Fascination Fairy Tales
Sylvia Monhoff-Keweloh
Fairy tales – memories of my childhood arise before my inner eye. My grandmother told my sister and I fairy tales and stories she made up. There were many we always wanted to hear again and again and noticed immediately when grandma had changed even a single word in her stories. This enthusiasm for fairy stories has stayed with me to this day.
The telling of fairy stories has a long tradition. When people came together in former times, they exchanged news and told each other stories and fairy stories. These meetings enabled social contacts, served to inform and entertain as well as for company. Fairy stories were passed from generation to generation orally.
Stories from all cultures
Fairy tales exist in all cultures, including Native American, Oriental, Chinese, European and many others. They are also very interesting for adults and are of great importance, because the symbolism in fairy tales gives a glimpse into the culture. Some will greatly impress and have a strong appeal, others will be very difficult to understand unless we grapple in depth with the symbols and their meanings.
Symbols are also often used differently. In the Chinese fairy tale, for example, the dragon represents fortune, while in the European fairy tale it stands for danger and evil!
Children, too, can benefit in their individual development from fairy tales. I myself have experienced that in spite of television and computers, children do get a lot of pleasure from listening to fairy tales. It is important, however, to make the right choice for the respective age group.
Primal human experiences
Fairy tales convey primal experiences of the human existence – love, friendship, trust, good and evil – in clear images. The helpful, honest, open and friendly person receives help and attains his goal. He may even become a king. The virtues conveyed in the fairy tale transcend borders and countries. On the other hand, evil is always punished. Thus fairy tales map a clear path through life, as could hardly be expressed in a television film for instance. Many children today are overwhelmed by a flood of images. Anxiety may arise, because they cannot work out the chaos of the events. In contrast, through the fairy tale only such images arise in the child as he himself allows as the listener.
A fairy tale “lights the ear”
In Siberian language, fairy tale means “ear-light”. A wonderful word! Listening requires attention, concentrating and focusing on something, to mediate something. Across the ear the light, the magic of the fairy tale spreads in us. The child is immersed in an inner world, which mediates clear values and enables imagination, creativity and inner growth in a natural and individual manner. There is room for his own unfolding. The fairy tale influences the child without manipulating by prescriptive images. Through ensuing role-plays or creative forms, the motives of the respective fairy tale can be deepened.
Fairy tales as therapeutic aid
Fairy tales can be of great help especially in the therapeutic situation. Children often want to hear the same fairy tales again and again. If with their problems they identify themselves in a fairy tale, listening repeatedly helps with working things out. The clear symbolism of the fairy tale has a direct effect on the soul and so allows the child to overcome his difficulties. An analysis should not be done. The child will usually not be able to express his problems in words, since he is not clearly aware of them and a number of anxieties may also be present.
Parents should allow it if a child wants to hear a certain fairy tale time and again. The child also indicates when a fairy tale no longer has any significance. The old would have been worked out and the new can begin.
Many parents want to impart to their children – if only subconsciously – only the good sides of life. But evil also exists in the world and the child perceives this quite clearly. In fairy tales the hero struggles with the varied difficulties of life. But he overcomes the problems and in the end evil is vanquished. Because the hero is always the most attractive figure, the child identifies in a natural way with him. Thus it comes down to a mediation of values without raising a finger.
