For or against fairy tales ?
By lakshmi11
@lakshmi11 (278)
United States
February 18, 2011 6:42pm CST
When I was a kid I loved fairy tales. I had a book with tales from the brothers Grimm and I had another one with tales from Christian Andersen.
I lost myself in those story to the extend that I became part of them. And when the story was finally over I felt as if I had just woken up out of a dream.-
I never lost the love for fairy tales. I even wrote a paper about them at the University where I studied.-
What do you think about fairy tales? Are they important for children and adults alike?
2 people like this
4 responses
@Catana (735)
• United States
19 Feb 11
Fairy tales had a big influence on my life. I read them, and folk legends, up until high school. A lot of them have lessons that are valuable for children to learn. Some of them deal with overcoming difficulties and challenges, and having the courage to make difficult choices in life. Some are about honesty and kindness, and seeing into the heart instead of being impressed by what's on the surface. I was a wife and mother before I realized how much of my morality had been shaped by fairy tales, and I was very grateful, because my family wasn't close when I was growing up, and there wasn't much of that that I would have learned from my parents.
@lakshmi11 (278)
• United States
19 Feb 11
Catana, so nice to hear what you have to say. I think that the ones who told those stories for the first time will be pleased. - Do you think that fairy tales have a meaning that is hidden in the story, speaking to our subconscious and is not obvious and literal?
@Catana (735)
• United States
19 Feb 11
Yes, the meanings are often hidden. In fact, Idris Shah, a Sufi teacher, put together a book of fairy tales and folk tales from around the world to show how certain themes are universal. He also showed how so much of Sufi teaching is meant for students to find the meanings for themselves instead of being told. They do speak to our subconsious. I think that's why I didn't realize until I was an adult how much I'd learned from them.
@lakshmi11 (278)
• United States
21 Feb 11
Yes, Catana
I also found that the same stories are told in many different countries with differences of course, but essentially the same story.
Years ago I had the opportunity to hear a story teller from Iran tell a story.
I never forgot his voice. - Being unable to understand what he was saying, I took the surroundings and the atmosphere in.- The samovar was singing, the smell of tea, and spices hung in the air,- a piece of some unknown candy melted in my mouth being sweeter than I could bear.- People, sitting cross legged on the floor, followed the storyteller closely and you could tell that they got lost in the story.- To me this was all like a song in an environment of 1001 night.
I guess I had already read so many fairy tales, that it didn't matter that I could not understand a word he was saying. The experience was a fairy tale in itself.-
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
20 Feb 11
I always liked fairy tales a lot too.Fairy tales are cool it let's us day dream about things that we think about in the story that we like a lot and we would like for our life to be like or we would just like to see. They are pretty interesting.
@venchaul (541)
• China
19 Feb 11
when I was a child, I love fairy tales very much! however it's been a long time since i read rariy tales. I kind of miss them.
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
19 Feb 11
I see nothing wrong with reading fairy tales. They are often the first stories that we learn to read. We just have to realize they are just works of fiction and try not to take them to heart.