Spanish Fairy Tales: What Are These 3 Fairy Tales in Spanish?
What child didn’t enjoy fairy tales? Snow White, Cinderella, The Magic Beans, just to name a few, were some of my favorite Spanish fairy tales
Of course, these fairy tales also exist in Spanish! So, today we’re playing a little game: I’m going to describe a fairy tale in Spanish… and you have to guess which Spanish fairy tale I’m talking about!
So prepare your inner child and join me in this Spring Spanish tale!
1. First fairy tale in Spanish: once upon a time…
Había una vez una hechicera que convirtió a un apuesto príncipe en una horrible bestia al darse cuenta de que era un joven egoísta y con corazón de piedra. (Once upon a time, a sorceress turned a handsome prince into a hideous beast when she realized that he was a selfish young man with a heart of stone.)
Can you guess this Spanish fairy tale? Let’s break down the sentence:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Había una vez | Once upon a time |
Hechicera | Sorceress |
Un apuesto príncipe | A handsome prince |
Bestia | Beast |
Corazón de piedra | Heart of Stone |
Muy bien, ¿has adivinado? (Have you guessed already?)
The tale is La Bella y la Bestia, known in English as The Beauty and the Beast. We all know the story! Many years after la hechicera (the sorceress) turned the prince into una bestia (a beast), a young woman named Bella (or Bella in English) went to live a su castillo (in his palace) after a series of events.
La bella y la bestia (the Beauty and the Beast) become friends, defeat the curse, and live felices por siempre ―this sentence is also the classic formula in Spanish for “happily ever after”.
Related to vocabulary this fairy tale:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
una hechicera | a sorceress |
convirtió | turned |
apuesto príncipe | handsome prince |
horrible bestia | hideous beast |
joven egoísta | selfish young man |
corazón de piedra | heart of stone |
Bella y la Bestia | Beauty and the Beast |
hechicera | sorceress |
bestia | beast |
castillo | palace |
felices por siempre | happily ever after |
2. Second fairy tale: a little girl as white as snow…
Ready for the next fairy tale?
Y nació una niñita que era tan blanca como la nieve, con labios tan rojos como la sangre, y cuyos cabellos eran tan negros como el ébano.
This is also an easy guess. Let’s see:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Y nació una niñita | And a little girl was born |
tan blanca como la nieve | as white as snow |
con labios tan rojos como la sangre | with lips as red as blood |
cabellos tan negros como el ébano | hair was as black as ebony |
¡Muy bien! ¿Has adivinado? (Have you guessed it?)
And a little girl was born, who was as white as snow, with lips as red as blood, and whose hair was as black as ebony.
Este cuento (this tale) is Blanca Nieves y los siete enanos (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). The story tells us about a girl whose madrastra (stepmother) was an evil queen infatuated with her own beauty: Espejito, espejito, ¿quién es la más hermosa de este reino? (Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?).
Snow White runs from her and ends up living with los siete enanos (the seven dwarfs) until she has an encounter with the evil queen in disguise and bites una manzana envenenada (a poisoned apple), falling into a dream until her charming prince wakes her up con un beso de amor (with a love kiss). He takes her to his castle, where they live felices por siempre (happily ever after).
Vocabulary related to the Spanish fairy tale:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
nació | was born |
niñita | little girl |
blanca | white |
nieve | snow |
labios rojos | red lips |
sangre | blood |
cabellos negros | black hair |
ébano | ebony |
cuento | tale |
Blanca Nieves y los siete enanos | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
madrastra | stepmother |
enanos | dwarfs |
manzana envenenada | poisoned apple |
beso de amor | love kiss |
felices por siempre | happily ever after |
3. Third fairy tale: a growing nose…
… y el hada azul le hechizó. Por no ir a la escuela, le colocó dos orejas de burro y, por portarse mal, le dijo que cada vez que dijera una mentira le crecería la nariz, poniéndosele además colorada.
You got it? Let’s see:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
el hada azul | a blue fairy |
escuela | school |
dos orejas de burro | two donkey ears |
una mentira | a lie |
le crecería la nariz | his nose would grow |
colorada | red |
¡Estoy segura que ya sabes el cuento! (I’m sure you already know the story!)
…and the Blue fairy bewitched him. For not going to school, she put two donkey ears on him, and for misbehaving, she told him that every time he told a lie his nose would grow and turn red.
¡Lo adivinaste! (You guessed!) We are talking about Pinocho (Pinocchio). It’s a curious thing, even in English the character conserva su nombre original (kept his original name), but in Spanish it was slightly modified to sound better… para nosotros, por lo menos (for us, at least).
Pinocho, the story of a puppet brought to life by el hada azul (a Blue Fairy), who also gives him a conscience that he could call out whistling or, not being able to whistle, shouting: Pepito Grillo! (Or Jiminy Cricket in its original version).
Si Pinocho miente (If Pinocchio lies), his nose grows and grows, but his dearest wish is to be un niño de verdad (a real boy) and be able to live with his father, the carpenter who created him, Geppetto.
At the end, of course ―Spoiler alert!―, the Blue fairy granted him his wish and they… Viven felices por siempre (Live happily ever after).
Vocabulary related to Spanish fairy tale:
Spanish | English |
---|---|
hada azul | blue fairy |
escuela | school |
orejas de burro | donkey ears |
mentira | lie |
crecería la nariz | nose would grow |
colorada | red |
Pinocho | Pinocchio |
conserva su nombre original | kept his original name |
Pepito Grillo | Jiminy Cricket |
miente | lies |
niño de verdad | real boy |
Geppetto | Geppetto |
felices por siempre | happily ever after |
Learn more about Spanish fairy tales with FREE Spanish training
What do you think of this lesson?)
¿Cuál es tu cuento de hadas favorito? (Which is your favorite fairy tale?)
Y no lo olvides (and don’t forget), we also have a free, more in-depth Spanish training on our website where you’ll discover the method we use in our Spring Spanish Academy to teach students to speak fluent Spanish.
You also get some free sample Spanish lessons there that come straight from our Academy!