Mine turned out a little less like a story this time...
Here are my 200 words, please excuse any spelling/auto-correct errors as I am typing on my phone:
No matter what they say about happily-ever-afters, fairy tales are always tragedies. Sure, the youngest son always gets the girl, and the cursed princess always goes free, but what about everyone else? All the other princes usually die horrible deaths trying to slay the giant or ogre. Brothers who were not smart enough to solve the riddle are humiliated, and both sisters and step-sisters of the girl who marries the prince fall into ruin. Sometimes the king or queen is already dead, or dying from a mysterious wasting illness, or they can only have one child, so the fate of the kingdom rests on a single soul.
And those are the cleaned up fairytale versions. You don't really want to know what happened with Little Red Riding-hood, or Sleeping Beauty hidden away in her tower. Jack the giant killer wasn't exactly a hero, and Tom Thumb wasn't noble or stalwart. Kings and princes raped innocent girls, and queens and mothers killed children and ate their flesh.
Sure, sometimes there's a happily-ever-after waiting at the end of every tale filled with deceit, violence, selfishness, and debauchery.
Maybe that's the real lesson of fairytales. To find happiness within the anarchy.
Yeah, the stories about the other Princes and Princesses really do need to be told more often. Does remind me that I have an unfinished story somewhere about one of the servants in Sleeping Beauty's castle and her attempt to get a life back after sleeping a hundred years ....
ReplyDeleteOooooh! Don't tempt me with fairytale retellings, or I will hound you more than usual ;)
DeleteLove it. I just bought Stacey Jay's "Of Beast and Beauty" last night at her book signing in San Jose, CA. It's a new take on the tale. I like re-envisionings. She said it's the darkest thing she's ever written. I look forward to reading it. Perhaps you might tell the tale of a step-sister or rejected prince?
ReplyDeleteCome back and let me know if it's any good!
DeleteA very good point, which is why I love minor characters and villain origin stories. I want to know what happened to the witches and the ogres and the cannibal stepmothers. And what IS a happily-ever-after, anyway? Maybe it's not the same for these other characters as it is for princes and princesses.
ReplyDeleteWell, happiness is subjective ;)
DeleteVillain-retellings certainly would be interesting, of some of the familiar fairy-tales...