Just the mention of "fairy tales" and most of us will conjure up images borrowed from Disney of Snow White, Cinderella, and Aladdin.  In these stories, generally everything always works out or they teach a good moral lesson.  But is that really what fairy tales were?  I just got through reading "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" from The Blue Fairy Book.  In this story, Aladdin is a lazy boy who gets the lamp through an "evil" magician trying to dupe him.  He gets the lamp, never has to work, and even gets to marry the princess.  This one has a good ending, but does it really?  Do we want to teach the story that you don't have to work for your living, but rather a magical genie can do all these wonderful things for you?  There was also the story of the "Yellow Dwarf."  This one, I think, ended horribly.  Isn't the guy supposed to get the girl?  Isn't that the whole point? If we think of "Little Red Riding Hood," do we see anything come of that story?  Wolf meets girl, wolf tricks girl, wolf eats girl.  Arguably that one could have a moral, but probably not.  If you start reading Grimm's Fairy Tales, then you see some rather extraordinary stories that sometimes are just downright scary.  In one of my literature courses, we looked at different versions of Cinderella in different cultures.  Disney's was the only one that I might even consider letting a child hear/see.  A lot of these "fairy tales" can be gruesome or scary.
     But I got to thinking.  Where do we get fairy tales?  These are the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation through the spoken language.  There are many different ways Cinderella can be told.  There are now many movies just on that one little tale that has been passed down.  The stories change over time.  The further back we look, the more "adult" they look. 
    There once was a time without the television, radio, electricity, and even for most of the world's population reading.  How did they entertain themselves?  They joked.  They talked.  They danced.  They drank.  They went to Church.  They watched public entertainments.  They watched executions.  They told stories.  In a time where they didn't have all of the modern conveniences we have, getting to listen to a story being told well would be a real treat.  From the Middle Ages, we can find riddles that are quite sexually explicit. (I will make an effort to try and find some of them again, and post an example at some point.)  Stories were stories.  You find stories of fairies and elves and dragons.  You find some very fantastic stories looking back through time.   Today, we tell stories.  No longer does the average person sit around a fireplace and listen to someone recite or tell a story, but we watch television.  We watch movies.  Many of whose plots can be traced to a fairy tale or older story already told. 
     Pick up a book of fairy tales and read it.  The Fairy books by Lang are good.  It's usually fairly easy to find Grimm's fairy tales online.  Take another look at the fairy tales.
     I say it is time, we the adults took back fairy tales.  Don't look at fairy tales as only entertainment for your children. Pick up some of the classic books on them and read them yourself.  I can guarantee you will find at least one or two that you absolutely love.  These stories should not be lost.  We should read them and tell them to others.
   Have a great day, and read a fairy tale.

     May 3^rd is World Press Freedom Day. We all know that Freedom of the Press is important. But what about unbiased news? Would you rather have news told from a party standpoint and just read both parties? Or would you rather read news that is not written from a party standpoint at all? Do you know of any good news sources that you would consider unbiased? Do you feel that Freedom of the Press has been achieved in your country? Why or why not?