Alas! Some stories do not end quite how we would like them to. One of the starkest examples of this in my classroom is Hans Christian Andersen’s The Mermaid. Unlike in the Disney version, his little mermaid does not live happily ever after with the prince. She dies. Or rather, she gets turned into seafoam.
Is being seafoam any better than death? my students inevitably wonder.
Well, that really depends on what being seafoam means in the world of the story. If it’s just another form of death, then it really makes no difference in the end. If, as is the case in the story, it opens the door to some kind of new life for the little mermaid, then being seafoam is clearly much better than death.
The catch, though, is that Hans Christian Andersen never tells us exactly what the little mermaid’s new, foamy life will consist of. He leaves that for us to imagine.
That’s where the fun part comes in for the aspiring storyteller!
With a little prompting, my students come up with beautiful sequels, usually having the little mermaid gain an immortal soul and thereby live the kind of happily ever after that Hans Christian Andersen wanted his readers to aspire toward.
A sequel need not pick up from the end of a story either. If there’s something unanswered in the middle of the story, a child could run with that. Just think about all the potential storylines from The Snow Queen, another of my favorites by Hans Christian Andersen. Each of little Gerda’s adventures in her quest to save Kay includes fantastic characters and subplots that could be used to create whole new stories. The most popular of those characters with my students is always the robber girl, and I’ve gotten to enjoy many wild stories about her over the years.
Finally, just as some stories make us wonder what happens next, others make us wonder what happened before. Stories that begin in a fallen state are perfect for this. Some of my favorites for a prequel are Jack and the Beanstalk by Joseph Jacobs, Hansel and Gretel by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde. In each of these stories, tragedy is a premise. Jack’s dad is gone. What happened to him? Hansel and Gretel’s mother is dead. What happened to her? The giant is mean and selfish. What made him be like that?
The child who tries to answer one of those questions will have the makings of a whole new story without having to come up with everything from scratch. In the process, she will gain more insight into the original story as well. It’s a win-win for a teacher and a beautiful writing exercise for a child.
In order to write a sequel or a prequel, I recommend a child start with fairy tales, preferably an early version by one of the greats like Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, or Oscar Wilde. (See some of my favorites here). Once she has read it, have her narrate the story orally to ensure she has the details down and to help her establish her storyteller voice. The next step is to think through or talk through what might have preceded the story or followed after it. As soon as she has an exciting thread to work with, she should begin writing her story, following the one scene in one sitting rule.
Sequels and prequels can be written for all genres of stories, and I recommend a child experiment with lots of them. Nonetheless, there is something particularly magical about fairy tales that makes them the perfect starting point for a child. Besides understanding a few basic fairy tale conventions, there is no expectation for a child to be an expert on anything in particular. All she needs is her imagination!
First Image Credit: The Little Mermaid by Ivan Bilbin (1937)
Second Image Credit: The Selfish Giant by Walter Crane (1888)
Fairy Tales are some of the “daintiest bits” in the “cauldron of story” that J.R.R. Tolkien described in his essay, “On Fairy Stories.” They tend to be more digestible in one sitting than many other genres of story, but they are no less meaty. For that reason, children can do all sorts of fun things with them.
My students like making small twists to the storyline, such as reimagining a character or the setting or changing a key decision or the narrative perspective. Imagine what would happen if Little Red Riding Hood was a princess or the bird in Hansel and Gretel was actually the children’s mother. What if Jack’s beanstalk grew into the earth instead of out of it? What kind of story might unfold if the Miller confessed that he was lying about his daughter being able to spin straw into gold or if the Huntsman had actually tried to kill Snow White instead of taking mercy on her? How different would the story of the three little pigs be from the perspective of the wolf?
The answer to each of these questions fundamentally alters the premise of each story. Ask a child one of them and presto! He has a brand-new storyline to work with. That’s so much easier (and usually a lot more fun) than coming up with everything from scratch.
I recommend a child read an early version of any fairy tale he’s interested in, such as one by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, or Oscar Wilde. (Take a look at some of my favorites here.) Then, have him retell the story in its original form out-loud, preferably to an audience, to warm-up his storyteller voice and ensure he has a basic understanding of the storyline. Once he does, the child should start thinking of twists. Finally, he should begin writing when he finds a twist that’s exciting.
Just as I said in the introduction to this series, rewriting the story in its entirety is not at all necessary either. The rule of thumb I use with my students is one scene in one sitting. At first, many of them race through their scene. Some, intent on their story, fly through scene after scene. Others, jot down a few sentences and call it finis long before the bell rings. No matter the extreme, both scenes end up undeveloped in many ways. The child who goes slowly through his scene, carefully setting the tone, describing the setting, developing the characters’ feelings, thoughts, words, and actions ends up with the most gripping scene, the scene that everybody celebrates when it’s time to share.
So remember, a child should go slow and have fun with the scene. That will make him all the more likely to pick up the story on another day.
Image Credit: A Child’s Book of Stories by Penrhyn W. Coussens, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. New York: Duffield and Company, 1911.
There is something about reading fairy
tales that is quintessentially classical. After all, classical
education considers the great stories of Western culture one of its core
foundations. So if at the end of a school day I have read a fairy tale with my
students, I am usually pleased. But, if that’s where it ends, I am all the more
disappointed.
Rich as they are for the moral imagination, I try to draw as much from them as possible. Here is a breakdown of some of my favorite extension activities to do with students.
DISCOURSE
Socratic Discussion
A classical mainstay, Socratic discussion is at the heart of
my approach to studying fairy tales. We discuss the stories in small groups and
as a whole class, often rearranging the desks and chairs so we form one large
circle or several smaller ones. This discursive format helps students break
down the plot and unpack its core symbols.
I guide the discussions but play a limited role in order to
encourage active engagement from the students. Plus, it lets them tease out the
ideas that they find most
interesting. In this way, students feel a greater sense of ownership in the
discussions and make more personal contributions.
Disputation
This is a really fun one that serves as a natural outgrowth of Socratic discussion. Disputation involves debating key aspects of the story, typically those that pose moral dilemmas. For example, in reading Cat and Mouse in Partnership, we might debate whether the mouse should have formed a partnership with the cat. Or when reading Cinderella, we might debate whether or not it is a good story for little kids.
Sometimes our debates are very formal with preparation and
regulated rounds. Other times, they are of a more impromptu style. Either way,
the students get very animated and impassioned.
CREATIVE WRITING
Plot Reinvention
Another exercise I really like is plot reinvention. First,
students have to thoroughly understand the original plot of the story, meaning
they can express the inciting incident, climax, and resolution for themselves
much as I have done in this blog series. Once they can do this, they choose an
element to change.
If, for example, the father in Godfather
Deathwere to choose God, then the whole story would change. The
student’s job would be to tell that new story. One of the great things about
this exercise is that it gives students a concrete place to start writing,
which can be very difficult with more open-ended prompts.
Character Reinvention
Character reinvention follows this same principle. What if Little Red Cap were a naughty girl? Or what if the fisherman had a tougher upper lip? Or how about making the youngest sister in Twelve Brothersa real chatter-box?
When students develop a whole new approach to a character, it
affects all of his or her motives and actions and can lead to a different, not
to mention highly entertaining, story altogether.
Working from Art
I also like projecting beautiful paintings or sketches from fairy tales and having students write just one scene based on the picture. This approach is a little more contained than the previous two, so it makes it easier for students to develop sharp, properly formatted dialogue and well-planned narration. As such, it readily doubles as a grammar lesson as well as a creative writing exercise.
Cinderella by John Everett Millais
In preparation for writing a scene for Cinderella, I might depict the painting above by John Everett Millais and prompt students with the following: Describe the moment in time depicted here. What are the character’s thoughts? Words? Actions? Draw your ideas together as a scene from the story. Be sure to include dialogue and narration.
ARTISTIC RENDERING
Reflective Journaling
There are a number of mediums one could use for reflective
journaling, but one I really like is water color. This entails students
painting something they found inspiring in a fairy tale.
After reading The Little Match
Seller, one might paint a wood stove, another a Christmas tree, or even
the little girl flying up to Heaven. Once students have painted their pictures,
they reflect in writing on what they have depicted and why. When that’s done,
they walk around and view everyone else’s journals in what we call a “museum
walk.”
All the while, we play classical music and otherwise
maintain silence. It makes for a very relaxing, thoughtful environment, not to
mention beautiful work.
Story Board
This one is borrowed from the publishing industry wherein editors lay out words on a story board and then contract illustrators to matches them with pictures. I have students do the same thing with a fairy tale.
Their story boards can be very elaborate or more of a quick
sketch, true to the story or reinvented using one of the models above. Either
way, students fine-tune their understanding of the plot and have the
opportunity to do so in an artistic, visual way.
Act Them Out
Most of my students like acting out the fairy tales best of all. I give them liberty to keep or change whatever they want in the plots. For that matter, they can even combine plots as long as it makes sense. Their job is to write the script, memorize it, and present it in a formal production. Ideally, we invite other classes in the school to come and watch.
CONCLUSION
These types of exercises cause students to think deeply about the fairy tales. This is extremely valuable from an educational standpoint, not least because it helps students to really understand the stories and develop their own insights.
It is perhaps even more valuable from a moral standpoint because the lessons can serve as a guide for life’s real-world difficulties. When, for example, they are discerning the nature of a friendship, they can draw from Cat and Mouse in Partnership. They can look to The Mermaidor The Snow Queenwhen trying to understand the true meaning of love. Perhaps they will think about The Emperor’s New Clotheswhen they eventually come to critique politics. Or maybe, they will take heart from The Little Match Sellerin the face of personal suffering, which no doubts awaits everyone at some point or another.
Whatever the case may be, by extending the fairy tales with additional exercises, students come to embody them in a way that will enrich their lives forever. At least that’s my hope.
Magical. Mysterious. Heartbreaking. Perplexing. It’s hard to come up with just the right adjective to describe The Mermaidby Hans Christian Andersen. His storyline does not fit squarely into the fairy tale world that rewards virtue (think Cinderella) nor does it fall neatly into the anti-fairy tale world that punishes vice (think Godfather Death). It’s a little of both, kind of like real life, and that makes it surprisingly uncomfortable in a child’s story.
Nevertheless, I include it in my line-up of fairy tales because that discomfort makes it a powerful teaching tool. Let’s take a look at the plot and then try to understand the lessons Hans Christian Andersen was trying to get across. There is tremendous wisdom there for parents and children alike.
PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – The
Background
Though no humans have ever seen it, a great kingdom exists deep under the sea. It is ruled by the sea king who lives with his mother and six charming mermaid daughters. Like all mermaids, they are created to live 300 years, upon the expiration of which they will turn into seafoam.
The daughters have a strong fascination with the human world
above but are not permitted to go there until their fifteenth birthday. In the
meantime, they content themselves with their grandmother’s stories about humans
and collect various artifacts from shipwrecks and the like. One by one, each
sister has her turn to go to the surface until it comes to the youngest, called
simply “the little mermaid.”
Inciting Incident –
The Problem
The little mermaid spends her first night above the surface of the ocean watching a party aboard a great ship. As it turns out, the crew was celebrating the sixteenth birthday of a handsome prince. A storm sweeps in, lightning strikes, and the ship begins to go under.
The little mermaid, who was watching the prince most intently, sees that he has been knocked unconscious. She at first plans to take him home to her collection but then realizes he would die under water. She instead swims him to shore and leaves him on the beach.
Rising Action – The
Build-up
From that day forward, the little mermaid falls into a
downcast state. She thinks of the prince all the time and hopes in vain to see
him again. As her grandmother explains, mermaids are not made for the human
world. Not only do they lack legs, but they also do not have souls. Not willing
to give up her dream of being with the prince, she eventually goes to the sea
witch and begs her help.
Climax – The Point of
No Return
The sea witch agrees to change the little mermaid’s tail
into legs so she can join the human world. In exchange the little mermaid must
give up her voice, which is her most alluring asset and the essence of who she
is. Though her legs will be beautiful on the outside, they will cause her great
pain. With each step, she will feel as though she is walking on knives.
Additionally, the little mermaid must win the love of the
prince to stay a human. If he marries another, she will die and instantly turn
into seafoam, forfeiting the 300 years she otherwise would have had. Even knowing all this, the little mermaid
accepts the bargain, drinks a magical potion, and gets legs.
Falling Action – The
Unraveling
On land, the little mermaid soon meets the prince. He is taken with her and eventually confesses that he loves her better than anyone else, but he nonetheless pines after the elusive woman who had previously saved him from the shipwreck. All the while, the prince has no idea that the little mermaid is indeed she. Without her voice, the she is unable to tell him who she really is.
The prince’s father arranges for him to be married to a princess from a nearby kingdom. The prince reluctantly agrees to meet the princess and ends up believing her the woman who saved him. (Unlike in the Disney version, the princess does not try to deceive the prince, he simply believes it of his own will. She’s the one, so to speak.)
The two are married at once in a grand ceremony at sea with the little mermaid in attendance.
Resolution – Almost Happily Ever After
The Little Mermaid’s Sisters by Anne Anderson
The poor little mermaid is miserable during the ceremony and reception, for she knows that she will die upon the following morn. In the final moments before the sunrise, her mermaid sisters rise to the surface and try to help her. They present her with a magical dagger they got from the sea witch and beg her to kill the prince. If she does so, she will get her mermaid life back.
The little mermaid nearly kills him but thinks better of it. No sooner does the sun come up, then she dies according to the terms of her agreement with the sea witch.
Unexpectedly, however, the little mermaid finds herself in the presence of beings called “daughters of the air.” In her new state, she will have 300 years to win a soul by doing unseen good in the human world. Though in the end she does not get to live happily ever with the prince, she will get to live eternally in heaven.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Few of my students ever like the ending of The Mermaid though they mostly see the justice of it. The reason the little mermaid does not get to live happily ever after with the prince is because she was not created for that purpose. She was made to be a mermaid, not a human. What’s more, she clearly compromises herself when she bargains with the sea witch, so the human life she assumes is false.
But if she does not deserve to get the prince, then why does she get to win a soul? After all, mermaids are supposed to live their mortal lives for 300 years and then turn into seafoam—no soul, no heaven, nothing. And yet she gets something better than her mermaid family when she rises up with the daughters of the air upon her death.
In order to answer that question, we need to first examine
the world of the story.
Ocean, Earth, Sky,
Heaven
Hans Christian Andersen builds a natural hierarchy into his setting that begins with the ocean on the bottom, moves up to the earth, then onto the sky, and concludes with heaven.
The mermaids of the ocean are akin to animals in that they
have bodies but do not have souls. As such, they are lower than their earthly
counterparts, the humans, who have bodies and
souls. The daughters of the air are kind of in limbo. They have neither body nor
soul but the promise of both. Finally, heaven is the highest place, and it can
only be reached with a soul.
The “Voice” of the
Soul
Though the mermaids do not have souls, they do have beautiful
voices. In fact, their voices are their essence.
That means that when the little mermaid bargains with the sea witch and sells
her voice, it is kind of like she is selling her soul to the devil.
So intent is she on marrying the prince that she is willing to compromise herself beyond recognition. One drink of the sea witch’s potion and her mermaid tail turns into legs. She likes that trade, despite the physical pain it entails, because it makes her more attractive to the prince. But she also loses her voice, which makes her less attractive. Not only is she unable to win his love through her songs, but she cannot even tell him who she is.
Literally, her identity is gone; figuratively, her true self,
her very essence, is lost.
My students generally have mixed feelings about the little mermaid’s deal with the sea witch. Many are inclined to see it as a rather innocent or even commendable action because she is “following her heart.” The problem with that interpretation, however, is that it forgets that the little mermaid does not have a human heart to follow. She is less than a human, so to speak. Thus, her heart is not guiding her in a virtuous sense but in more of an instinctual, covetous sense.
To Be Human
Luckily, the little mermaid finds her true self in the final
moments of her life when she is given the chance to kill the prince in order to
save herself. As we know, she chooses to let herself die rather than kill him. This
act is the first selfless one she has performed.
To review, everything in her life up to that point was designed for her sake. She wants to marry the prince because she wants himand the immortal soul marriage could give her. Of course she saves his life on the shipwreck, but she does so to add him to her collection. Hence, even that service is rendered thinking first of herself.
In contrast, she saves the prince’s life in the end, full-knowing she will lose her own. Her sisters, well-intentioned as they are, behave like mermaids when they give her the knife. “Look out for yourself,” they remind her in short. Theirs is a survival instinct. Yet, the little mermaid has overcome that instinct in herself. She has become like a human in that she finally knows the meaning of love. She knows that true love, agape, is about sacrifice.
In that final act of sacrificial love, she wins a place among the daughters of the sky. She likewise gets her voice back and wins the promise of a soul.
CONCLUSION
Even if you are extremely faithful, this ending is a hard one, especially for a child. Hans Christian Andersen knew that to be the case, yet he wrote it anyways. Simply put, he wanted to teach children to consider the full weight of their actions. His message, though grave, is not meant to scare.
We can tell this by looking at his narrative voice. Hans Christian Andersen is what I call a parent narrator. His voice is wise and discerning, gentle and reassuring as he tells what turns out to be a very sad story. As readers, we know he cares for his little mermaid much as the sea king does. He does not want the little mermaid to trade her voice to the sea witch for a false promise of happily ever after, nor does he want any of his readers to make similarly fatal mistakes.
Yet he does not scold or rebuke the little mermaid. He knows such headstrong desires are a part of life. Like a good parent, he trusts his little mermaid will figure out her mistakes and expects her to make amends for them, even if it takes 300 years.
I don’t recall ever having a student who was familiar with The Twelve Brothers by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm before I passed out copies of it. In fact, I was not familiar with it myself until I became a teacher and started designing my first unit on fairy tales. I was looking for something a little different than the usual line-up, and The Twelve Brothers was perfect.
It has just the right amount of hardship and heartache to warrant its happily ever after ending. Not only that, its bizarre storyline provides tremendous insight into the mindset and realities of the Middle Ages.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Exposition – The Background
There once lived a king and queen who had twelve sons. It happened that the queen was expecting, and her husband said, “If the thirteenth child which thou art about to bring into the world is a girl, the twelve boys shall die, in order that her possessions may be great, and that the kingdom may fall to her alone.”
Inciting Incident – The Problem
The queen was so sad upon hearing this order that her youngest son, Benjamin, would give her no peace until she explained the reason for her sadness. So hearing, he came up with a plan to hide with his brothers in the woods until the baby was born. If the child was a boy, they would return to the palace. If a girl, they would leave forever.
To the boys’ disappointment, the baby was a girl. So they ventured deeper and deeper into the woods until they came upon an enchanted cottage, which they made their home.
Rising Action – The Build-up
After the passing of ten years, the girl, who was beautiful and good and had a star on her forehead, learned she had brothers who nearly died for her sake and set off to find them. She chanced upon their very cottage and found Benjamin home alone for his brothers were out hunting, and it was his job to keep the house.
The two were happily reunited, but he feared his brothers would not share his joy. As it turned out, they had vowed to kill all maidens since they had suffered on the account of a maiden. Benjamin then used the lure of gossip to persuade his brothers not to kill the next maiden they met. Having obtained their word, he brought his sister out of hiding. Just like that, the old vendetta vanished, and the siblings were happily united.
Climax – The Breaking Point
The Twelve Brothers by Henry Justice Ford
One night soon thereafter, however, the sister picked twelve flowers from the garden of their enchanted cottage, and her brothers were all transformed into crows. By some unexplained sorcery, the brothers’ lives were contained in the flowers, and the only way for them to become men again was for their sister to stop talking for the next seven years.
Falling Action – The Unraveling
The sister immediately made a vow of silence. Alone as she was, it might not have been that hard to fulfill, but she soon found herself sought after by a king who wanted to marry her. Nevertheless, she stayed true to her vow during their courtship and marriage, even in the face of slanderous talk from her evil stepmother-in-law that ultimately condemned her to death by fire.
Resolution – Happily Ever After
Just as the first flame from the fiery stake was about to burn the sister, the term of her seven years of silence expired, and twelve crows flew down to stomp out the fire. Instantly, they turned into her brothers. The siblings were reunited; the king took his wife back; and the evil stepmother-in-law was killed. In short, everyone (but the stepmother-in-law) lived happily ever after.
MOTIFS
Primogeniture
In order to understand the bizarre twists in this fairy tale, we have to read it as a critique of primogeniture, which refers to the passing of wealth, land, and titles onto the oldest male heir. That was common practice in the Middle Ages. A king, for example, needed a son to bequeath his realm to. Only in the rarest of circumstances would a daughter receive the crown. In such cases, the daughter would really give the power of rule over to her husband.
(Queen Elizabeth is one such example. She refused to marry because she knew it would strip her of power. Not only that, her dad, King Henry VIII, married and divorced SIX times in large part to get a son.)
Against this backdrop, the king in The Twelve Brothers is rather odd. Though he has sons in spades, he not only wants a daughter but preferstogivehereverything. He is even going to killhissons to make sure they have no chance of claiming their lawful inheritance. Hence, the story turns primogeniture on its head to show how unfair it is. Primogeniture figuratively “killed” daughters in the same way that the king plans to kill his sons.
Once my students realize this, they stop thinking the story bizarre and realize that it’s really quite progressive. Children should be treated equally, whether male or female, youngest or oldest.
Girl Power
What’s more, the story celebrates “girl power” and even suggests that women would be great rulers. Beginning with her birth and ending with her vow of silence, the sister holds the power of life and death over her brothers. Yet, she does not wield that power for her own benefit. Rather, she does so sacrificially.
She gives up her inheritance in order to take care of her brothers and later gives up her voice and everything that went with it in order to turn her brothers back into men.
Her “power,” therefore, is not simply something she inherited. Indeed, she gave that kind of worldly power up. Instead, she has true power, that which is born out of sacrificial love. We see this represented by the star on her forehead. It is not just a birthmark; it is an outward sign of the inner grace that “crowns” her very self.
CONCLUSION
That kind of crown is the birthright of everyone, and whether we wear it or not is always within our power. Therein lies the full message of The Twelve Brothers. We may not always get what we deserve in life, but we should always live as the kings and queens God made us to be. Put differently, life is not about getting; it is about giving.
Like so many fairy tales, the message of The Twelve Brothers transcends time and place, offering lessons well beyond the literal storyline. It reminds us that we are all born to greatness.
No fairy tale collection would be complete without the story
of Little Red Cap,
otherwise known as Little Red Riding Hood.
Its beloved title character has captured the imagination of generations of
little girls and taught them not to trust the big bad wolf.
The story has been reinvented over and over again, often
with the goal of “softening” the darker details or painting it with a more
secular brush. The Brothers Grimm would have had none of that, however. Their
version is “dark” by today’s standards precisely because they wanted to paint a
gripping picture of what could happen if one wanders off the path.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Exposition – Background
Once there was a good little girl who was loved by everyone.
Her grandmother especially doted on her and made her a little red velvet cap,
which she wore so much that everyone called her Little Red Cap.
Inciting Incident –
The Problem
Her life takes an unexpected twist one day when she is sent
on what would seem a rather benign task. Her mother says, “Come, Little
Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your
grandmother. She is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it
gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off
the path…”
Little Red Cap’s story unfolds from there. Her challenge is
to stay on the path and complete her errand safely.
Rising Action – The
Build-up
Along the way, she meets a sly wolf who pretends to be good.
He tricks Little Red Cap into straying from the path to pick wild flowers so
that he can run ahead to Grandmother’s cottage.
Once there, the wolf knocks on the door and pretends to be
Little Red Cap. Grandmother is deceived and invites him to “lift the latch” and
enter her cottage. The wolf then goes to her bedroom and swallows her whole. He
wastes no time disguising himself as Grandmother and lays in wait for Little
Red Cap, whom he intends to eat next.
Climax – The Breaking
Point
When Little Red Cap arrives, she senses that something is
not right, but she still walks into the back bedroom expecting to find
Grandmother. Thus ensues the famous “Grandmother, Grandmother…” lines wherein
Little Red Cap notes how different the wolf’s ears, eyes, hands, and mouth look
than those of her real grandmother. No sooner does she realize that it’s the wolf,
then he goggles her up.
Falling Action – The
Unraveling
Luckily, the wolf is so full from his two-course meal that
he falls asleep in Grandmother’s bed and begins snoring loudly. A nearby huntsman
hears the loud snoring and decides to check on Grandmother, thinking she may be
ill. When he goes inside, he sees the wolf and shouts, “So here I find you, you
old sinner.” He gets ready to shoot the wolf but thinks better of it and decides
to cut his stomach open instead.
Resolution – Lesson
Learned
Out pops Little Red Cap and Grandmother. Though they’re both
a little worse for the wear, they eat the basket of goodies and feel much
better.
MOTIFS
Journey through the
Woods
Woods are dark and scary places. Just ask any little child
to venture deep into the woods on his own, and see how he responds.
Little Red Cap does not seem afraid, however, when her mother
tells her to walk through the woods to Grandmother’s house. Ironically, she’s
too young to get scared. She doesn’t know, or at least doesn’t understand, that
danger awaits. She has grown up in the safety of her mother’s home and expects
that safety to stay with her in the woods. But, of course, it doesn’t. The wolf
greets her almost immediately and plans to devour her.
Красная шапочка
So, too, in life does danger always lurk. The woods, then, is a metaphor for life’s figurative journey from beginning to end. It starts in the safety, certainty, and comfort of one’s own home with parents who, like Little Red Cap’s mother, try to teach the ways of the world. In its most primitive sense, those teachings are designed to heighten a child’s chances of survival. One day, ready or not, that same child must face the world alone.
Many, like Little Red Cap, wander off the path and even get
devoured. Sure, Little Red Cap gets a second chance when the huntsman cuts her
out of the wolf’s belly, but that’s hardly something she could have counted on.
By extension, the woods also symbolize our earthly journey to Heaven, with sin as the ever-present danger.
The Big Bad Wolf
This brings us to the infamous big bad wolf who metaphorically represents sin. He’s no stranger to this role either, as there are seemingly endless stories with wolves as bad guys. Even Christ used this metaphor in His Parable of the Good Shepherd.
If the wolf’s so big and bad, though, why doesn’t he just eat Little Red Cap right away and then go gobble up Grandma?
Little Red Riding Hood by J.W. Smith
The answer to this question reveals much about the nature of sin. Thanks to free will, we can either invite sin into our life or turn it down. Likewise, the wolf cannot do anything to Little Red Cap without her participation. For that matter, he cannot even get into Grandmother’s house without permission. Remember—the wolf opens the door himself but only after Grandmother invites him to do so.
Of course, both Little Red Cap and Grandmother are tricked by the wolf. He’s a liar and a master of disguise, feigning to be good and dressing as someone he’s not. Sin is the same way. It, too, pretends to be good, or at least not that bad. After all, Little Red Cap was trying to do something nice for her grandmother when she stopped to pick flowers. Nevertheless, by doing so she disobeyed her mother and gave the wolf his chance.
Once he has it, he takes as much as he can. He isn’t satisfied with one meal. He has to have two. And so his appetite would have grown had the huntsman not come along. Likewise, sin always gets bigger and hurts more people unless it is killed entirely.
To do so, we must see it for what it is—sin. The huntsman immediately sees through the wolf’s disguise, notably calling him “sinner,” and that’s why he is able to kill him.
CONCLUSION
One of the nice things about Little Red Cap is that it can be read at so many different levels.
At its most basic, it reminds children to listen to their parents and not to
trust strangers. That’s a pretty good point by itself. Indeed, my students
often think that’s what it boils down to.
“We know where this one’s going,” they seem to think when I
pass out the story.
After we unpack the metaphors, however, they suddenly look at the story differently, almost like they’re hearing it as little children for the first time. They once again fear for Little Red Cap when she walks into Grandmother’s room and examines the wolf’s ears, eyes, hands, and mouth. They can imagine themselves in her shoes, realizing too late that sin has crept into the most treasured corners of their lives.
In truth, we have all been in Little Red Cap’s shoes when we
would rather be in the huntsman’s.
Disney’s Frozen is supposed to be loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, but, sorry to mix metaphors, “loose” is a pretty big “stretch” in this case. Aside from some overlap with their symbolic use of coldness, there is not much else in common between them. Both are good stories in their own right, though, so why try to connect them in the first place?
The only explanation I can come up with is that Disney values being able to trace its movies back to the original fairy tales, full of history and tradition and that extra something special they have. After all, what better way to produce an instant classic than to hang on the coattails of a true classic? Nevertheless, “classic” is no more than a stamp on Frozen because it is so far removed from the original.
So what, then, is so wrong
with The Snow Queen by modern
standards that Disney had to discard essentially the whole thing? Let’s first
look at the plot and then try to figure this out.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Exposition – Background
The Snow Queen begins
with a story behind the story, one that has many similarities to the fall of
man in salvation history and serves as the premise: A mischievous sprite seeks
to create discord in the world, so he makes an evil mirror that can distort the
appearance of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth. Some of his sprite buddies get their
hands on the mirror and shatter it into a million pieces that spread across the
world, each separately retaining the power of the whole.
Inciting Incident –
The Problem
One of those pieces falls in the
eye of a good little boy named Kay, and another takes hold in his heart. The
glass, which symbolically represents sin, turns him cold to the warmth of love
and friendship and makes him a stranger in his own garden. He no longer sees
the flowers as God made them but as the evil sprite wants them to be seen.
Rising Action – The
Build-up
And so Kay grows apart from his best friend and playmate, a little girl named Gerda, and starts getting into a lot of trouble.
The Snow Queen by Elena Ringo
A wicked Snow Queen, presumably born out of the mirror somehow, eventually lures him away to her palace where he turns black with cold. So blinded is he by the glass in his eye, though, that he does not even feel the coldness that grips him. He spends his days as a prisoner, listlessly playing with blocks of ice and arranging them into all sorts of different patterns. He hopes in his own numb way to form them into a magical word that will set him free, a word the Snow Queen wants to keep hidden from him
Meanwhile, Gerda sets out to find Kay. She gets carried from
one place to another, each offering her a different path for her own life. She
turns down the comforts of a never-ending childhood, the splendors of life in a
royal court, and the thrills of banditry all in favor of finding Kay. The
further she travels, the colder it gets and the more difficult her journey
becomes. Yet, the warmth of Gerda’s goodness and her frequent prayers protect
her from danger, even when she ends up barefoot in the snow.
Climax – The Breaking
Point
At long last, Gerda arrives at the palace of the Snow Queen
and sees Kay playing with the ice blocks, but he is completely unaware of her
presence. Gerda goes to him and sheds “burning tears” that melt the lump of ice
in his heart. She then sings a song from their childhood:
“The rose in the valley is blooming so sweet, The Child Jesus is there the children to greet.”
The song awakens his conscience, and Kay weeps so much that the glass rolls out of his eye. Next, the ice blocks form themselves into the magical word that can set him free—eternity.
Falling Action – The
Unraveling
Kay and Gerda then travel back over the lands from whence
they came, seeing everything anew with unblemished eyesight. Flowers and
verdure awaken in their path as they find their way home.
Resolution – Happily
Ever After
They return both changed in age and wisdom. Kay and Gerda have grown up, not just literally but also spiritually, for they have learned to see the world as God does, to embrace Goodness, Beauty, and Truth with childlike simplicity.
In connection to salvation history, the story has come full circle. Kay and Gerda have gotten their innocence back by overcoming the sin in the world. As such, they have been figuratively readmitted into the eternal garden that is Heaven.
THE DISNEY EFFECT
It’s little wonder Disney changed the story so much given all the Christian messages. Some fairy tales, like Cinderella, only have Christian undertones, but The Snow Queen is much more overt. While it might be nice for a major filmmaker like Disney to keep those intact, it’s not surprising they don’t since their audience has all sorts of religious affiliations. More viewers equals more sales.
What does surprise me is that Disney made Frozen so exclusively about girls. Sure, I understand the “girl power” idea, but I actually think transforming Kay into the far-off character of Elsa (the older sister) weakens that message. After all, Gerda saves Kay, not the other way around. Hans Christian Andersen had already turned the knight in shining armor archetype on its head.
What’s more, Gerda does it out of the purest love there is—sacrificial love. We can infer that she and Kay will live happily ever after as husband and wife, but Hans Christian Andersen leaves out any hint of romance. His really is a story for kids because it celebrates childhood as the goal of life, not marriage or some other grown-up ideal. After all, Kay and Gerda learn that they must be like children to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Another big difference with Frozen is that it is set against the backdrop of royalty whereas
Kay and Gerda are common folk. Once again, I get it. Princess themes sell lots
of movies.
But in my view, Gerda could hold her own with the best of
the fairy tale princesses and the princes,
even without a crown. That’s the beauty of The
Snow Queen. Its heroine is a real-life character who overcomes the dangers
in the every-day world. Gerda could be any little child, girl or boy, rich or
poor, who brings the warmth of love to others.
CONCLUSION
Hans Christian Andersen may have liked Frozen, but it’s doubtful he would have found much in common with his own story. In either case, Disney breathed new life into The Snow Queen for a new generation of children, including my students.
They always enjoy comparing the versions and learn much about the differences in our world today and that in which Andersen lived. By examining the cold and ice imagery, they also come to a better understanding of the dangers of sin.
As I frequently tell my students, the more one sins the more he becomes desensitized to sin. That’s a pretty difficult concept for them to understand on its own, but it makes perfect sense when they hear a story about a little boy who gets glass in his eye and eventually becomes a prisoner of the Snow Queen without even realizing it.
Now, that’s something kids can imagine and understand and
even relate to.
Disney has pretty much figured out what makes a fairy tale worth turning into a full-length feature film: it needs to have a likable protagonist, a worthy struggle for said protagonist, and, of course, a happily ever after ending. Godfather Death does not have any of those things. Its main character is self-serving; his struggle is to advance himself in society; and (spoiler alert) he dies in the end. It’s not exactly Disney material.
In fact, it’s not exactly a fairy tale either. Godfather Death is actually an anti-fairy tale, meaning it pivots around the punishments of succumbing to vice instead of the rewards of pursuing virtue. As such, they were traditionally told to warn children and even scare them from going astray.
Though Godfather Death doesn’t fit into the Disney paradigm, it works extremely well in a classical classroom. Not only does it give insight into the medieval mindset, but it also poses many powerful questions about justice, truth, and equality that can still be applied today. Plus, it makes for great classroom dramatizations. Let’s take a look at the plot first and then address some of those larger issues.
PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – Background
At the outset of the story, we learn that a thirteenth child has been born to a very poor family.
Inciting Incident – The Problem
As if having another mouth to feed wasn’t problem enough for the parents, they are also at a loss over whom to name as their son’s Godfather.
Rising Action – The Build-up
Unlike many a parent today who might make a short list of candidates to be vetted, the father simply decides to choose the first person he meets on the street. It’s not that the father is reckless but that he’s desperate. After all, he probably tapped all of his connections on his first twelve kids.
As luck would have it, the father meets God Himself! We might expect that to be the end of story with the son being blessed to live happily ever after, but the father foolishly turns God down saying, ”Thou givest to the rich, and leavest the poor to hunger.”
No sooner does God leave, then the Devil offers to be the son’s Godfather. The father turns him down as well saying, “Thou deceivest men and leadest them astray.”
Finally, Death offers himself as the Godfather and even promises riches for the child. The father replies, “Thou art the right one; thou takest from the rich as well as the poor, without distinction; thou shalt be godfather.”
Death then takes the boy into his special guardianship and mentors him to become a doctor, but not an ordinary doctor with ordinary medicine. Instead, Death shows his Godson a special plant that can be used to heal the sick. The one caveat is that Death will always dictate who gets the medicine. It is up to him who will get to be saved and who must die.
Death says, “If I stand by the head of the sick man, thou mayst say with confidence that thou wilt make him well again, and if thou givest him of this herb he will recover; but if I stand by the patient’s feet, he is mine, and thou must say that all remedies are in vain, and that no physician in the world could save him.”
Climax – The Breaking Point
Their partnership thrives for a long time, and the Godson becomes rich and famous. Then he foolishly decides to “cheat” death by saving someone Death wants to claim. Death warns the Godson not to do it again, but the Godson can’t resist the urge to save a princess on her deathbed, for whoever does so is promised her hand in marriage.
Falling Action – The Unraveling
Though Death lets the princess live, he declares that he must have the Godson’s life in her place.
Resolution – Not So Happily Ever After
True to his word, Death takes his Godson into a deep cave below the earth. The cave is full of candles, each representing someone’s life. The Godson realizes that his candle is just about to go out and begs Death to light him a new one. Death acts like he is going to but then cruelly stomps his Godson’s candle out.
A LESSON ON VIRTUES
The Middle Ages was full of poor, big families like the one in Godfather Death. When we realize just how desperate their plight often was, it is hard not to sympathize with the father in the story. He wants to provide for his family but can’t. What’s more, he has grown bitter about his lot in life, and he quite literally turns his back on God. This causes him to have a distorted view of the meaning of justice, truth, and equality. He displays his misunderstanding of each of these virtues in turn when he meets the prospective Godparents.
His interaction with God revolves around justice, or the state of getting what one deserves. No doubt the father felt he deserved better in life. Let’s assume he is a hard-worker as many fathers in the Middle Ages must have been. Yet, he clearly has not gotten what he thinks he deserves for his efforts. Instead, his life is full of hardship, and he blames God.
His interaction with the Devil focuses on truth, which is seeing things for what they are. The father knows the Devil is a liar and does not want that for his son. Yet, although he turns the Devil down and tries to walk away from his lies, the father has actually already figuratively embraced the Devil’s lies in that he believes God unjust, which is not true.
The father is so confused that he ends up believing Death a true representative of equality. After all, doesn’t everybody die, whether rich or poor, good or bad? In that simplistic sense, Death does indeed appear the great equalizer.
But equality is not just about making everything the same in a quantifiable way. It’s much more fundamentally about recognizing the equality of everyone based on their dignity as a child of God. Put differently, equality is derived from the love God has for us. Paradoxically, the more we lessen ourselves through humility and obedience, the greater our love is returned to God.
RAGS TO RICHES AND BACK AGAIN
Like Cinderella, this story has a “rags to riches” motif, but the eventual wealth and fame of the Godson is neither to his credit nor is it lasting. Instead, it was born out of making a deal of sorts with Death. True, his dad made it on his behalf in the first place, but the Godson is complicit nonetheless in that he goes along with it as he grows.
If we look at this from the Godson’s perspective, we might say that he was “trapped” by his family just as many children in the Middle Ages must have felt. If the father was poor, so too would be the son. While the Godson in this story escapes his father’s poverty, he does not escape his father’s distorted view of the world.
Like him, the Godson does not understand the meaning of justice, truth, and equality. He thinks he deserves his wealth and yet is willing to lie to attain it. What’s more, he wants Death to treat him differently than others simply because he is his Godson. Such exceptions would have been the very thing his birth father would have deplored.
As my students heartily agree, the Godson gets what he deserves in the end. While none seem to like that he dies, it is a fitting sort of justice. With Death as a Godfather, he should not have expected life.
CONCLUSION
After discussing this story with my students, they tend to agree that anti-fairy tales, complete with all their grim details and unhappy endings, are good for kids to read. It shows them—albeit in an exaggerated way—what could happen if they make bad choices.
Sure, it might be a bit dark, but it becomes less so when we tease out the themes and look at what they are trying to shed light on. Even a very young child would be quick to realize that everything went wrong in Godfather Death when the father turned his back on God. And hopefully, that same child would learn from the mistakes in the story and embrace God instead, especially in difficult times.
Evil stepmothers. Fairy godmothers. Glass slippers. Prince Charming. Happily ever after. What more could a fairy tale want?
It is little wonder Cinderella is among the most popular fairy tales ever told, let alone one of the most reinvented. It has the archetypical “rags to riches” storyline, which has made for many a modern day Blockbuster hit. Whether you prefer Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts or something a little more classical like Ever After with Drew Barrymore, there’s a version to suit everyone.
Even sports fans get in on the action when their teams make it “to the dance,” a.k.a. the NCAA Tournament. There’s nothing like watching a real-life “dream come true.” Watch a 16 seed beat a 1 seed, and the pundits are buzzing with Cinderella metaphors, whether they realize it or not.
The one catch with such a timeless story is that it has been imbued with layers upon layers of imagery over the years. This post is going back to the beginning, so to speak, and looking at the version recorded by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. First, here is a breakdown of the plot.
PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – The Background
Everything begins with an emotional scene wherein a dying mother tells her young daughter, “Dear child, be good and pious, and then the good God will always protect thee, and I will look down on thee from heaven and be near thee.” The daughter, who will end up being Cinderella, obeys her mother’s wish and visits her grave daily.
Inciting Incident – The Problem
“ Aschenbrödel by Carl Heinrich Hoff
By the following Spring (a rather short amount of time if you ask me), the girl’s father has taken a new wife who has two daughters of her own. Cinderella is not only displaced by her stepfamily, but turns into a servant for them, including for her father. Indeed, even he takes to calling her “Cinderella,” which is an insulting reference to her disheveled appearance. So often does she fall asleep by the fire that she is constantly covered in cinders and ashes.
Rising Action – The Build-up
Nevertheless, her father is not completely devoid of love for Cinderella. When he goes to a festival, he offers to get her something special. She asks him for “the first branch which knocks against your hat on your way home.” Never mind that her stepsisters ask for and receive all sorts of expensive finery.
Cinderella plants the branch by her mother’s grave and it blossoms into a type of wishing tree upon which sits a little white bird, presumably representing her mother. Only there does Cinderella find solace and comfort.
Against this backdrop, the royal prince throws a ball to find a wife, and Cinderella begs permission to go. Her stepmother feigns to allow her—if she can complete a series of seemingly impossible tasks. Through the help of various birds, likely led by the one from the wishing tree, Cinderella completes each task only to learn that her stepmother still refuses her permission. The trials were but a cruel trick.
Climax – The Breaking Point
Struck with grief, Cinderella goes to her mother’s grave and pours out her heart, wishing most deeply to go to the ball. The bird, in turn, gives her an exquisite gown and silk shoes. Cinderella dresses and goes to the ball. So beautiful is she that none recognize her, not even her stepmother and stepsisters.
The prince falls head over heels for Cinderella. He dances with her alone and eventually tries to escort her home, only to have Cinderella run away and hide in her family’s chicken coop where she escapes.
Falling Action – The Unraveling
Cinderella by Anne Anderson
The ball continues two more days. Each time, the bird at the wishing tree gives her a new gown and pair of shoes, made of gold and more beautiful than the last. So, too, does the prince try to escort her home, only to have her run away. On the third day, however, he has pitch spread all over the steps of the castle. While she still manages to get away, she loses one of her slippers.
Thus begins the prince’s famous quest to find the owner of the shoe. One after another, the stepsisters try it on. Lucky for them, they do so in a private room. So when the slipper proves too small for the first sister, the stepmother says, “Cut the toe off; when thou art Queen thou wilt have no more need to go on foot.” If it were not for two pigeons who “outed” the stepsister, the prince would have married her.
Pretty much the exact same thing happens with second stepsister. The two pigeons once again “out” the imposter and tell the prince his true bride still awaits.
When the prince asks the father if he has another daughter, he replies, “There is still a little stunted kitchen-wench which my late wife left behind her, but she cannot possibly be the bride.” Despite this cold remark, the prince insists on seeing the maiden.
Resolution – Happily Ever After
Cinderella tries on the slipper at last and proves herself the prince’s true love. They live happily ever after. Meanwhile, the stepsisters get their eyes plucked out by the two pigeons.
MOTIFS
You no doubt noticed many differences in the Brothers Grimm version compared to the other “typical” versions out there. Here is a profile of a few significant changes and what they tell us about the culture of the Middle Ages.
Daddy’s Home
This version includes Cinderella’s father, making him not only a willing bystander in the stepmother’s and stepsister’s treachery but even a type of accomplice. His character typifies the sad reality of family life in the Middle Ages. Many women died in childbirth, and their husbands were quick to take a new wife. This, we can infer, was born largely out of necessity as a father needed a spouse to manage the household.
It was only a matter of time before the husband had more children with his new wife, and his first wife’s children were displaced. In fairy tales, we tend to imagine that being so simply out of hatred. Stepmothers are naturally wicked and vengeful, or so the archetype goes. Of course they want to wipe away all memory of their husband’s first wife, even her resemblance in a child. That may have been so, but historically it had more to do with the finances of family survival.
Families were generally so poor in the Middle Ages, there was not much to go around. The mother was in charge of feeding the children, and few would have thought twice about shortchanging stepchildren. Such was their lot in life. It sounds cruel and heartless, especially when taken to extremes as in the story of Cinderella. In reality, children never got as much as they wanted because there was so little in the first place.
Saint Germaine was one such real-life displaced stepchild whose story bears remarkable similarities to Cinderella’s.
Magical Bird
The magical bird in Cinderella at first seems somewhat random and not just because the Fairy Godmother is so much more typical these days. When we unpack the symbolism behind the bird, though, it makes a lot more sense.
Birds have always been powerful Christian symbols. For example, it was a bird that let Noah know the flood waters were receding. Symbolically, the bird was a heavenly messenger that brought hope and comfort. And let’s not forget that the Holy Spirit is most commonly represented as a white dove. One role the Holy Spirit has is that of a mediator between us and God. As such, the Holy Spirit guides us on earth and advocates on our behalf.
Cinderella by Elenore Abbot
The magical bird in Cinderella does all those things. She brings hope and comfort. She sends messages, both figuratively from Cinderella’s mother and literally to the prince. In doing so, she mediates Cinderella’s earthly relationships as well as her heavenly ones.
For people of the Middle Ages, it made perfect sense to have the “spirit” of Cinderella’s mother represented in the bird. Such was the appropriate motif.
The Fairy Godmother, which carries her own brand of Christian symbolism, did not emerge until Charles Perrault’s version, written in 1697.
Gold Slippers
Cinderella’s slippers are meant to be exquisite beyond our imaginings and no doubt more beautiful than those worn by all the other damsels. This shows us just how much her fortunes have changed thanks to her goodness and piety.
We can extend the imagery further, though, when we consider how important feet are in the Gospel. Christ Himself washes his Apostles’ feet at the Last Supper. In doing so, He figuratively tells the Apostles they must have clean souls in order to follow in His footsteps.
Cinderella’s feet are “cleaner” than those of other women because she has carried her own cross for so long and done so with such virtue. Her stepsisters, on the other, have ugly, disproportionate feet because they have not walked with Christ.
Charles Perrault replaces the gold slipper with a glass one. I happen to like this change better because it evokes a sense that Cinderella is light on her feet. What makes her so? Her lack of sin, of course! She is not weighed down by vice. Rather, she is lifted through virtues.
CONCLUSION
No matter which version of Cinderella you like best, we have the Brothers Grimm to thank for it. Without their determined efforts to record the tale, we would not have the multitude of spin-offs that exist today. Nor would we be able to glean so much insight into the mindsets and realities of everyday people of the Middle Ages.
I once asked my seventh grade class what a fairy tale was, and one student said, “It’s a story that begins with Tinker Bell waving her wand over the Disney Castle.” She was joking, of course, but her words were illuminating.
Many children today associate fairy tales with the magical world of Disney and know little of the literary let alone the historical background behind them. That’s because Disney has a type of cultural monopoly over fairy tales that allows them to dictate storylines (and insert social politics) according to their commercial business preferences.
Some of their changes are small—just have Cinderella’s dad die so he doesn’t seem like such a deadbeat. No big deal to lose one measly character. Some of the changes are big—let Ariel live happily ever after with Prince Eric. Turning the little mermaid into seafoam as punishment for disobeying her father doesn’t exactly make for a box office hit. Other changes are complete transformations. How exactly is Frozen supposed to be based on The Snow-Queen?
I get it. It’s all about the bottom line. And frankly, Disney’s versions are just as authentic as the so-called “originals.” After all, fairy tales come from a long tradition of oral storytelling which allows the teller to add, subtract, stretch, and reinvent as desired. Even Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm did that.
(Yup! They didn’t “write” the tales that now bare their name. They actually traveled from town to town collecting and recording stories that were already being told.)
Defining Fairy Tales
So what holds a fairy tale together? What do they all have in common?
When I first started teaching fairy tales, I tried to find a definition to share with my students that would answer those precise questions. Most definitions talked about good conquering evil. That certainly rings true, but Disney’s version of “good” is totally different than, say, Hans Christian Andersen’s.
Let’s return to The Mermaid for a moment, which inspired Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The “goodness” of obedience was swapped out for a modern “goodness” of independence. Throw cultural differences into the mix, and you’re left with an even more ambiguous understanding of what constitutes “good.”
What’s more, most stories boil down to some kind of good versus evil paradigm, so there needs to be something further that sets fairy tales apart from other genres. This is where my student’s playful comment about Tinker Bell comes in handy because it captures the dreamy side of fairy tales and the promise of “happily ever after.” No doubt Disney’s branding with the “magical kingdom” depicts the essence of this.
Putting it all together, I eventually came up with the following definition: a fairy tale is a fanciful, make-believe story that reveals a particular set of values about society and pivots around the rewards of virtue overcoming vice.
Lake Scene with Fairies and Swans by Robert Caney
I like this definition because it allows for differences across time and place (e.g., values which are changeable) while still maintaining a set of universal principals (e.g., virtues which are unchanging). While fairy tales originated in the Middle Ages and are generally set in that time period, they are not constrained by it. Likewise, they are not limited to Western culture.
Just think of the many versions of Cinderella told all over the world. Yeh-Shen, which is a Chinese version, was one of my favorites when I was little. Like the Disney version and the Brothers Grimm version before that, it has the basic “rags to riches” storyline. A major difference, however, is that a magical fish grants Yeh-Shen’s wish to go to the ball. This reflects significant cultural differences in China wherein fish are symbols of good fortune. Nevertheless, the reasons the fish rewards Yeh-Shen are consistent with those of Disney’s Fairy Godmother and the Grimms’ magical tree: Cinderella is being rewarded for her virtues.
Fairy tales are told to bestow lessons and to offer the promise of reward if those lessons are followed. The “happily ever after” motif was a particularly powerful one in the Middle Ages where the vast majority of the population was plagued with hardship. They taught young children that if you live a life of virtue, then you will be rewarded. Of course, that reward was not really expected to be found in an earthly palace but rather in a heavenly one.
Continuing the Tradition
There are countless reasons to study the “original” fairy tales today. They’re enjoyable, for one, but they’re also a lens into the hopes and fears of the common people of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Given how dominated historical accounts of the time were by the affairs of royalty and nobility, fairy tales offer a type of anthropology into the lives of everybody else.
But that’s still not all. Fairy tales give us pause to reflect on our own lives. They remind us that though the world is a scary place wrought with danger, we should take heart. Virtue will prevail, if not in life then in death. As G.K. Chesterton put it,
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
