Folk tales require that people use their brains to solve their problems while fairy tales require that people have magic to help them.
Folktales are stories that grow out of the lives and imaginations of the people, or folk. They are a form of traditional literature which began as an attempt to explain and understand the natural and spiritual world. The origin of the folktale lies in the oral tradition.
Some scholars argue that folktales were passed through the migrations of peoples. Once developed, they spread from country to country through people, for example sailors and soldiers, women stolen from their tribes, slaves and captives of war, traders, minstrels and bands, monks and scholars, and young men on the grand tour.