Audrey Hepburn said "If I am honest, I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales and I like them best of all".
For me, the avid reader, Fairy Tales were my first love. When I was a 5 year old my mom used to read out Fairy Tales to me. Those stories had big castles, nice food, good clothes, jewellery, and a charming prince to keep you happy ever after. The ladies were always very beautiful and the prince was always the best looking man possible. That was when I started dreaming, not necessarily of a prince but of a life with luxury and love, a life of abundance. I used to think that life has only 2 shades BLACK - the witch of the story or WHITE - the prince or princess.
Then as we grow up, we outgrow fairy tales and our horizon extends to all other genre of books. We learn and understand that prince charming is not always charming and can kill you for dowry or not bearing a male child. The witch can actually save you at times by not letting you meet the prince charming. Good food and good clothes does not always guarantee a good life. The teachings that life gives are in contrast to the dream that you weave after reading fairy tales. Then there comes a time when we distance ourselves from fairy tales and think them stupid. I once reasoned out with a friend that life is always a shade of grey, it can never be WHITE or BLACK in totality. I hated fairy tales after I saw that life was not what the fairy tales told me or made me believe to be.
After some years, I had a 4-year old curling up to me and asking me to read fairy tales to him. While reading out the stories again, I realised what the fairy tales do. They give us a dream. It is we who decide how to take it. We can turn that dream into reality or we can just ignore it as I did for many years. Fairy tales teach us that there are always BLACK and WHITE in life and we have to choose which way we want our life to turn. It teaches us that there is always a WITCH present to mislead you and there is always a FAIRY MOTHER to guide you. You will not physically see the witch or the fairy mother but you will get signs and will understand one from the other. You have to choose whom you want to follow. It depends on us, yes, on us only.
So Audrey Hepburn, I agree with you - I love Fairy Tales, not because I have not grown up, but because I have grown up to understand them.
For me, the avid reader, Fairy Tales were my first love. When I was a 5 year old my mom used to read out Fairy Tales to me. Those stories had big castles, nice food, good clothes, jewellery, and a charming prince to keep you happy ever after. The ladies were always very beautiful and the prince was always the best looking man possible. That was when I started dreaming, not necessarily of a prince but of a life with luxury and love, a life of abundance. I used to think that life has only 2 shades BLACK - the witch of the story or WHITE - the prince or princess.
Then as we grow up, we outgrow fairy tales and our horizon extends to all other genre of books. We learn and understand that prince charming is not always charming and can kill you for dowry or not bearing a male child. The witch can actually save you at times by not letting you meet the prince charming. Good food and good clothes does not always guarantee a good life. The teachings that life gives are in contrast to the dream that you weave after reading fairy tales. Then there comes a time when we distance ourselves from fairy tales and think them stupid. I once reasoned out with a friend that life is always a shade of grey, it can never be WHITE or BLACK in totality. I hated fairy tales after I saw that life was not what the fairy tales told me or made me believe to be.
After some years, I had a 4-year old curling up to me and asking me to read fairy tales to him. While reading out the stories again, I realised what the fairy tales do. They give us a dream. It is we who decide how to take it. We can turn that dream into reality or we can just ignore it as I did for many years. Fairy tales teach us that there are always BLACK and WHITE in life and we have to choose which way we want our life to turn. It teaches us that there is always a WITCH present to mislead you and there is always a FAIRY MOTHER to guide you. You will not physically see the witch or the fairy mother but you will get signs and will understand one from the other. You have to choose whom you want to follow. It depends on us, yes, on us only.
So Audrey Hepburn, I agree with you - I love Fairy Tales, not because I have not grown up, but because I have grown up to understand them.
Very profound! I too love fairy tales as they let us dream. I always look fwd to the end though I know it will end with... 'and they lived happily everafter' :-).
ReplyDeleteExcellent topic and well written again :-)