Donor (fairy tale) by Giambattista Basile. In the Grimm Brothers' variant of "Cinderella", the protagonist is aided not by her fairy godmother but by her dead mother, as is the heroine of the Finnish variant, "The Wonderful Birch". A great variety of other figures may also take this place. In "Vasilissa the Beautiful", the heroine is aided by a wooden doll that her dying mother had given her; in "Rushen Coatie", by a red calf sent to her by her dead mother, a calf that can continue to aid her after its death; in "Katie Woodencloak" by a mysterious dun bull; in "Tattercoats",
Fairy tale parody have been called "Adult fractured fairy tales ... still humorous but the humor is for adults". Fairy tale parody Fairy tale parody is a genre of fiction which parodies traditional fairy tales. The genre was popularized on television by the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segments on "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show". The 2001 computer-animated film "Shrek" brought great popularity to the genre. Parodies soon eclipsed traditional fairy tales. The genre garnered some praise for its more modern views but was also criticized for supplanting the traditional stories. Children's books that have been classified as fairy tale parodies: "Politically Correct Fairy Tales"