Fairy tales are not for the faint of heart

July 8, 2007

I grew up with fairytales. My mom loved buying me books with them in it, and one could say that they motivated me to read until my eyes are the sorry mess they are now. Princesses and magical toads, shimmering castles and Prince Charmings—these things fascinated me when I was little, and they still do. Not that I believe in magic nor am I a hopeless romantic, but the stuff of fairy tales are more exciting than the stuff of real life, and thus, more real.

 

Sometime in the early 90's, an aunt of mine brought home a thick book of fairy tales, with Sinbad, Aladdin, Snow White, Cinderella, and even Bluebeard living inside its pages. No, it has none of the sugary nonsense of Disney retellings with happily ever afters ending each story. It has big words and small text. It has blood and gore, and is often morbid. I found out the real nature of whimsical fairy tales: not all of them ends happily, and most of those that do tell sad stories anyway. 

 

The Little Mermaid, for one, is the saddest story I know. In the original version. she didn't end up getting married to her Prince, and in the first place it wasn't only the Prince she wanted, she wanted an immortal soul too. When the Prince got married to another girl, her deal with the Sea Witch came to a conclusion, and the conclusion is death by sunrise. Her mermaid sisters attempted to save her by giving their beautiful hair to the witch in exchange for a magical dagger. This dagger can give her back her tail and her three centuries of mermaid lifetime. The way to use it, however, is to stick it in the sleeping Prince until his blood pools at her feet and turns into her tail. Of course she couldn't do it, and by the time she decided so, the sun was already rising. She turned into sea foam.

 

That is not the ending to the story though; it turned out that there is another way to attain an immortal soul other than marrying a human being. Read the story by Hans Christian Andersen to find out.

 

There are online sources where you can find the complete text of The Little Mermaid, but having a book in your hands and reading it on paper  is far better than in a monitor don't you think? It saves you eyes for one. At Powerbooks, you can find Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales translated by Tina Nunnally and Jackie Wullschlager. It's a collection of Andersen's fairy tales, from the well-known (The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Steadfast Tin Soldier) to the almost obscure (The Red Shoes, The Ice Maiden, The Traveling Companion, The Nightingale), among others. One of my favorites stories is The Red Shoes. It's unbelievably gory. Oh oh! Trivia: Hans Christian Andersen is gay. It turns out that some of his stories were made to express his homoerotic frustrations. Interesting eh?

 

Parting shot: maybe the reason why I like fairy tales so much (besides my obvious glee with them being twisted after all), is that I want a fairy tale life for myself. Gowns of eiderdown and shoes made of glass—itchy clothing and uncomfortable footwear—small price to pay for a life in a fairy story. I guess Prince Charmings can be icky little beasts after all, but as long as the castle has electricity and good plumbing, I'm cool. Else this fairy tale nonsense is stretching it a bit too far.

 

So. Which is your favorite fairy tale? 


Posted by lizette at 7:03 am | permalink

Previous Comments

OMG! I can’t believe Hans Christian Andersen was gay…and he created the most intersting fairy tales of all time..cool! hehe

Posted by saturn at July 8, 2007, 9:12 pm

I don’t think it’s a fairy tale - but I like “The Little Match Girl”.

I remember reading stories (fairy tales included) to my kids at bed time. I would change my voice to fit the characters’. They liked it so much. Then I tuck them in… I taught them a prayer too.. but I guess it’s only Gem who still knows it by heart until now. She says it’s the same prayer that she recites every night - but with some additions now.

Marco loved to read. The day I brought home a set of encyclopedia - he was beaming with joy. It was an expensive buy, but the happiness etched on his face was priceless that I said to myself, I would still buy the set even with price twice over.

Ah, I miss those days.

Posted by rhodora at July 8, 2007, 10:50 pm

What’s a fairy tale anyway? I googled, and found out “The Little Match Girl” is a fairy tale, written by Hans Christian Andersen. I guess I’m naive on these things - I always equate fairy tales with happy endings… :)

Posted by rhodora at July 8, 2007, 10:56 pm

saturn, Andersen is indeed gay. apparently he was in love with his best friend, Edvard Collins. he wrote one of his stories in the island of Fyn because he couldn’t bear to watch his love getting married to a girl in Copenhagen. he’s had other affairs, one of them with a ballet dancer.

notably, he was called ‘bisexual’ by the editor since he has also had liaisons with the fairer sex, but i think bi is gay already.

rhodora, the Little Match Girl is another one written by Andersen. it is amazing how he can write a heart-rending, resounding social commentary in three pages.

indeed, a lot of fairy tales do not live up to most people’s accepted perception of them. good question: so what are fairytales? lemme do my research, i’ll get back to you.

Posted by liz at July 9, 2007, 12:43 pm

my fave fairy tales are “Our Strong Republic” written by one Gloria Arroyo and “Philippines 2000″ by a certain Fidel Ramos.

Posted by CONFESSIONS FROM A CHEAP MOTEL at July 9, 2007, 2:22 pm

that would have to be written by their brilliant speech makers, dear.

Posted by lizette at July 9, 2007, 6:31 pm

I’ve always been disturbed by the Pied Piper Tale wherein a piper was hired to kill all the rats and when he wasn’t paid he played his pipe again this to time to attract the children and lure them to jump from a cliff. The way I remember it, everyone but one of the townspeople’s children died so he could tell the tale to the others.

This disturbs me because a) it involves rats and b) it involves children dying.

Now, is this really how this story goes or am i really fucked up?

Posted by onezero at July 9, 2007, 6:32 pm

i think i’ve heard of that version, but the popular version is where the Pied Piper of Hamlin took the kids to a secret mountain hideaway where they lived happily ever after. he never returned them to their parents, because he is a proud man who never forgets offense.

yeah you’re fucked up. ahaha.

Posted by lizette at July 9, 2007, 6:57 pm

Thanks for making fun of my childhood honey. I feel a lot better now. Your laugh was the kicker that made everything a-ok.

Honesty aside, the fact that someone has heard this version at least confirms that I am not crazy. Fucked-up maybe, but not crazy ;)

And in my pied piper tale, those kids deserved it.

Posted by onezero at July 9, 2007, 9:27 pm

I guess fairy tales are waaaay cooler than I thought! LOL. I hated them when I was a child, maybe because I despise books.. but now, with all the gore in it.. heck, I have to get my filthy hands on one of ‘em!

It’s like.. reading a Chuck Palahniuk only with fairies and all that stuff. So cool.

Posted by Jhed at July 10, 2007, 1:25 am

After watching Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the original story caught me off-guard and I was bummed for weeks. :p

Like you, I grew up on fairytales! Mostly the happy ones! I think it’s made me in to the optimistic romantic that I tend to be.

Posted by Celle at July 10, 2007, 9:39 am