Fairy Tales

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 11 (Supplement)

Fairy Tales

The World’s First Fiction

By

A. M. DIXON

Exclusive to The Dominion

F there is such a thing as an archaelogy of literature, surely the old, old fairy tales we loved when we were young deserve to be placed among its earliest treasures; for here will be found some of the world’s

greatest stories, stories which have lived—and will live, for they bring with them life and laughter and that spirit of youth which never dies. A nursery without fairy tales would be unthinkable, it would mean no more fancy and make-believe, no more fairy god-mothers and dreams come true. The children would lose the art of “Let’s pretend,” and no longer feel the urge of a visit to a friendly lap with the demand for a story. We know there will always be fairy tales —even if people cease to write them—for the children will still go on creating them; it is part of their “makeup.” No playwright has greater powers than they in the magic setting of their stage: seemingly without effort the nursery becomes a fairy palace, and they, as central figures in that bright company of fairy people, pass through the door into an enchanted world. Until comparatively recently these fairy tales were looked upon as more or iess unmeaning nonsense, but according to the history of folk-lore, they owe their foundation to the ancient myths, legends, and superstitions of different countries, and were repeated thousands of times by succeeding generations before they were ever written down. In fact, they might be called the found tion of all fiction. This alone should make them interesting, for they explain the customs and mode of thought of that far-off period before the authentic records of our own history began; and to that tints when man’s mentality was childish and capable only of being interested in simple things around him. Of till the writers of ancient fairy fiction, none have been so beloved as Aesop, Charles Perault, Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen. No monument has been erected to their memory; there has been no need; their books have been their monument, treasured in the nurseries of the world. Everyone in the urseries of the world. Everyone knows Aesop’s Fables, with their quaint Illustrations. These stories, founded on Greek mythology, were invented by the Phrygian slave, Aesop, centuries before the birth of Christ. Chaucer introduced them into England and Caxton printed them a century later, at a time when the “fable” happened to be a popular method of instructing the young “how to grow in grace.”

The chief characteristic about the old stories was their moral background : no doubt it had a value at a time when oral teaching was the only form of education before Caxton created a new’ w’orld by laying the foundation of English literature in book form. Charles Perrault's tales first appeared when the Court of Louis XIV welcomed any new form of entertainment. "Cinderella”—written to please the Royal children—soon made him famous. It was followed by “Mother Goose,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” Und “Hop o’ My Thumb.” These stories grew out of the legends and superstitions told him by the peasantry during his wanderings in different parts of Europe. Grimm did not invent his tales as is generally supposed; he simply rewrote them and put them into story form more suitable for children. After Charles Perrault and Grimm, perhaps Hans Christian Andersen deserves the next place in the affections of both young and old. For he wrote With such simplicity and delicacy that his stories of the Snow Queen, the Ugly Duckling and what the moon saw take first rank among the fairy stories Of the world.

Quaint Traditions and Their Similarity.

Fairy tales are often the common property of different countries, that is, the same background or idea runs through all. For instance, Cinderella is the subject of a very ancient custom where preference is shown to the youngest child instead of the eldest. She is essentially the “home child” and has a place by the hearth. In India there is a similar custom where the "house child” Ipoks after the parents and eventually inherits their possessions. The slipper episode is repeated in the Greek myth—where the eagle carries the dainty sandal of the beautiful taalden to the hero of her affections. |l somewhat similar episode is connected with Rameses 11, where a lock Of golden hair Is borne by the Nile to the Sing’s palace—with the usual fairy sequel. Red Riding Hood is a story founded fen a superstition relating to sunset Mnd sunrise. In Norway they have a Jnyth which explains that the red sun is devoured by the monster Darkness and ’disgorged at sunrise. The same idea Will be found in German folk lore, Where the night is represented by the Wolf, who is ripped up at dawn by the hunter, when out steps “Sunrise,” Personified in the shape of Little Red SUUlng Hood.

We have an ancient English myth underlying the story of Jack the Giant Killer; there is no doubt as i to its antiquity, as it points to prehisi toric times when cannibalism was an : actual fact. The old rhyme is founded ■ on this idea, where it says: “Fe —fl—-fo—fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, Let him be alive—or let him be dead, I’ll grind his bones to make my bread.” Children all love this story of ancient Cornwall, and gloat over Jack, who rids the country of the giant Cormoran, who was evidently one of the old maneaters of those prehistoric days. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk is based on a superstition that came to us from the East, dealing with beings personifying the earth and sky. A Hindu tale explains that the stars were once men, who, to escape from their enemies, climbed tall trees with the idea of reaching the sky. But, unfortunately, the invading party destroyed the tree ladders, and left their victims scattered over the heavens, doomed to be separated for ever from their own people. There is a very interesting Maori myth having some resemblance, mentioned by Sir George

Grey in his book on Maori lore. It seems that when Rangi and Papa —the sky father and earth mother — came into being, they were one. Their offspring, who represented the birds, trees, fish, and so on, objected always to living in darkness, and prevailed on Tane—the forest deity—to force them apart; and so the heavens were created and Rangi and Papa became separate beings. These are a few examples showing how these writers of ancient fiction found the material on which to build their stories. Their renderings of them are so natural, and have such a sense of reality that they never cease to be attractive to children, however often repeated. Another reason is this: Story-telling is the oldest form of entertainment, an inheritance handed down to us since the dawn of civilisation, and for that reason fairy tales will never be forgotten while there are mothers to tell the tales and children to listen. They are the literary treasures of the nursery—the abiding place of little children—and are the strongest link between parents and children, and between young and old.

Friend: “What is your baby going to be when he grows up?” Financier: “A blackmailer, I’m afraid.” Friend: “Impossible! What makes you think so?” Financier: “We have to give him something every little while to keep him quiet.”

Son (doing lessons) : “Who was Job, mummie?” Mother: “Job? Why—er—a man who had a lot of patience.” Son: “Oh, then, if I put down ‘He was a very clever doctor,’ I shall be right”

Nobody ever heard of counterfeit fid. bits being put in Xmas puddings,” says a writer. Nevertheless, people generally bite them. * ♦ * One half the world doesn’t know how the other half manages to spend Christmas where it does.

Daughter: “But, father, I couldn’t possibly marry Jack. His colouring simply doesn’t go with my style of beauty at all.” Father: “You don’t want a husband. What you want, my girl, is a chameleon.

Mary had a little lamb One day she clipped its tresses, • And found she had sufficient wool For fifteen modern dresses. .• * * “What instrument do you play in the jazz band?” “I shoot the guns.”