"The Historical Roots of the Fairy Tale" is V. Ya. Propp's second monograph and, along with "The Morphology of the Fairy Tale," one of the folklorist's most cited works, continuing to uncover the secrets of the origins of fairy tales and myths.

In this study, the author dissects the mythology of primitive peoples and explains the origins of the fairy tale as a transformation of ancient tribal rituals. The scholar creatively develops several hypotheses advanced by P. Sentive, a leading specialist in European folklore of the first half of the 20th century, and goes significantly further than his predecessor. Propp methodically identifies traces of initiation rites in folk tales from archaic societies not only in Eurasia, but also in North and South America, Africa, Australia, and Oceania.

The reader will encounter a large number of characters and plotlines, as well as real-life examples and references to the works of ethnographers. An analysis of numerous folklore elements will reveal the secret of why fairy tales begin with certain plots, what hidden motives lie behind the characters' actions, and how artistic fiction influences people.