"The Frog Prince" is a famous fairy tale—nothing new! But what an opportunity to learn and practice the passato remoto! In everyday conversations this tense is rare in much of Italy, but when we're talking about "once upon a time..." it's a mainstay.

Many of us know how this story ends. That's why it will be easy to understand. And there are still plenty of verbs to learn in the passato remoto!

Here's one of the most famous fairy tales of all, "Cinderella." The Italian, "La Cenerentola" comes from the noun la cenere (ash, ashes, cinder). See how much you can understand without the English subtitles!

In fairy tales, good triumphs over evil in the end. This one's no exception.

There's plenty of new vocabulary in the well-known story of "Sleeping Beauty". And since there are both a king and a queen, and twelve fairies, many verbs are in the third person plural of the passato remoto! Make the most of it!

Being a fairy tale, there's a happy ending. Maybe you'll understand it even without the subtitles!

Usually associated with Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, the tale of "Puss in Boots" was, instead, first written down by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in the 1550s. It is not known whether he invented the tale or whether it reflects an older oral tradition.

"Puss in Boots" underscores what we all know—cats have everything figured out.

Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale, "The Ugly Duckling", is presented in Italian. These fairy tales are so familiar that they allow us to fully concentrate on the words and spare us the worry of not understanding what's happening in the story.

The Ugly Duckling realizes that he isn't so ugly after all.

Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" is translated as "La sirenetta" in Italian. The Italian term sirena covers both mermaids (part fish) and sirens (part bird).

"The Little Mermaid" concludes with a happy ending if you're a 19th century poet, as Andersen was. The vocabulary review focuses on verbs in the passato remoto.

In this telling of the late 19th century British fairy tale, the wolf is bad but not big.

The youngest piglet was right all along. Being a kind soul, he forgave his brothers.

Beauty and the Beast is a French 18th century fairy tale. It was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Her tale, which is as long as a novel, has been adapted numerous times. This nice retelling of the tale is more dependent on the Walt Disney Company.