Fairy Tales for Little Folks

  But one night, in a dream, she saw the Beast lying in the castle rose garden, crying her name. Then she knew! She loved the Beast and could not, would not, lose him. She took the ring from her finger and was transported back to the Beast’s castle.

  Remembering the dream, she went to the garden and found the Beast lying on the ground, not breathing. She threw herself down next to him, crying his name. “Beast, Beast, you must not die. I swear to be yours forevermore. You must live and be my husband.”

  As she said these words, the ground shook and a great bolt of lightning danced above them.

  And when she looked at the Beast again, in his place was a handsome prince!

  “What have you done to Beast?” she cried.

  But the prince replied, “You see him before you. A warlock condemned me to be an ugly beast until the time when a fair maiden would consent of her free will to marry me. Beauty, in the entire world, only you are good enough and kind enough to have loved me despite what I seemed to be.”

  Beauty was surprised but overjoyed, and she and the prince returned to the castle, where they soon married and lived happily ever after.

  ON READING FAIRY TALES

  Do you remember these stories? I’m sure you do. And do you ever wonder why these old stories still resonate with us today? Fairy tales and folk stories are certainly a special breed of literature. After all, they were handed down generation upon generation as part of an oral storytelling tradition long before ever being written down. Each generation changed them a little, adding something, taking away something, refining the tale with each telling.

  I can well remember my own mother reading these tales to me at bedtime. And back when my own three children were younger, they too received a healthy dose of folk tales and enjoyed hearing them as much as I did.

  At the end of the day these old tales are, quite simply, great stories. The fact that they have survived for so long attests to that. Some people may say these stories have no relevance in our culture today, but I disagree. I believe these stories are popular because they cleverly reflect upon the core fabric of who we are as people: our uncertainties and strengths; our fear of loss, of hunger; our worries about money, love, death, danger, and abandonment; but they also provide life lessons about the rewards of optimism, determination, strength of character, and the belief that no matter how hard times may get, if you just keep moving you will come out okay. I think these are lessons we need as much today as we did two hundred years ago. So slow down, snuggle up with a child, read, enjoy the pictures, and remember these as the special times, because before you know it, that little person beside you will be reading these stories to his or her own children.

  Thanks and enjoy the book,

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