‘If you can see the magic in a fairytale, you can face the future.’-famous author Danielle Steel had said. Who has not read fairytales? We all have had the experience of revelling in the beauty and innocence of fairytales. May it be ‘Cinderella’ or ‘The Ugly Duckling’…fairytale is a word which cannot be new to us. But have you ever traveled to the very heart of these fairytales and uncovered the fascinating meanings behind each of them? Well, if not, then here are some mystical finds I discovered when I undertook this journey.

             W.H Auden said ‘The way to read a fairytale is to throw yourself in.’ True indeed; unless the drama…the suspense…the thrill…the magic vibrates within us; we will not be able to feel the ecstasy of reading a fairytale. So whenever you read a fairytale, imagine you are the hero/heroine, then try to invoke the feel of the dramatized series of happenings, and you will be carried to a mystical land where everything will be as you want. The fairytale traverses in an unreal world and in this never-never land humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry the ever-beautiful princesses. The characters and motifs of fairytales are recurring and simple: Princesses and goose girls, youngest sons and gallant princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepmothers, fairy godmothers, talking animals, glass mountains, witches, castles, meadows and the like. One distinct feature of fairytales is that, they take place “once upon a time” or “long, long ago” and they conclude with the prince and the protagonist lass marrying and living “happily ever after.”

           Johann Christoph Friedrich v. Schiller had once said, ‘Deeper meaning resides in the fairytales told me in my childhood than in any truth taught in life.’ There is one thing that must be noted in the writers of the ever-green fairytales…their wisdom. If we delve deeper into the fairytales and try to understand the underlying morals in them, it is perceivable that the writers had immense awareness about human virtues and vices, human feelings and sentiments and human values. The fairytales are not only a medium of entertainment; these are platforms to spread good values among people. I, for one would like to take three of the most famous fairytales and illustrate the hidden meanings contained in them.

RATE THIS CHAPTER!

Click to View Author Guidance

Well, friends as we grow out of childhood, we lose belief in fairytales, we laugh at them...
but I for one am still fascinated by the world of fairytales and this is an essay in which I have analysed some of the hidden meanings contained in the fairytales we learnt when we were very small.

The lessons we gather from the fairytales are in fact, the basis upon which the very present society exists!

updated Jul 17 '10 by moon_princess