U$22 The Golden River

WDCS110 'Goldilocks'

WDCS112 'Rip van Winkle'

Barks was fond of fairy tales, and he sometimes used ingredients from several in his stories. Examples are: Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid in U$68 Hall of the Mermaid Queen, The Snow Queen in WDCS196 'The Snow Princess Story', and Charles Perrault's Cinderella in WDCS277 The Duckburg Pet Parade. Years later, when he was seeking motifs for his waterfowl paintings, Barks made lists covering suitable subjects such as Cinderella and Snow White as well as memos to look at Hans Christian Andersen's and the brothers Grimm's fairy tales.
Here are examples of stories, where Barks incorporated larger passages from fairy tales:

In U$22 The Golden River Scrooge buys a valley for peace and quiet. But a waterfall there looks like it is flowing gold! The initial story was written in 1860 by British philosopher and author John Ruskin (1819-1900) and titled The King of The Golden River. Barks enjoyed the concept and transformed it to his duck universe with ample references to the initial tale.

In U$37 Cave of Ali Baba Barks included several elements from the ancient 1,001 Arabian Nights such as Jinns, whirling dervishes, and Rocs, and a direct reference to the Ali Baba chapter was the use of the exclamation Open Sesame, that opened the cliff door to a hidden treasure cave.

In WDCS110 'Goldilocks' the story is  loosely built on an old German folk tale transcribed to paper by the German brothers Jakob Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859). The brothers were librarians by trade and they collected more than 200 folk tales which they wrote down for the first time in order to preserve them for posterity, i.e. they did not invent the stories themselves. Barks used sequences from the tale (that is known as both The Three Bears and Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and reworked them to fit his plotline.

In WDCS112 'Rip van Winkle' Barks used a fable from Washington Irving's (1783-1859) classic story Rip van Winkle from 1819 featuring the Dutch immigrant Rip Van Winkle and his 20-year nap in the Catskill Mountains before waking up to a much-changed world. Barks was intrigued by the basic setup, but his story was long underway because he had difficulties adapting it and putting it together, until he finally came up with his plot.

U$44 Crown of the Mayas

WDCS139 'The Racing Pigeon'

WDCS187 'Two is Company'

Barks would sometimes incorporate a narrator in his stories. Mostly, the narratives were restricted to the first page, but the guiding information could also 'ooze' out on the following pages. The best example of that type of narration came in the epic adventure story FC0199 Sheriff of Bullet Valley (see more HERE).
Here are a few examples of narration from diverse stories:

In U$44 Crown of the Mayas a lengthy, historical narration begins: Two thousand years ago, a jittery Mayan Emperor tossed his jeweled crown into a creepy 'Well of Sacrifice'! ...

In WDCS139 'The Racing Pigeon' Barks gets all lyrical describing first Donald's feelings and then the nephews': In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of... - In the spring, young boys' fancies lightly turn to raising beasts and fowls!

In WDCS143 'Gems in the Desert' Barks uses slightly pompous narratives during the story. Here are the first ones where Donald and Gladstone are described in fairy taleish phrases: If this were a fairy story, it would begin: Once upon a time there was a great King of Luck! He was so lucky that nothing bad could ever happen to him! - Among the great king's fellow mortals was a lowly cousin who was very jealous of the king's good fortune! He wished that he could outdo the king just once!

In WDCS187 'Two is Company' Barks sets the scene for the upcoming tumultuous events with a few ominous words: It's an ill wind that blows nobody good! And in the spring when the winds blow and blow, who's to know what will come riding down the wind into his life?

FC0199 The Sheriff of Bullet Valley

FC0275 Ancient Persia

WDCS100 'Truant Officer Donald'

When Barks granted himself some leisure time, he preferred to visit the local cinemas, and he was not exactly unfamiliar with the medium as a whole, as he had spent a few years at Walt Disney's Studios drawing and writing animated cartoons.

Examples of ideas from feature films:
Barks was always partial to Western movies and the life in the Wild West, thus a story with that theme was an obvious choice, so he made FC0199 The Sheriff of Bullet Valley in 1948. Barks even reused a scene from his early, unreleased cartoon epic Northwest Mounted.
When Barks made FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo in 1949 he was triggered by a Bela Lugosi film called White Zombie and a thrilling painting by Joe Little showing a human-like zombie with torn clothes. This inspired him to build a story around such a creature. It turned out to be somewhat of a cuddly monster in the comic book because Barks had no intention of imitating the horrid monsters from the EC comics.
Again in 1950 Barks was inspired by horror movies, this time the films starring Boris Karloff who often played the role of the mad professor. Moreover, Barks was always modestly interested in archaeology and ancient myths and he later acknowledged that ancient Persia fascinated him. The result was FC0275 Ancient Persia.

Examples of ideas taken from his own cartoons:
In WDCS033 'Lifeguard' from 1943 Barks borrowed one of the shark gags from the animated short Sea Scouts.
In WDCS086 'Volunteer Fireman' from 1947 Barks borrowed several gags from the animated short Fire Chief.
In WDCS100 'Truant Officer' from 1949 Barks borrowed the end scene from the animated short Truant Officer Donald.

U$25 'Pyramid Hunt'

WDCS103 'The Maharajah's Ruby'

WDCS198 'The Costume Party'

Barks only used proverbs to enhance passages in his stories, and it just happened on rare occasions. Here are some examples:

In U$25 'Pyramid Hunt' Scrooge uses a proverb as his mantra throughout the story. He says: Let the cobbler stick to his last, meaning 'continue doing what you know about instead of trying new things where you are likely to fail'. In the end the Ducks come to the same conclusion.

In WDCS103 'The Maharajah's Ruby' Gladstone succeeds in luring the Ducks into digging for a lost ruby on a beach. In the meantime he chants: All things come to him who sits and waits! That's my slogan! In the end the Ducks agree when they manage to find the ruby for themselves.

In WDCS155 'The Rainbow Heirs' the Ducks and Gladstone heed the old saying There's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, meaning 'it can sometimes be difficult to obtain what you dream to find or achieve'. Barks uses the proverb quite literally by constructing a story in which Scrooge's heirs actually find pots of gold at the end of a rainbow.

In WDCS187 'Two is Company' this proverb is used: It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, meaning 'unpleasant events and difficult situations often have unexpected good effects'. Barks actually uses the phrase right in the opening splash panel and thereby sets the scene for the rest of the story.

In WDCS198 'The Costume Party' Donald is invited to a costume party and he dresses up as a knight which proves to be a wise decision, because he actually ends up as a knight in shining armour, meaning that 'a brave man can rescue you from a difficult situation'.

In WDCS241 Rocks to Riches Barks' title is clearly fantasizing over the proverb rags to riches, meaning that even if you are poor you will always have the chance to become rich and powerful. Interestingly, he later actually made a ½-pager in WDCS262 titled Rags to Riches.

FC0328 In Old California!

U$06 'Tralla La'

WDCS288 Hero of the Dike

Although Barks did not consider himself to be an ardent reader of literature (he felt that he had little time for such lengthy absorption), he managed to read several novels. Here are three examples of different types of literature containing ingredients that were implemented into his stories:

Barks only made one romantic story, FC0328 In Old California! from 1951, and it became one of his favourites because of its sentimental qualities: The one I always liked best for sentimental value was In Old California! I created an atmosphere and then kept that atmosphere through the whole story. The inspiration was Helen Hunt Jackson's historical romance novel, Ramona, published in 1884. It is the story of Ramona, the child of a white father and an Indian mother, who falls in love with an Indian sheepherder named Alessandro.
Barks' story incorporated many things: love, heroes, villains, history, nature, gold rush, atmosphere and nostalgia. And he did not have to consult his beloved National Geographic Magazines for backgrounds to draw this epic story - he was living smack in the middle of the area himself!

The initial idea in U$06 'Tralla La' from 1954 was a desire to show a billion of something (in this case it ended up being bottle caps). This was combined with the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton describing a mystical, harmonious and Eden-like valley called Shangri-La in the Himalayas, where people were content and aging very slowly. Barks decided to place his ducks in the valley of Tralla-La in the otherwise unwelcoming mountains of the Himalayas, where they could live and be happy.

In WDCS288 Hero of the Dike from 1964 Barks was inspired by a story by an author of children's literature, Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge. The story's title is The Hole in the Dike and tells of a Dutch boy who saves a town by sticking his finger in the hole of a flooded dike. Barks elegantly transformed the story to take place in Duckburg with a similar main plotline.