Simplia was sitting on the steps when Sagacia noticed her through the screen door. She opened the door and leaned out.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m just waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Well, it is the third of the month, you know,” Simplia hinted.
“Ah! So you’re waiting for a magical letter to arrive with a question from one of the readers of Vasilisa’s syndicated advice column.”
“Right!” Simplia said. “For the Fairy Tale Question of the Month.”
“So we can pass it along to real storytellers to answer.”
“Right.”
“A watched pot never boils, you know,” Sagacia admonished.
“Well, if it doesn’t come by 11:30 tonight, I’ll go to bed,” said Simplia. “But I’m hoping for sooner.”
“Hope is the thing with feathers,” Sagacia chanted, “That perches in the soul. . .”
“Seems like it usually comes in the morning,” Simplia considered.
“Will there really be a morning? Is there such a thing as day? Could I see it . . .”
“Stop, already!” Simplia interupted. “Poetry and old wive’s tales won’t help!”
“Sorry,” said Sagacia. “I was just, uh, well – you’re right.” She sat down beside her friend.
They swayed to the left.
They swayed to the right.
They looked up into the sky.
They looked across into the woods.
They looked east to the lake.
They looked west to the sunset. Yes, sunset. It was almost 7:00 p.m.
Sagacia pushed herself up and went into the kitchen to feed the cat. She made a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, poured two glasses of milk, set them all on a tray and took it back outside for a picnic on the porch.
Simplia sighed. She checked her watch. Shook it, actually.
When the mosquitoes got bad, they both went back inside.
They watched “Dancing with the Stars.”
They watched “The Daily Show.”
They checked the Fairy Tale Lobby Facebook page on their devices. And their own pages, too.
At last, wearily, the Simpletons went upstairs to bed.
Pinned to Simplia’s pillow was a note.
“Yes!” she exclaimed!
“Sagacia!” she called, and when her friend stumbled into the room, she read aloud:
Dear Vasilisa the Wise,
I sometimes wonder what our fairy tales say to non-traditional families. I can tell you what they say to stepmothers: you are evil! No alternative stories there! (Or are there?)
I wonder what the tales of princes and princesses pursuing one another, marrying, and living “happily ever after” say to GLBT individuals and families and, perhaps more importantly, to questioning youth?
I wonder how those tales of individuals bettering themselves heedless of their neighbors’ needs play with those whose own humanity has been trampled for generations by institutions which are themselves sadly out of date?
I know folk and fairy tales were generated in other times and other social settings, but the tales still speak and seem to affirm particular hierarchical politics and life patterns, some of which abide though some have changed or are in the process of changing.
Do these underlying conditions in fairy tales have NO effect? Or, does the good of expansive imagination and gratifying closure–or some other good (if so, what?)–outweigh their tired perspectives?
Or, am I just the privileged child of a progressive democratic society with no clear view of the great world beyond my own urban, post-industrial, capitalist environment?
–Activist in Oslo
Sagacia looked puzzled.
“I think I’ll read that again tomorrow,” said Simplia.
“Yeah,” said Sagacia yawning. “Put it in the sidebar for now. Luckily, we have magical friends who can help us with puzzling questions such as this.”
Fairy Tale Lobby 
Fairy tales, almost by definition, are dated. They reflect an older order of things.
Emily Dickinson is dated.
Jane Austin is dated.
Shakespeare is dated.
Why do we read them?
Not because they are dated, but because they speak to us. Art, of all sorts, speaks to us through a universal language, the grammar of which cannot be methodically parsed.
Let me parse “Rapunzel”. She is a young female, whose story assumes she cannot control her fate. Her fate is in the hands of others. Her one attempt at control, which is a deceit against Dame Gothel, fails. She needs to be rescued by her prince, who knows her gentle qualities.
Let me parse “Rapunzel” again. We see a person—sheltered—who glimpses a greater world, an alluring world, to have it senselessly snatched away, and be punished for having knowledge of it.
I suggest the second parsing resonates a universality that crosses over the barrier of years.
Another consideration is that fairy tales create a cultural shorthand, a set of basic assumptions about the world which can be used as a starting point for discussions, or as a reference point from which to write replies or parodies.
Everything from Steve Allen’s jazz versions of fairy tales to the animated Fractured Fairy Tales to the modern graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge all take classic fairy tales as their starting point, before running amok through the countryside. Children’s picture books such as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs are twisted retellings, but the imagery conveyed by classic fairy tales is often used in adult fiction, such as The Big Bad Wolf Tells All, which is about a stalker.
I think saying every fairy tale is the same would be oversimplifying the diversity of world folklore. There are tales that talk about non-traditional families of all kinds, you just have to look in the right place. For example, Gay Ducey tells an amazing folktale called the Fish-wife and the Changeling Child where the stepmother is better than the real one. Also, there is a folktale motif for gender-switching where trans-gender prince loves princess (and even gets a child with the held o a wise man). Or Aristophanes’ tale of the origin of love, is a classic.
I would guess that there are a lot more, one just have to look longer and harder to find them. After that, it is just the storyteller’s responsibility, when, how, and how often he or she uses these tales together with “traditional” models. It is not really the lack of sources that makes these tales less well known – it is the lack of choice to tell them.
But they are definitely harder to find, hard enough that the exceptions can be itemized and noted one by one, as you did above. I agree that there were bound to have been many more told throughout the years! Perhaps it is the anthologists/folklorists/folktale collectors who neglected to include them in their publications.
Not all tales portray step-parents as monsters, although there are quite a few. I always thought of those as teaching stories because, when you think about it, would you really want to be remembered as being as bad as the stepmothers in stories like Cinderella?
Stories like “The Lion’s Whisker” from Ethiopia portray step-parenting in a more balanced way, as a serious challenge on both sides. It’s just a different type of teaching story.
My dear Simpletons,
Now, this is indeed an interesting letter from Activist in Oslo. I can ID with many of her thoughts about fairytales. Yup. Elitist. Yup. Old tired economic systems that did not work the way fairytales present them.
But I love fairytales, I shout. Love, Love, Love. I gather strength from the knowledge that each teller, each folklorist, each translator, each author, each corporation (like Disney) brought in his or her prejudices and needs and the story I read or hear or watch reflects that. And my joy is in a. finding new versions (look at “Little Golden Hood” in Andrew Lang’s books) or telling them in a way that honors the structure and my own prejudices. Or I set it up so that the contradictions between then and now are clear.
If I feel I cant do it without destroying the story, or the intentions…or the story’s “givens” annoy me… I just leave the story to others who do not feel similarly conflicted.
Great book to read – thank you Julie Dellatorre who recommended it- is “Shall We Burn Babar?” by Herbert Kohl.
Robin, I couldn’t help but think of your Ladder of Power in parts of this, too!
What I think is that you are so funny. You lure me into this sweet and quiet Jane Austeny-Emily Dickisony mindframe, and in comes that pesky old post- industrial capitalistic whirlwind full of dust and sparkles. Like Sagacia and Simplia, I’m ready for sleep and it’s only 3:15 p.m., but I AM laughing. Thanks ever so much for this wonderful series.
Megan, where is our “like” button!!?