Life Isn't a Fairy Tale... Or is it?

  Hello lovelies! I'm back with an original post this time. I feel like I've swamped you guys with nothing but reading and writing related lately. But here's a topic I hope you won't mind hearing.


  I was talking my best friend the other day after an upsetting evening. We talked for a long time, and somehow we ended up on the topic of fairy tales. We all know the ones, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, and Rumplestilskin, to name a few. They're the ones everyone has heard of at one point or another, whether thanks to Disney or a book. They all have happy endings, right? There's singing and dancing and true love and royalty, maybe even a pretty unicorn somewhere. There's nothing wrong with these in my opinion; the world could use some happiness. This is where we get our expression "Life isn't a fairy tale". But during my conversation with my friend, we thought, "Is it?".



   Let me introduce you to the fairy tales in their original format, most commonly written by the Brothers Grimm. I read a collection years ago of their works, and it was downright brutal. Let's look at Rapunzel. So we all know the basic story; a witch locks a poor girl in a tower, whose hair grows so long she can let up her prince later on to save her. In the original story is far darker. First, a mother trades her unborn child for lettuce. Lettuce. Which is owned by a witch. What does a witch want with a baby, anyway? Of course, the deal has to be kept, even when the mother bemoans her situation. Well, it was her own fault, to be honest. So the witch takes the baby girl away and raises her in isolation in a tower, letting her hair grow out. Years down the road, a prince happens upon the tower and observes the witch climbing into the tower via long, gorgeous hair. He climbs into the tower and is enthralled by the captive maiden's beauty. Even though the story isn't explicit, they sleep together, and the prince devises a plan for her to escape. Rapunzel, clearly not the smartest, makes an offhand comment that the witch is a slower climber than the prince. In a fit of rage, the witch casts out the girl, but not before cutting her hair. When the prince returns, he gets a nasty surprise by the witch. I want to be clear that the prince is the one who jumps from the tower in despair. What exactly was the goal there? He lands on a bed of thorns that gouge his eyes out. He then wanders for years blind, before coming across Rapunzel, who's also been wandering in the wilds raising the prince's twins. He regains his sight, and the two are married. The story is kind of messed up, and maybe it's not too far from real life.
   That's just the tip of the iceberg. Many involve physical harm, done by self and others, subdued women, and more kidnappings. In one tale I read long ago, I forget the name, actually did involve a unicorn. The king wanted it killed because it gored people to death with its horn. Long story short, unabridged fairy tales are extremely dark and gritty, even suggestive.
  So where exactly am I going with this? Well, isn't real life full of this stuff? The world's a pretty dark place, and the fairy tales seem to actually reflect that, just throwing in a little bit of magic and mythical creatures as the evil. So is the saying 100% true? Maybe it's not. Maybe life is much closer to fairy tales than we think.



   But what about true love, you ask? Curses that are broken by love? Surely that's not real?
   Wrong again. And here's why.
   I shared this thought with my friend during our conversation. We are both Christians, and that comes first and foremost in our lives. So we firmly believe the earth is cursed by sin. The only way to escape this curse is through the love of the Savior, Jesus Christ. If we keep on my theory that "life is a fairy tale", and that fairy tales reflect the world, then what about this curse of sin? Isn't that the same as the devastating curse in Sleeping Beauty? We're trapped in thorns of sin, with no way out and no way to help ourselves.
   Lo and behold, here comes our Savior (who, in reality, wore a crown of thorns for us), breaking through our curse and saving us with His love for us. Suddenly, we're awake, the bride of the One who truly loved us first.
 
   In conclusion, if fairy tales ARE real life, then yes, maybe the world is a truly messed up and dark place. But there is also goodness and light, especially the One true Light, who saves His bride from the clutches of a curse we can't escape. I believe fairy tales deliver that message, and I want to create a new saying:
   "Life is a Fairy Tale."
   And that's OK.

I want to encourage all my readers to share their thoughts on this, and let me know what you think. If you want to talk about Jesus, please feel free to do so. Never be ashamed of your faith. ~TQ.