A Culture and a Tale

I fell asleep this afternoon to the movie Excalibur playing in the background and having finished reading the Cinderella fairy tales. These tales are separated as much by language as they are by sequencing. I never considered that I was attempting to escape reality or learn a moral lesson when reading fairytales as a child? They seemed more like a way in which to see how problems were solved. Grimm's Fairy Tales were my favorite, and although I can not recall individual details regarding the characters and specific actions, I do recall the poignant nature of humanity the tales described. The stories were terrifically realistic and violent and they delivered as many lessons regarding the psychology and personalities of men.

Learning from Grimm's and other tales were the stories that taught me to grow fast from the young girl into an observant young woman. From them I learned to watch others as they generally speak and tell all I need to know about them. These words my mother told me repeatedly, but the tales, and later movies and other books illustrated her words.

In reading the Cinderella tales from France, Germany, Scotland and Kashmir, I see the influence of culture, personality, and belief in these tales. France presents the most civil and highly mannered of all the tales. The moral of the story is clearly stated by the author at the end of the story. It is clear the moral is to remain decorum despite being mistreated; however it is not clear that there is a moral to follow to the same extent in the other tales as in the French version. The French version is closest to the Cinderella story told to American children. It follows closely to the American ideal of the princess being created out of nothing, and being rescued by a prince holding her glass slipper.

It would interesting to see how our society would react to adopting the Scottish version of this tale with the red calf advising Rashin-Coatie (Cinderella) to chop the head of her ugly sister before the two escape. The story follows through in the same manner, although it is the girl’s natural parents that reject her, and her red calf becomes her guardian instead of a fairy. Much like the German tale, the girls cut their feet in order to fit the shoes and it is a bird who warns the prince of their deception; however, it is the use of violence, both self inflicted and against others that is missing in the French story.

Because this is a recurring theme in all the other regional tales, it leads me to ask questions regarding the way in which children in the States are raised in comparison to children of other nations. As violence is a permanent part of the human existence, for what purpose does it serve to create an extended fantastical childhood in which parents are taught to shield children violence? And how is this played out in our nation of extremes, whereas there is the Disney culture versus the culture of ever increasing video games and targeted violent programs targeted toward children