The Green Knight (fairy tale) In all, they marry. 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;
Fairy tale do not contain more than superficial references to religion and to actual places, people, and events; they take place "once upon a time" rather than in actual times. Fairy tales occur both in oral and in literary form; the name "fairy tale" was first ascribed to them by Madame d'Aulnoy in the late 17th century. Many of today's fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world. The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms can survive. Still, according to researchers at universities