@trevonjb, they are called fairy tales from the French contes des fees - literal translation - tales of the fairies. This was done around the time the famous French fairy tales were told, like those of Charles Perrault (Cinderella) and Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, the author of Beauty and the Beast. The English translation stuck, so they were also used for  the collection by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, among others. The stories Disney has recreated are nothing like the fantastically dark original folktales. I will be talking more about these in future posts. But you are right; they stem from oral folklore told throughout centuries - legends, as you said.