Fairy tales … they’re always such enchanting stories. As children, they delighted us with a sprinkling of bedtime magic. On the edge of our bed, they took us into a world that can only exist in fairy tales. In that enchanting space, everything is possible and permissible, magic and witchcraft exist, and the inexplicable becomes spontaneously explicable. In their subtle simplicity, fairy tales have intrigued young and old alike for centuries. As a writer, illustrator and devotee of fairy tales, I really hope they continue to do this happily ever after.
Fairy tales tell the stories as they have been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times. People were generally illiterate in those days and these tales taught them wise lessons about how good would always triumph over evil. Over many years, the fairy tale found its way onto paper and these ancient folk tales were preserved for our benefit. In 1697, ‘Les Contes des Fées’ by Madame d’Aulnoy was published. The literal translation of the French ‘fée’ (fairy) gave the genre its English name.
In the many well-known and lesser-known fairy tales, one often finds similarities in structure and style. For example, everyone’s familiar with the perennial overture ‘Once upon a time…’ and many a fairy tale ends with the universally loved ‘…and they lived happily ever after’.
Fairy tales recount stories in which the protagonist must overcome evil or an insurmountable obstacle. This ultimately succeeds through a heroic act by the hero himself (Little Tom Thumb) or through the intervention of another virtuous person (a handsome prince or brave hunter). Add a hefty dose of magic and unexplained events and lo and behold, the DNA of the fairy tale unfolds on paper.
Were we to dissect that DNA further, we would find even more remarkable properties. So you’d not be selling fairy tales short by claiming that the stories are often overly simple and the characters a little one-dimensional. The latter is evident in the fairy tale of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, in the Brothers Grimm’s version. Everyone knows the fairy tale, but how well do we know the girl herself? Although Little Red Riding Hood is as famous as they get, we know very little about her. What we do know is that she lives with her mother in the forest. No father or other family members are mentioned. What we also know is that Little Red Riding Hood has a distinct preference for a specific red hood and she goes through life as a happy child. The description of her persona goes no further. This fate also befalls the other characters in this fairy tale. For example, there’s no mention of the possibly strained relationship between mother and grandmother, nor do we read anything about any potentially friendly side to the sly wolf. The characters are reduced entirely to the function they hold in the story. Whereas a carefully crafted character in a novel shapes the narrative, it would detract from a fairy tale.
Equally characteristic is the paradox that fairy tales, though childlike in character, are sometimes filled with adult violence. I can clearly imagine the complaints of many a parent if on Sesame Street one night Bert and Ernie were to get into a brawl. Yet, just moments later, that same parent will recount to their offspring of how the witch puts Hansel and Gretel on the menu and the queen demands the heart of her stepdaughter Snow White. One wonders what ‘classifications’ the various ratings organizations would place on such fairy tales. Yet this violence is widely accepted. And understandable. For the more grim the evil, the scarier the horror, and the greater the hero’s triumph. Good triumphing over evil. It is indisputably the moral of the story. Along with other enchanting features, that sense of morality forms the DNA of the fairy tale.
That this DNA does not in many ways match that of modern literature is obvious. You could have a lively conversation about how the fairy tale relates to ‘serious’ literature. What is the legacy of the Brothers Grimm, Andersen and Perrault? And what place does it actually deserve on your bookshelf? My answer is: ‘That’s up to you. After all, it’s your bookcase’. So feel free to put your collection of fairy tales next to Hemingway or Twain for a while. They won’t bite. Slide them between history books or poetry. And most definitely put them low down, so even young hands can find them. But read them, rediscover them if necessary – I believe these slices of culture will live on because of the people who are willing to preserve them.
The critic may claim that the fairy tale is a childish and an unimaginative piece of prose. The enthusiast will say: ‘That’s a good thing’. For it is precisely because of this stubbornness that the fairy tale has retained its value: a beautiful picture in words, a slice of cultural heritage that captivates and enchants young and old alike. The fairy tale is like an old barrel organ in the modern shopping street and like a romantic etching in the Museum of Modern Art. It has retained a unique place in our culture for centuries. And for those who will listen, it is far from over.
I wish you many happy fairy tales.
