Christmas Fairy Tales List

Beautiful Christmas Fairy Tales List [with Videos]

You might know some of the best Christmas fairy tales, like ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker’ and ‘The Little Match Girl.’ Here I tried to gather information and links to all the Christmas fairy tales I have found.

I have included only Christmas fairy tales (see also fairy tale characteristics), no Christmas legends or folktales.

💡 As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I get a little percentage whenever you buy something after clicking one of my affiliate links. Thanks!

💡 As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I get a little percentage whenever you buy something after clicking one of my affiliate links. Thanks!

1. The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds (Bulgaria)

When I found this story, I fell in love with it. Especially with the little furries that come to the rescue.

It was winter, and it stayed winter. The wicked Winter Witch prevented spring from coming.

As snow and darkness filled the earth, the people planned to send a messenger to Father Frost. But who could go through the icy cold?

A girl volunteers because, she says: “my warm little heart, full of love, will keep the cold away from me.”

She overcomes many obstacles but is finally put to sleep by a disguised Winter Witch. Luckily, all the fluffy animals of the forest come to her rescue, and she reaches Father Frost, who proceeds to put things right again.

Read the entire fairy tale at fairytalez.com

2. The Snow Maiden (Russia)

My girlfriend is from Russia, so tales from this country are especially interesting to me. The Snow Maiden (or Snegurochka / Снегурочка) is well known in Russia.

An old couple is childless. On a winter day, they make a girl from snow in the forest and wish she was real. The girl comes alive and starts to live with them.

She grows up, and a man falls in love with her, dumping his girlfriend for her. Jealous, the girlfriend calls for the judgment of the tsar. But instead, the tsar asks her some questions, sees her innocence, and sends her home.

When she arrives home, she realizes that she is incapable of love. She begs Mother Spring for some feelings in her Winter heart. The prayer is answered, and she falls in love. However, her feelings are short-lived, and she melts in a snow puddle.

  • Read the entire fairy tale at therussianstore.com
  • You can find more versions of this fairy tale on the website of Prof. Ashliman. I chose this one because, to me, it’s the more mature version.
  • Find more background information about The Snow Maiden on Wikipedia.

3. The Fir Tree (Denmark)

The great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen wrote quite some famous fairy tales. They are often melancholic, like this one about a poor fir tree.

A little fir tree in the forest is anxiously waiting to become bigger.

One day he is cut down for Christmas. He is sold, taken to a house, and decorated. He shines and sparkles during the whole Christmas Eve. He even listens to an uncle tell a story.

However, he is taken down the next day and stored in the attic. He is sad and disappointed, the only highlight being that he can tell the story he heard to a group of mice. Then, in spring, he is carried into the yard and burned.

Read the entire fairy tale at The Hans Christian Andersen Centre

4. The Little Match Girl (Denmark)

Another classic from Hans Christian Andersen…

A poor young girl sells matches on the street. She sleeps in the cold outside and lights her matches one by one to warm herself. She does not dare to go home to her father if she has not sold anything. Everybody hurries along. Nobody buys.

She starts to see visions. In the sky, she sees a star that reminds her of her grandmother. She lights all her matches to keep this vision of her kind grandmother alive.

She dies when the matches are gone, and her grandmother carries her to heaven.

Read the entire fairy tale at The Hans Christian Andersen Centre

5. The Star Money (Germany)

Is this a Christmas fairy tale? Maybe not. It could be, it could be…

A homeless girl gives away everything to others in need: her bread, cap, jacket, dress, and even her underwear.

In turn, stars fall and change into money. She receives new clothes and lives happily ever after.

Read The Star Money at internationalfairytales.com

💡 The Star Money is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Here is my collection of their winter fairy tales.

6. The Elves and the Shoemaker (Germany)

Now, this Grimm tale is widely recognized as a bonafide Christmas story.

A shoemaker has nothing left. Only the leather to make one pair of shoes. So he goes to bed, and the following day he finds the shoes finished…

He finds out that elves are helping him. So, with his wife, he prepares some gifts for them to give back on Christmas: shoes and clothes. They are grateful, and everybody lives happily ever after.

Read The Elves and the Shoemaker at internationalfairytales.com

7. The Christmas Fairy of Strasburg (Germany)

This fairy tale is lovely, but reading it, I so much wanted a happier ending…

One day Count Otto, hunting in the forest, came upon the Fairy Well. As he washed his hands in the water, it felt like a hand touched his, and his ring was softly taken from his finger. Delighted, he returned home.

As he was sitting in his castle, suddenly many beautifully dressed fairy beings arrived, who started dancing around a beautiful tree they set up in the middle of the main hall. The whole tree sparkled and shined.

Ernestine, Queen of the Fairies, greets him and gives him his ring back. He asks her to marry him, and she agrees under the condition that he will never say the word ‘death’ in her presence.

They live happily together until one day, the Count uses the word death, and she vanishes. Since then, the Count sets up a lighted tree every Christmas Eve, waiting for his beloved. And that’s the origin of the Christmas Tree.

Read the entire fairy tale at fairytalez.com

8. The Cat on the Dovrefjell (Norway)

I love this story. It’s a bit bonkers with trolls and a bear, and I think it will be great fun to tell.

One Christmas Eve, a man arrives with a white bear at the Dovre mountain. He asks for shelter, but Halvor tells him to stay away because trolls visit every year on Christmas Eve.

The man stays. The trolls come, feast, and try to play with the bear. They call it ‘Kitty,’ and it ends up kicking them out of the house.

A year later, the trolls come back. Halvor has stayed behind this time and assures them that Kitty has gotten seven kittens, even more dangerous than their mother. The trolls decide that from that year, they will celebrate Christmas elsewhere.

Read the entire fairy tale at thegreatcat.org

🙂 This story makes me chuckle. Chuckle some more with these funny true Christmas stories.

9. The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff (France)

This fairy tale (maybe more of a religious legend) is dear to me because I used to walk in wooden shoes when I was a boy his age.

Little Wolff (7 years old) lives with his aunt but has a miserable life. She is so stingy that his clothes are old, food is scarce, and gifts are non-existent. He walks around in the winter snow in heavy wooden shoes.

One Christmas, the village boys leave the church and pass a child sleeping outside the church. All of them pass the boy, except Wolff, who takes pity and gives him one of his wooden shoes.

His aunt is angry at him and puts his other wooden shoe next to the chimney. The following day the whole room is filled with all kinds of luxurious gifts. A little bit later, the priest arrives and proclaims that it must have been the Christ child.

Read the entire fairy tale at theholidayspot.com

Links and tips for more Christmas fairy tales

The list I made here is limited by what is available online in English. For those who want to dive deeper down the snow-covered rabbit hole…

Help me complete the Christmas Fairy Tales list

I scoured the web, sifted the fairy tales from the legends and the folktales, and dove headlong into the Project Gutenberg archives. But, I can tell you, finding unknown Christmas fairy tales ain’t easy.

Luckily I also got some help from the Reddit Fairy Tale community.

Know of any Christmas Fairy Tales available online that are missing here? Please send me a message, and I will add them to this list.

Photo credits: Dollar Gill on Unsplash

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