Quiz: Can You Name the Fairy Tales That Inspired These Disney Films?

Once upon a time...
Fairy tale or Disney princess quiz
Fairy tale or Disney princess quiz | Culture Club/GettyImages, Disney

Disney would never have taken off if it hadn’t been for fairy tales. But the original stories were not as wholesome as the House of Mouse made them out to be. Maybe you’ve read the original fairy tales, trying to see just how much Disney sanitized their plots to be family-friendly. If so, you should be able to tell which fairy tales inspired which movies. Take the quiz below to prove your knowledge!

Did you get 10/10? If you did, then you’ve made storytellers like Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm proud!


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Loved testing your Disney knowledge? Be sure to check out Mental Floss’s quiz section for more Disney trivia. And if you love stories, our literature section will have tales to entice you. There are so many amazing stories that deserve the Hollywood treatment, and Disney could reclaim some of its former glory if it were to adapt some more of them.

Disney Needs Fairy Tales

Many feel like Disney has lost its magic touch over the years. Their focus on live-action remakes and prioritizing money over risk-taking in their stories has led to a pretty big slump. What could Disney do to get out of said slump? Fairy tales could be the key.

Fairy tales were Disney’s bread and butter for the longest time, and it could prove wise to return to what worked. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fairy tales that Disney could tweak and modernize. If they look at the major success of Frozen, which is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” they can see that fairy tale adaptations still prove popular.

A scene from Disney's 'Frozen' (2013).
A scene from Disney's 'Frozen' (2013). | Disney

Fairy Tales From Around the World

There are quite a few tales from European storytellers that Disney could still use, such as the Brothers Grimm story “The Goose Girl” and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea.” As long as they fix the part in “The Goose Girl” where the talking horse gets killed but continues to talk as a disembodied head, it could be a major hit!

Disney could also look to folktales and fairytales outside of Europe. An African fairy tale like Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe could be a good choice. Or, they could adapt a Korean folk tale like “The Fairy and the Woodcutter.”

Is there a fairy tale you would love to see adapted into a film? Maybe Disney can spark a new golden age of animation by turning to one of these original stories.

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