Why Fairy Tales?
Why do adults continue to be fascinated by fairy tales? Why do they hold our attention even though (we think) we know them by heart? Why do we return to them time and time again?
As with all True stories there is often a shared experience across boundaries of time and culture that explains the universal pull of fairy tales. Countless essays have been written exploring this very subject but for me personally the reason I love fairy tales and continue reading them and studying them is this: The underlying Truth in these stories resonates with me. I find reflections of my own experiences represented there as well as signs and warnings of things to come. Fairy tales seem on the surface so simple yet are able to represent so much. When I consider the characters and symbols in a story it’s easy to find contemporary parallels in society and in my own life. When I look at my world this way I not only see the everyday magic around me I also have a roadmap of possibilties laid out for my choices - a roadmap filled with warning signs as well as the promise of better things to come.
G.K. Chesterton said in an essay’The Red Angel’ from his book Tremendous Trifles:
“Fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give a child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”
To paraphrase (as this quote often is):
” Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
I felt this as a child. In this fairy tales gave me hope, no matter how bleak my circumstances appeared. Terri Windling expanded on this very eloquently in her introduction to ‘Snow White, Blood Red’, one of the books in the adult fairy tale retelling series she edited with Ellen Datlow. She wrote:
“The fairy tale journey may look like an outward trek across plains and mountains, through castles and forests, but the actual movement is inward, into the lands of the soul. The dark path of the fairy tale forest lies in the shadows of our imagination, the depths of our unconscious. To travel to the wood, to face its dangers, is to emerged transformed by this experience. Particularly for children whose world does not resemble the simplified world of television sit-coms … this ability to travel inward, to face fear and transform it, is a skill they will use all their lives. We do children–and ourselves–a grave disservice by censoring the old tales, glossing over the darker passages and ambiguities…”
I found a book in the library when I was still in my teens that helped me realize my personal relationship to fairy tales and the way I found my own path through the world by using their Truths, wasn’t completely unique. The book was called ‘The Wisdom of Fairy Tales’ by Rudolf Meyer. It wasn’t an easy book to read and had a strong emphasis on the ’spiritual nourishment’ these tales could provide, beyond allegory, that seemed heavy handed. Nevertheless, the idea that fairy tales could - and should - be used as a tool for raising children and ultimately finding one’s direction in life, stayed with me. Here, for the first time in my experience, was a scholar who saw fairy tales as vital to healthy development. To find out that being drawn to fairy tales was not only shared by many but was a proven life tool was liberating. Although I chose my own path alone, just as the characters in the stories did, there were many who had been in these woods before me and survived to tell the tale. The more I searched in this vein the more I discovered many fine thinkers who I greatly respected, (Tolkein, Mark Twain. Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis and Albert Einstein to name just a few) not only held fairy tales in high esteem but advocated their necessity for a healthy society and development of one’s potential.
G.K Chesterton wrote extensively on the necessity of reading fairy tales and in another essay, All Things Considered, he stated:
“If you happen to read fairy tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other–the idea that peace and happiness can only exist on some condition. This idea, which is the core of ethics, is the core of the nursery-tales.”
No wonder we cannot help but tell them to our own children when they are small! At some level we understand stories are necessary for life. Fairy tales in particular hold much in the spareness of their words; the fantastic gives us direct access for dealing with reality. It is a paradox that children instinctively understand and use to make sense of their world. How much better would we function as adults if we continued to value these tales and be open to the Truths passed down through generations? Moreover, how much better would we relate to our physical and cultural neighbors once we understood that their stories are our stories, just dressed a little differently? Though the fairy tale journey is a very individual one it’s benefit reaches beyond ourselves to the world around us.
Bruno Bettleheim put it this way in The Uses of Enchantment:
“For those who immerse themselves in what the fairy tale has to communicate, it becomes a deep, quiet pool which at first seems to reflect only our own image; but behind it we soon discover the inner turmoils of our soul - its depth, and ways to gain peace within ourselves and with the world, which is the reward of our struggles.”
My favorite quotes, however, and the most useful to me in justifying my fairy tale fascination to others, are by the acknowledged genius, Albert Einstein. He said these two things:
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
and
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”
Quoting Einstein was, and often still is, the best method I’ve found for silencing any critic of the time I spend reading and studying these stories. Not only that, his testimony to the positive power of fairy tales often results in the development of a grudging respect for something they had considered as merely childish. The implication, of course, is: if you want to think like Einstein, go read a fairy tale. No matter what, it is clear there is much more to a fairy tale than it’s story.
