Fairy tales 101 People

Fairy tales are often non-fiction, just sugar-coated.

In real life, we really have fairy godmothers who pave the way for the fulfillment of our dreams with their magic wand of inspiration and support. The Flora, Fauna and Merriweathers of our lives don’t make things happen to us with one refrain of Salagadula, menchicadula, bibidi babidi boo… but they do make things happen for us.

And the wicked stepsisters of Cinderella? Haven’t we, at one time or another, encountered meanies who ended up eating humble pie when we, not they, got the Prince? The Prince could be a real-life prince, a prince of a job, a princely mansion, a princely life. Cinderella is one fairy tale that taught us while we were still children about what adults call “karma.”

Sleeping Beauty taught us about envy, about how an aggrieved person (like Maleficent) with illusions of grandeur can let loose all the fury of hell on those who omitted them on their guest list.

The Three Little Pigs taught us about hard work. And The Emperor’s New Clothes brought to the fore the sipsips and sycophants in our midst, and how the naked truth hurts but ultimately sets you free.

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Fairy tales are often feel-good soporifics, and they give you sweet dreams. But some of them are as potent as caffeine, and they jolt you with reality.

But first, the fairy tales that make you think of clouds and stardust and waltzes under a moonlit night. The stories that make you think all is right with the world, at least for the moment.

My Mom, a royal watcher like a lot of us, sent me a book on the royal wedding (which is only over two weeks away) published by Life Books. Life has brought me many happy moments with its books and magazines on the Kennedys, every photo a glimpse of the Camelot fairy tale.

Disney’s Cinderella.

 In its introduction to its book Royal Wedding entitled Cinderella 101, Life editors wrote: “And then finally, there are Will and Kate. They are the ultimate gift for Cinderella devotees: a true prince and a certified commoner. A coach and horseman to take them from church to place, for goodness sake. Straight from the page!”

The couple will be really riding in a stage coach — only it won’t be carved from a pumpkin!

Every little girl dreams of marrying a prince. Some marry toads, others end up lusting after princesses rather than princes. But once upon a time, every little girl (well, almost) sang “One day, my prince will come…”

Kate Middleton, unlike William’s beloved and iconic mother Princess Diana, descended from the working class. Her parents Carole and Michael worked their way up and struck it big by being entrepreneurs (they founded the Party Pieces Enterprise). Their surname really reflects what they are — middle-class folks, “centered rather than upper…”

The book claims that William’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II at first did not approve of Kate because she is a commoner, and didn’t know how to curtsy properly, apparently. But love conquers all, even doubting lolas.

Kate’s mother Carole has been described as “ambitious,” but I have yet to read of any article describing the Middletons as social-climbers. Michael and Carole’s good genes (Kate has her mother’s statuesque build) and efforts to get her into a good university (St. Andrews, where she met William) put the brunette in a position to catch the eye of England’s future king. Am sure the Middletons hoped St. Andrews would yield a good catch for their lovely daughter. But that that good catch would be William, who looks absolutely in love with Kate, was probably just a fairy tale to them. Then.

But you see fairy tales do come true, it could happen to you…

Kate now wears the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Prince Charles gave then Lady Diana Spencer. It cost $42,000 then, and was judged not opulent enough for a future queen. But Diana loved it and chose it from a catalogue. Anyway, according to the book, the ring originally went to Prince Harry. But Harry, who idolizes his older brother, thought it more fitting that Diana’s ring go to the future king’s wife, so he offered it to William.

Charles and Diana also married in a time of recession, but their globally televised wedding had an audience of 750 million swooning hearts. On April 29, 2011, hundreds of millions will again temporarily set aside their woes amidst the crisis in Libya and Japan and let their hearts melt for William and Kate’s wedding at the Westminster Abbey.

Happy lovers, devoted brothers, contented parents, approving grandmums and a world eager to see a happy ending in a world filled with broken dreams — isn’t that the stuff fairy tales are made of?

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Another of my favorite fairy tales, one I enjoy especially as an adult is The Emperor’s New Clothes. It’s about two scheming and devious tailors who sweet-talked the Emperor into believing that they could make him the finest of robes — so precious it will be invisible to those who are unfit to be in their positions. So they pretended on dressing up the emperor with that special robe, and since he didn’t want to be thought of as unfit for his position, the emperor pretended he liked his robe so much — even if he was naked. All his ministers did the same, praising him to high heavens. Until in one parade, a child shouted, “But the emperor is naked!” Indeed he was but only a child had the guts to tell the naked truth.

Child psychologist Dr. Honey Carandang says that in that controversial episode of Willing Willie, which is off the air at the moment, Jan-Jan, the tearful little boy, was like the child in the parade.

“He was the only one who really knew what was going on as the adults played along,” says Carandang.

Indeed. If you watched a video footage of the portion where a tearful Jan-Jan was gyrating like an adult macho dancer as the crowd (led by Willie, of course) cheered him on, you will realize that all, not just the host and the producers, sinned. The audience reminded me of spectators in a coliseum cheering wildly as gladiators were torn to shreds by angry lions. They were cheering, clapping, smiling broadly. Some actually didn’t look “masa,” as we condescendingly (?) refer to the show’s target market. By the way they dressed, we assumed, wrongly it seems, that they knew better than to applaud a little boy doing a number performed by men to arouse sexual pleasure in sleazy places.

Sometimes, because we want to be accepted by the powers-that-be, we play along with lies and falsehoods because we do not want to be excluded from the circle of our “emperor.” We won’t dare bare the naked truth even if it is already staring at us.

So read fairy tales to your children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces.

They’re for real. (You may e-mail me at [email protected])