story of a conceited (proud or vain) beetle who believes that he should get golden shoes like the Emperor’s horse.

There are many instances of the English comparative and superlative (when you compare two or more things) throughout this story that can help learners get an idea of how to form these important structures. Some examples from the story include more valuable, as good as and better. 

Words to know beforehand:

• Shod — to put shoes on a horse
• Yonder — over there
• Delicate — fragile
• Fatigued — tired
• Grander — more impressive, beautiful or rich

Where Can You Find Easy English Fairy Tales Online?

This list only has a few English fairy tales, but there are so many more out there. That means many more stories to learn from!

You can find a large variety of easy English fairy tales online. Here are a few resources:

• Storynory: Storynory is a fabulous site that uses both written texts and audio recordings to provide tons of fairy tales and other stories. The site divides fairy tales by author or theme, so they’re easy to sort through.
• Stories to Grow by: This is another site that pairs audio recordings with written texts. Their classic fairy tales are easy to understand and sometimes accompanied by beautiful illustrations.
• Storyberries: Another great option, Storyberries features a blend of popular and lesser-known fairy tales. You’re sure to discover a new story you’ve never heard of before if you look through the many options here.
• Hellokids: Hellokids is another wonderful site with tons of fairy tales divided by author. The stories are presented in the format of a small book with pages you turn as you go.
• FluentU: A language learning program, FluentU teaches English using a library of short English videos, which includes fairy tales and other beginner-level content. Each clip has interactive subtitles so that you can look up words as you watch.

With these seven magical fairy tales to get you started and a variety of places to find other stories online, you’re ready to live happily ever after with your English studies!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Camille Turner

Camille is a writer, editor, and English teacher who has lived and worked all over the world in places like Italy, France, and Colombia. She continues to travel while managing a writing company and restaurant and is currently working on learning her fourth language.

« It’s Story Time: Listen to English Stories on 8 Wonderful Websites

Lose the Accent: 8 Excellent English Pronunciation Resources Online »

English fairy tales for children | Examples of fairy tales in English

Content of the article:

• English folk tales
• Example of a fairy tale in English
• Text of a children's fairy tale in English
• Translation of a fairy tale from English
• Where to read British fairy tales in English 9005 Other ways of reading 9005 in English
• Other methods of learning English for children

Today we will analyze English fairy tales for children. There will be both examples of popular fairy tales for reading, and one short fairy tale, which we will analyze in its entirety with translation. You've almost certainly never heard this tale before. We hope you are intrigued :)

Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack and the Beanstalk). The mother sent the boy to the market to sell the cow. The family was poor, and the proceeds from the sale of the cow could help them feed themselves. However, at the market, the boy meets an old man who offers to exchange the cow for magic grains, from which a tree will grow up to the sky. Jack agrees. At home, his mother scolds him for his naivete, and allegedly throws magic beans out the window. Later it turns out that the old man was telling the truth, and a magic tree grew out of the beans, leading to the world of giants...

Jack the Giant Killer This tale is also about Jack, and also about giants. Only now it was a completely different Jack, and completely different giants. The boy was a strong and dexterous son of a wealthy English peasant. He lived in places where the owner of the mountain was a giant, who from time to time went out to feast on cows, sheep and other peasant livestock. Once the people got tired of it, and an important mission was entrusted to Jack - to defeat the giant.

The Blue Hat A Scottish fisherman named Ein Macrae went to the forest to collect wood to build a boat. A thick fog descended, and the fisherman got lost. After some time, he stumbles upon a house in the middle of the forest. You and I know that usually in fairy tales such houses do not bode well. However, McRae was tired and wet, besides, it was already night, and it was necessary to spend the night somehow. What happened next?

Dick Whittington and His Cat (Dick Whittington and his cat). Dick was an orphan who lived in an ordinary English village. The locals liked to talk about the big city of London, where everything is wonderful for everyone, and people do nothing but party and bathe in luxury all day long. Dick liked these stories very much, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes. One day Dick saw a wagon passing by and asked the driver where he was going. He replied that in London. Word for word - and the driver took Dick with him, agreeing that on the way back he would take the boy back to the village. But the most interesting is yet to come. By the way, what about the cat?

The Well at the World's End The stepmother sent the girl to the well, which is at the end of the world, to bring water from it in a sieve. Already from the first sentence there is no optimism. What other well at the end of the world, and how can you draw water from there with a sieve? To the surprise of readers, the girl still finds the same well. The difficulties do not end there, but by a happy coincidence, a talking frog comes to the aid of the girl.

Molly Whuppie (Molly Wuppie). A large family could not feed all the children, and the parents decided to get rid of their three daughters. They took them to the forest and told them to stay there. Three girls began to wander through the forest until they came across a house. The woman let them eat, but then her husband returns - a cannibal giant. The husband did not immediately attack the sisters, but allowed them to stay overnight - and put them to bed with his three daughters. Everyone fell asleep, and only the younger sister, Molly, decided to be careful. And not in vain ...

The Old Witch (Old Witch). The girl saw an oven with bread. The oven asked the girl to get bread. And so she did. Then the girl saw a cow. The cow asked her to be milked. The girl obeyed. After that, the girl stumbled upon an apple tree, which begged to be shaken from her apples. So the girl did. In the end, she came across the witch's house. If she is so obedient and trusting even in relation to stoves, trees and animals, what can the old witch do with her ...

Read also

The 9 most common English accents

Let's analyze one simple fairy tale. Remember, at the beginning of the article, we promised you a fairy tale that you have almost certainly never heard. This is what she is.

This is one of the Philippine legends that is told to children. It is called The Legend of the Chrysanthemum - The Legend of the Chrysanthemum. Most likely, you have never heard it, so it will be doubly interesting to read.

Here is the video, below is the text, below we have prepared the translation.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl living with her mom in a small thatched hut in a deserted hamlet. Her father had passed away when she was still young. So her mom and she had to work very hard to make ends meet.

One day, the mother fell ill. She told her daughter, "My dear daughter, call a doctor for me!" The little girl quickly left home with worries filling up her heart. Suddenly, she came across a snowy-haired old man. He asked her, "Why are you so much in a hurry?" "I am looking for a doctor. My mother is very sick!" she cried.

The old man then told her, "I am a doctor! Take me to your home, I will cure your mother." When the old man arrived, after examining the mother, he told the girl, "Your mother's sickness is serious. I will try my best to cure her. Now, get to banyan tree by the woods. You'll find a daisy. Pick it up and bring it back to me!" It was bitterly cold outside, while the girl was only wearing a thin layer of clothes. She kept on walking and it was not until her feet felt worn that she reached the banyan tree. In front of her was a bush with a beautiful daisy. She picked it up and cherished it in her hands. All of a sudden, the old man's voice echoed in her ears, "Each petal represents a day your mother continues to live."

She looked down on the flower and counted, "One, Two, Three… Twenty! Oh, no! There are only twenty days left for my mother!"

Thinking for a while, she gently tore the petals into many small pieces. Each piece turned into a thin glossy petal. The twenty-petal daisy turned into a countless-petal flower. She rushed home with the strange flower. The old man was waiting for her at the door. He told her cheerfully, "Your mother has recovered. It is the reward for your pious heart." Ever since then, every year during the autumn, the flowers with many thin glossy petals blossom created a picturesque scenery. They are called the Chrysanthemum, the symbol of piety.

Once upon a time there lived a little girl who lived with her mother in a small thatched hut in an abandoned village. Her father passed away when she was still young. So she and her mother had to work very hard to make ends meet.

One day the mother fell ill. She said to her daughter, "My dear daughter, call a doctor for me!" The little girl quickly left the house with worries filling her heart. Suddenly, she came across an old man with snowy hair. He asked her, "Why are you in such a hurry?" "I'm looking for a doctor. My mother is very sick!" - she exclaimed.

Then the old man said to her: "I am a doctor! Take me to your house, I will cure your mother." When the old man arrived, having examined the mother, he said to the girl, "Your mother's illness is serious. I will do my best to cure her. Now go to the banyan tree by the forest. You will find a daisy there. Pick it up and bring it to me!" It was very cold outside, and the girl was wearing only a thin layer of clothing. She kept walking, and only when her legs were tired did she reach the banyan tree. In front of her was a bush with a beautiful daisy. She picked it up and held it carefully in her hands. Suddenly, an old man's voice was heard in her ears: "Each petal symbolizes the day your mother continues to live."

She looked down at the flower and counted, "One, two, three... Twenty! Oh no! My mother is only twenty days away!"

After some thought, she carefully tore the petals into many small pieces. Each piece turned into a thin glossy petal. The twenty-petalled daisy turned into a flower with countless petals. She rushed home with a strange flower. The old man was waiting for her at the door. He cheerfully told her, "Your mother has recovered. This is the reward for your godly heart." Since then, every year in autumn, flowers with many thin glossy petals bloom, creating a picturesque landscape. They are called Chrysanthemums, a symbol of piety.

Here are some good sites:

• Bedtime Short Stories
• Kidsgen
• World of Tales

Or you can find any similar site in Google. It does not matter. As long as you are comfortable.

Reading children's stories is a good practice for beginners. Fairy tales usually have simple vocabulary and grammar. And, importantly, a small amount of text. The tale from the example above can be read in just five minutes. Larger ones will take up to half an hour. Rarely does a children's story in English require more of your time.

But not only fairy tales are rich. For a comprehensive study of the language, it will be useful to combine different materials. Fairy tales have literary language. In news articles - journalistic. And so on.

See also:

• A selection of interesting magazines to read in English
• Reading books in English for different levels
• Top sites to read

Read also

Top 5 professions with knowledge of English

The younger the child, the more receptive he is to foreign languages. If you are a parent and you decide to help your child learn an international language, this is commendable and timely.

Before the age of three, there is a good chance of raising a bilingual child if enough effort is put in. In particular, it is necessary that one of the parents or the nanny speaks only English to the child. You also need to watch movies and cartoons in this language together. We wrote more about the methods of educating a bilingual in this article .

Speaking of cartoons. Watching a cartoon in English is a good thing at any age. At least three years old, at least forty years old. Many begin to train to perceive English by ear precisely from cartoons for children, since there are simple phrases that are pronounced with extreme accuracy. Read our selection of cartoons for learning English for different levels.

We showed you English folk tales, Scottish tales, and even Filipino tales. Now we are ready to let you go. Then it's up to you. Find fairy tales on the Internet and read.

We recommend installing extension ED Translator . With it, you can highlight a word or phrase in English on any site - and see the translation. No need to constantly copy and paste into Google translator. You can also click on the plus sign to immediately add the word to your personal EnglishDom dictionary, and then fix it in our online simulators.

Let your life be like a fairy tale. Like a good fairy tale with a happy ending.

EnglishDom #we inspire to learn

English folk tales in Russian. Tales of England

Learn more

• 
  How to teach the child
• 
  Alphabets song lyrics
• 
  Song about colours for preschool
• 
  Alphabet letter lowercase
• 
  Word games for a group
• 
  What reading level should my 2nd grader be at
• 
  How to teach maths for preschoolers
• 
  Duck on a bike reading level
• 
  What are the method of teaching reading
• 
  Words rhyming with first
• 
  Cartoon short stories