Fairy Tales Behind the Scenes #4: Fairy Tale Morals Edition

 

So, recently, I was thinking about all the different lessons that we can learn from all sorts of fairy tales when I was bored during class, and then I thought, “Hey, this would make a pretty good blog post!” Soooo… Lets do that!

Sleeping Beauty

Invite everyone to your parties, especially the people you don’t like. We can learn this from the fact that Sleeping Beauty’s parents didn’t invite the Evil Enchantress lady to the party, and then the Evil Enchantress lady got so mad, she cursed their baby, thus resulting in the entire kingdom being in a cursed sleep for a century.

Cinderella

Always drop your shoes. We learn this important lesson when Cinderella drops her shoe, causing her life to be changed forever when Prince Charming uses it to track her down.

Snow White

Kiss random dead people. This is taught when the Prince kisses Snow White, who was a random dead person, thus saving her life. Important note: When I originally wrote this, my friend told me I should add a disclaimer here. Do not kiss random dead people. If you encounter a person who has no pulse and/or is not breathing, call an ambulance immediately and do chest compressions. Do not perform mouth to mouth resuscitation, keep doing chest compressions until the ambulance arrives or the person starts breathing again.

The Three Little Pigs

Make smart life choices or you will die. The story teaches us this when two of the little pigs made bad life choices and made their houses out of questionable materials, which then got blown down by a wolf because they weren’t strong enough. In some versions of the story, the first and second little pigs were eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. So, make good life choices. Or else.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Beans do more than cause gas. This can be understood from the fact that the beans that Jack brought home from market grew overnight, into a beanstalk that escalated into the clouds, which Jack then climbed to discover a Castle belonging to a Giant, who’s magical harp, gold-egg-laying goose and money Jack promptly stole. So the story also teaches us that:

Breaking and entering is legal, because Jack broke into the Giants castle, stole all his possessions and money, and then caused the Giant to plummet to his death, whilst suffering no consequences whatsoever, and became super rich. Another note: Do not actually do this. You will end up in jail.

  Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Breaking and entering is not legal. The moral of this story, though contradicting Jack and the Beanstalk, is taught when Goldilocks nearly gets mauled by three hungry bears because she broke into and entered a house without permission. We can also think of it as a metaphor to invading peoples private space, eating peoples food, breaking peoples belongings, etc.

Rapunzel

 Beware pregnancy cravings. Rapunzel teaches us this when her mother is craving a specific kind of lettuce while pregnant, a kind of lettuce only found in the garden of the witch next door. She orders her husband to steal from the witch, who catches him. The witch then forces them to give her their child when she’s born. From this we can also learn

Always ask permission,

Don’t steal, and

If you really must steal something, do it sneakily so you aren’t caught and forced to give up your only child.