Abstract:

Fairy tales are an integral part of possibly every language community and nation since they play an important role in the cultural life of the people, show a culture’s beliefs and traditions. Fairy tales also play a part in the development of national literatures and are used for education purposes. Through them children learn about their own culture or can find out more about other cultures and compare where they overlap or differ.

A great value lies in fairy tales as they can teach children morals – how to distinguish between right and wrong, what conduct is acceptable or desirable or what rules to adhere to. They also help develop children’s imagination, creativity, etc. Therefore they are an important matter to consider in the field of children’s education. Thanks to new and innovative methods it is possible to incorporate fairy tales into the teaching process more effectively and in more up-to-date ways.

The goal of this paper is to present how some particular values such as honesty, respectability and justice are reflected in the field of education, using fairy tales by one of the most famous Croatian fairy tale writer Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (1874−1938).

Keywords:

Fairy tales, education, moral value, children.