draconum

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Brothers Grimm's first book of fairy tales.

...is that the possessive of "Brothers Grimm"?  Personally, I'm more in favor of "Brothers' Grimm", but...either way, now you know that it belonged to them.

So originally I wanted to make a post about the end of the world, since today is supposedly the last day we have to live.  But I think I will postpone that until tomorrow morning (explanations and justifications to come...tomorrow) and go for some commentary on fairy tales instead.

See, procrastination at its finest.

For now, it's time to spend my last hours talking about fairy tales.

Which is something I never thought I would be doing.

So, 200 years ago the Brothers Grimm wrote down some fairy tales.  They didn't invent these tales, because the description of these two men provided by Google is:

"The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were German academics, linguists, cultural researches, and authors who together collected folklore."

So although they are listed as authors, they also collected folklore, and I have reason to believe that fairy tales fall under the "folklore" genre.  Even though the fairy tales are so universally popular and often common.  Or perhaps because they are.  I mean, we're still making fairy tale movies. All the time.  And even though I've heard the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs countless times and seen many movie variations and read the story in countless variations....I still watched a Snow White movie last night.

And the funny thing is, I still found it engaging. Despite Kristen Stewart! I still found things to think about that I hadn't necessarily thought about in that way before. I knew exactly what was going to happen throughout the plot, and I still had hopes and anxieties concerning the ending.

And, of course, I still wondered what in the world is the appeal of kissing a dead person.

Any clarification on that would be welcome in the comments.

So, what is up with our seemingly innate fascination with fairy tales?  I mean, here I am, a known skeptic and perhaps even hater (or anti-fan?  do those exist?  Well, they do now, and I am one) of fairy tales, and yet...they're making an appearance here on Martin.

And they're so cliché!  We have countless fairy tales, but they all have so many things in common.  Magic and curses to be broken, orphaned children, stepmothers, kissing dead people, dragons and other fantastic creatures, groups of three, princesses, kingdoms, good versus evil, the power of love...

So it might be nice to have all this touchy-feely imagination stuff balanced out by some hardcore science and realistic mathematics.  Enjoy the following quote from Albert Einstein:

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 

Apparently our friend Mr. Einstein is an advocate of fairy tales. Perhaps this is a conspiracy, though, because both Alberto and The Brothers Grimm were German-born...

So, perhaps a quote from an Englishman. G.K. Chesterton:

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” 

That no matter how evil your stepmother is, or how many apples she gives you, or how many small men you have to clean up after, there's still a way for you to win a man and a kingdom in the end.

That even after a wolf has eaten your grandmother and in some versions, yourself, his digestive acids are very slow, and he didn't chew his food well at all, so a nearby lumberjack can come and free you by chopping the wolf up with his axe while keeping you unharmed.

That after someone curses you to die at the hand of a spinning wheel and your father destroys them all, then foolishly sends you to live far away from any protection so you die anyway, fairies can drug everyone into sleeping for thousands of years until a prince finally finds his way to the castle (needed to wait for GPS to be invented) where he can kiss this rotting dead girl, suck the death out of you, and marry you.

It gives us this unrealistic expectation that no matter how bad it gets, there's still a way for it to end happily.  It will require sacrifices, but after the big battle, you're settled down with a prince, the dragons are gone, the kingdom is at peace, and the happily is ever after.

But it is nice to be taken out of our own world and our own dragons to a much more objectified world, where villains wear capes and the good-looking are also good people.  Where things are predictable and there's always a catch to the evil plans. Where there is a clear line between good and evil, where evil is fated to fail, and good is destined to prevail.

And I think it's important to visit this place from an early age, and to indulge in a return on occasion, but certainly not to live there.  It is important to live in your own world, which is indeed a different world from anyone else's.  Our individual worlds are affected and sometimes even defined by other worlds though (such as Jupiter shielding the earth from fatal asteroid attacks...there's some science for you) which is why it is important to choose worthwhile worlds to visit.

So here's an answer that might just say a lot about you:
What is your favorite fairy tale?  And if you care to provide any explanation, go for it.