Did You Know?

While we are familiar with virtually countless different stories, there may be only two basic story structures for storytelling. Of course, there are variations and modifications, but, in general, only two structures are enough to construct any kind of story in the world.

Without further ado, we'll explain both structures with the simplest possible examples known to everyone: fairy tales. Even more! We'll present one more simplification, which demands a bit more understanding. Instead of two, there may be only one basic story structure!

But first things first. Let's presume there are only two story structures in the world of fairy tales (which is totally applicable to the whole of literature, by the way).

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​1. Rags-to-Riches

​​Rags-to-riches story structure starts with the protagonist in a low position. This position may be social, financial, occupational, ... It doesn't really matter. In fairy tales, he (or she) is very likely poor. The goal of the protagonist (even if they are unaware of this) is to climb the social (financial, occupational, ...) ladder. This 'climbing up' is the main drive of the story.

Here are a few examples:

Jack lives with his mother. They are so poor they have to sell a cow, their only source of food. Jack exchanges it for a fist of magical beans. A giant beanstalk rises up, and Jack climbs it to the world where a nasty giant lives. Jack steals the giant's most valuable possessions. The giant tries to catch him, and Jack needs to cut the beanstalk. He and his mom are rich, and the giant is dead.

This way, Jack symbolically, metaphorically, and actually climbed the social ladder. His status changed from poor to wealthy. The goal was achieved by taking risks and overcoming obstacles.

A poor tailor can barely afford to buy some jam. When the flies start eating it, he kills seven of them with one stroke. The tailor starts believing he is capable of extraordinary achievements. After a series of dangerous encounters, he becomes a commander of the king's army and eventually marries a princess.

The tailor managed to become an heir to the throne. For this, he had to not only defeat a bunch of giants and other dangerous creatures but also deal with treachery and betrayal.

Aladdin lives with his mother. They are poor, and he is irresponsible. A magician visits them pretending that he is Aladdin's uncle. He tries to exploit Aladdin's naivety to get into possession of a magical lamp, but the boy gets it. He becomes extremely rich and marries a princess. But the magician strikes back, and Aladdin has to fight to regain his status.

A poor boy becomes royalty, but his path is not an easy one. He needs to find a way from the underground and fight a mighty magician. He doesn't have only to achieve his status but also protect it.

A miller dies, and his three sons inherit his possessions. While the elder two got valuable assets, the youngest got only a cat. But the cat can talk and promises to help the boy become a rich man. After a series of tricks, the puss in boots really arranges that the boy not only gets a castle and territories but marries a princess, too.

In only a few steps, the poor miller's boy becomes an heir to the throne. His magical helper achieved his status by stealing, pretending, flattery, lying, and even murder. Not a very positive moral, but a very lifelike lesson.

In all presented cases, we noticed that a poor protagonist becomes a wealthy person and a respected member of society. Still, in two of these cases, the achieved position is not enough. He needs to protect it against his competition. While we could say the part of the hero was only the way up, there was at least one little down, too. This leads us to the other basic story structure.​

​2. Riches-to-Rags-to-Riches

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In this structure, the protagonist starts in a good position, loses it, but after some time, regains it, and in most cases even improve it.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty is one of the daughters of the rich merchant. He loses his wealth, and the family has to move into a modest house in the country. The merchant gets a chance to regain his wealth, but instead, he meets a Beast who intends to kill him. Beauty, the merchant's daughter, saves her father's life by moving into the Beast's castle. After a while, she falls in love with the Beast, he transforms into a prince, and the status of her family is restored.

Beauty starts her life as a rich girl loses everything, and finally gets much more than she had at the beginning. Still, after she improved her status by moving into a castle, she had to deal with her jealous sisters, too.

One rainy night, a completely wet girl knocks on the doors of the castle. She claims she is a princess, but she doesn't look like one. The queen, who wants her son to marry a noble girl, decides to check if the visitor is of royal origin and puts a pea under seven mattresses. The girl is really so sensitive that she is unable to sleep despite seven mattresses. Next morning, her status is officially restored and the prince proposes to her.

While there are no very dramatic ups and downs in this popular Andersen's fairy tale, the riches-to-rags-to-riches pattern is obvious. She starts as a princess, but after a storm, her status becomes questionable. She has to prove it before she can enjoy the privileges of the princess again.

Sinbad inherits a fortune only to spend it. Then he decides to trade. He travels, encounters dangers, and returns rich, only to spend everything again. He repeats his ups and downs, including fighting monsters and being buried alive, seven times before he settles up and stays in the 'riches' position.

This story uses a riches-to-rags-to-riches pattern again and again. This dynamic is not only interesting from the storytelling point of view but also teaches us a very valuable life lesson: life is full of ups and downs.

A princess needs to travel to the castle where her future husband expects her. Her servant overpowers her, and they switch positions. When they arrive at the castle, the princess becomes a goose girl. With some magic and a powerful helper, her true identity is recovered, and the mean servant is punished.

This story is a classic riches-to-rags-to-riches example. While its structure may look simple, it teaches us that a good start in life is not enough. You have to be able to protect your status. Otherwise, you'll lose it.

If we look thoroughly, we can see that the riches-to-rags-to-riches story structure is present even in two of the rags-to-riches examples. But we can make even a step further. Why not say that every story follows this pattern, only some start later?

The Puss in Boots, for instance, could begin with a few sentences about how the miller's family happily lived until the father died. This way, we could say that the third son started at least provided for, if not wealthy until his father's death pushed him down the financial ladder. Jack and the Beanstalk is a similar example. There are even versions with an introduction to a happy and wealthy family, destroyed by the evil giant who kills Jack's father and steals his possessions!

This way, we can claim there is only one basic story structure with numerous variations and modifications. It's called riches-to-rags-to-riches!