Fairy tales tell about events that actually did not happen. Therefore, the expediency of their composition has been repeatedly questioned. So do fairy tales benefit their readers, and if so, how?
Before giving an answer to the question of what fairy tales are for, we need to think about what a fairy tale is in general. Do only stories of fictional events, composed for children, fall under this definition? Of course not at all. If we consider any work as a fairy tale, the plot of which is not based on real events, but is invented, such can be called almost all works of art created for both children and adults: from feuilletons and anecdotes to science fiction stories and feature films. And for a work to be considered a fairy tale, it is not at all necessary that the events described in it were supernatural. The main thing is that the plot should be invented. Fairy tales are useful because the events described in them can be projected onto reality. In other words, the ideas gleaned by the reader from the plot of such a work (including those expressed allegorically in the original) can suggest how to act in a similar situation in life. In addition, the plots of many fairy tales are literally imbued with optimism. No matter how events unfold in the course of the plot, everything usually ends well. In life, a modern person often lacks either optimism or kindness - why not take them from fairy tales? A fairy tale is an excellent simulator of fantasy, and not only for the reader, but also for the author. After all, it is much easier to express an idea of something than to implement this idea. For example, to imagine a person flying through the air like a bird is much easier than actually making a person fly. And who knows, perhaps the idea expressed in a fairy tale will be put into practice, albeit not immediately. This has happened many times. And this is not only about the classic example of a flying carpet, which is usually given in such cases. Robots, satellite TV, space flights, computer networks - all of this was first told, albeit completely illiterate, in fairy tales and works of science fiction. And who knows if the inventors who brought these seemingly naive ideas to life were not inspired by these very works?
