Explore our interactive story map and discover the tales countries grew up with. Think you know Cinderella? See how familiar stories change across borders.
You can explore fairy tales, legends and stories connected with holidays, see their illustrated characters, and find out where each recorded version comes from. Here is how to use the map, step by step. No account is needed.
1. Choose a country
Start in Traditional. Tap a coloured country on the map, or type its name into Find a country… and choose a result. Prefer browsing? Open Country list and select a region, such as Europe, Africa or Asia.
The map zooms towards your selection and opens that country’s stories. You will see the country’s name and flag, followed by its selection of traditional tales and classics. Use Change country to explore somewhere else.
2. Discover the stories and their characters
Each story has a title, a short description and an illustrated character. Select its title or Story & source to open more information and a link to the source for that version. Open About the tradition & sources in the country panel for more context.
The map is a guide to discovering stories, with short introductions rather than full story texts. When a tale is already available on Naratopia, a Read on Naratopia link takes you to it. Other entries help you discover a title and explore its source.
3. Switch between traditional tales, celebrations and legends
The three buttons above the map change what you are exploring:
- Traditional: discover the selected country’s fairy tales, folk tales and classics.
- Holidays & celebrations: choose a holiday from the menu, then select an available country to see its related stories and customs. For Halloween, you can also switch between Halloween traditions and Spooky reading.
- Legends: select a marked people or region to explore its myths, legends and folk tales, with context about the culture and its storytelling. These traditions can extend across several present-day countries.
4. Compare the same story across countries
This is where familiar fairy tales can surprise you. Scroll to Check out how the classic stories change across the countries below the map. Choose a story, then choose the detail you want to compare. The country cards show the differences side by side.
Try Cinderella and select Who helps. The French version features a fairy godmother, the German version has a hazel tree and birds, and the Chinese tale of Ye Xian features the magical bones of a fish. Switch to The slipper to compare another detail.
Select Full comparison & sources for the fuller comparison and references. You can also start from a country’s story card: when Compare versions appears, it opens the comparison for that tale.
These comparisons follow specific recorded versions and related tales. A country can have many tellings, and stories often cross borders; the map does not present one version as the only authentic telling for a whole country.
5. Explore comfortably on your phone
Drag the map to move around, pinch to zoom, or use the + and − buttons. Tap World to return to the wider view. When a country’s stories are open, ← Map takes you back to exploring. Search and the country list are handy shortcuts for small countries.
6. Share a discovery or suggest a missing tale
Use Share at the top of the map to copy a link that includes your selected country or category. The same window offers an embed code if you want to display the interactive map on your own website.
Know a traditional story that should be included? Select Suggest a story, enter its country or tradition and title, and optionally add a comment or source link. Your suggestion goes privately to the Naratopia team for review; it is not posted as a public comment.
Ready to try it? Open Fairy Tales Around the World, start with your own country, and see which familiar story leads you somewhere new.
