The Green Knight (fairy tale) The Green Knight (fairy tale) The Green Knight is a Danish fairy tale, collected by Svend Grundtvig (1824-1883) in "Danish Fairy Tales" (18??) and by Evald Tang Kristensen (1843-1929) in "Eventyr fra Jylland" (1881). Andrew Lang included a translation of Kristensen's version in "The Olive Fairy Book" (1907). This tale combines Aarne-Thompson type 510A with type 425N, the bird husband, and type 432, the prince as bird. Others of the first type include "Cinderella", The Sharp Grey Sheep, The Golden Slipper, The Story of Tam and Cam, Rushen Coatie, Fair, Brown and Trembling, and Katie Woodencloak; of the second two,
Fairy tale tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th centuries the fairy tale became associated with children's literature. The "précieuses", including Madame d'Aulnoy, intended their works for adults, but regarded their source as the tales that servants, or other women of lower class, would tell to children. Indeed, a novel of that time, depicting a countess's suitor offering to tell such a tale, has the countess exclaim that she loves fairy tales as if she were still a child. Among the late "précieuses", Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont redacted a version of "Beauty and the Beast"