When Vicki asked me a few weeks ago to
write a post for her blog on the importance of fairytales for the 200th
Anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, I almost declined. I enjoy writing, I
famously love fairytales, yet the analysis of the “why” seemed overwhelming.
How could I speak for the human experience? I can’t, not being an
anthropologist or a sociologist. I have no scientific basis for these words,
only the long-held tang of instinct when the words ring true to me.
Fairytales are one of the oldest forms of
storytelling. We have stories that survive from hundreds of years ago. They
make up our common mythology. The Grimm brothers wrote down these stories and
folktales, codified them into their most famous versions. But Cinderella
existed in 1st century B.C. Greece:
They are cautionary tales, but not only for children. In the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales and others of its time, children were lost forever. Good people died. There was torture and frequently the endings were, well, grim. There was a true reason to be afraid of the dark.When she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid…While the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle…flung the sandal into his lap. The king, having been stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal. When she was found in the city of Naucratis, she…became the wife of the king.1
Today, there has been a revival of sorts of
the fairytale, through the movies of Disney and the popularity of shows like Once Upon a Time, though they might be
filtered through our modern lens, with princesses who save themselves and
post-modern irony. My Faerytaleish group board on Pinterest
has 2,944
followers and 4,333 pins. You don’t have to believe in tiny people
with wings to believe in fairytales.
Water Dancer, Digital World
But life is not a fairytale, some will
object. Sometimes the wrong person dies, the bad guys win, and there is no
happy ending. This is true. But a necessary part of survival is that we believe
in a better tomorrow. We are all faced with our own mortality, the place beyond
that screen where “The End” is writ large in golden script.
It would be easy to despair. Yet we go on. Because
sometimes it does end happily. Sometimes the good guys prevail. Sometimes true
love overcomes death. Enchantment is the sheen of frost on the bough. Magic is
seeing the smile of the person you love best at the top of the stairs. This is
what is essential to hold onto as we get older.
Fairytales restore our hope. They are all
that remains in Pandora’s box. They are a necessary part of our existence. If
we relegate fairytales only to children, we lose our chance to not only connect
with our children, but also our humanity and the stories that will last long
after we are gone.
1 Wikipedia
Anna Meade is a writer, singer & actor,
aesthete, geek & unrepentant Luddite, sprinkled with a touch of whimsy. And
snark.
She is the creator of Yearning for Wonderland,
literary blog, SuperSecret Spy Girl and all
manner of things wondrous. You can find out more about Anna or follow her on
Twitter as @ruanna3.
No comments:
Post a Comment