a fairy tale is a story about mythical beings and such, common in folklore
Oh cool, I used to love them as a kid.
yea they have all sort of creatures like goblins and mermaids
Usually at least, sometimes its just people.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale, wonder tale, magic tale, or Märchen is an instance of a folklore genre that takes the form of a short story. Such stories typically feature entities such as dwarfs, dragons, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, mermaids, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy
Menninkäinen
In Finnish mythology and lore, a menninkäinen is believed to be a leprechaun-like inhabitant of the forests. Fairy tale depictions often involve riddling, dominance struggles and favors elicited. Menninkäinen were probably originally thought to be spirits of dead people, but folklore about them has changed during time, and they turned to be something else.
In modern usage, the word is usually used to mean goblins, hobgoblins and gnomes. Not all Finnish words for the little folk have an English equivalent, and vice versa,