What were the important fairy tales of your childhood? Was it the fairy tale book that was read over and over again until the book’s corners were dog-eared? Or the same bedtime story that you knew by heart, and you corrected if the reader read it wrong? Do you still remember what that dragon, fairy, or scary bogeyman looked like? I remember, and surely you do too… and yet I always wanted to hear the story again.
As a little one, my favorite books read by others were “Hanhiemo’s fairy tale treasure” (including Little Little Lady, Gingerbread Boy) and “Tammen’s golden tales” (including Little Bear, Matti Beaver’s Secret, Our Cat, The Ship Dog, and Donald Duck’s Toy Train). It still makes me laugh how as a little one I puzzled for an incredibly long time over how I could get a train just like Donald had. Well, I never got the mini train, but I got ALL of Tammen’s Golden books, which I bought for my children (okay… for myself) when I became a mother.
It’s interesting to note how much fairy tales and children’s culture have changed over time. I belong to that age group where the bogeymen in fairy tale books were actually scary bogeymen, and princesses were truly princesses without a doubt. Good was always good, and evil… evil. In my childhood, we were read as if by ancient grannies and grandpas such grim tales by the Brothers Grimm, heart-wrenching fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, as well as stories by Zacharias Topelius and Anni Swan’s mountain trolls. Nor were “those original, unedited” versions of Pinocchio, Hansel and Gretel, or the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights left unread in elementary school.
Was the world of imagination and fairy tales scary? Of course, and rightfully so. As an adult, I now know that wild tales have a TREMENDOUS and SIGNIFICANT impact on the development of a child’s personality. Through fairy tales, a child can safely navigate deep, uncontrollable emotions and feelings, while also exploring the relationship between good and evil (the moral dichotomy of good versus evil) (The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim). Even though I sometimes feared that world of stories and the characters from them appeared in my dreams, I could still trust in the adventures, because in the end, good always triumphed over evil. That was, and still is, important. Why? Well, because hope must never be lost. When fairy tales portray injustices and wrongs, we learn from them, and we also confront real fears and anxieties. In fairy tales, we can DREAM BIG despite the fact that there may be no hope or possibilities for dreams in real life. It’s priceless to be able to imagine the impossible and to sail full sail ahead, both in calm and stormy weather.
A major change in fairy tale literature occurred in the 1980s. TV, movies, and videos dominated, bringing entertainment into living rooms alongside the hippopotamus. Play and imagination didn’t disappear, of course, but the fairy tale world became more visual and vibrant. In my childhood, movies and TV series like Pippi Longstocking, Catweazle, The Wind in the Willows, The Mole, Barbapapa, The Smurfs, Doctor Snuggles, Robber Hotzenplotz, and many others were absolute favorites! Christmas was a magical highlight of the year because that’s when incredibly beautifully crafted Czechoslovakian-Polish-Russian puppet animations and lesser-known stories were shown. They created a mood of anticipation long before the nostalgic Snowman. In sixth grade, I switched from thick fairy tale books to comics: into Donald Duck’s magical cape, the Cub Scout handbook, and Asterix. However, the world of images, animations, and later, games, captivated me the most. I was a wild, mischievous, playful, and creative child who loved excitement, speed, adventure, and silliness. That’s why I embraced all the wild, mischievous, exciting adventures where we raced and goofed around at full throttle!
A lot has happened, and I occasionally play games in the gaming world (when I have time), and time has passed, but I know that the fairy tales read to me in childhood will always stay with me. There they are, somewhere… deep inside me. Let me tell you one secret and insight from my life. Every now and then, when I need comfort and strength, I close my eyes and go back to my childhood, under the blanket, to the moment when my dear grandmother reads “The Little Match Girl” to me. I feel the sadness and despair of the tale, and yet, hey, there’s still… one match left! There is hope, and feelings come and go. Nothing more to it.
Did you know that the fairy tales you read night after night to your children (or anyone) also stay with them there “somewhere,” and when the time comes, they draw strength from those thousands of stories throughout their lives. And voila! There’s the secret of storytelling and magic: Fairy tales have life force.
In the magic of storytelling, there is power.
