Fairy Tales With Damsels In Distress. Are They Still Relevant, Or Do They Need To Be Retold?

“Do ladies actually want a tall, dark and handsome prince charming to save them? Not anymore.” A look at how fairy tales need to be re-told.

Do Fairy Tales actually exist? Well, what is the purpose behind Fairy Tales? The answer in the past may have begun with “Once upon a time!“, and ended with “happily ever after“!

As a child, fairy tales acted as nice bed time stories, and as I grew up and became a mother, they played the same role for my little one as well.

As per the dictionary meaning, a fairy tale is a fictional story, featuring folklore characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches, giants and talking animals. A world full of good characters, evil, royalty and magic. Everything seemed so perfect.

But the million dollar question remains – do fairy tales really exist ?

Well, such stories always fascinate the young and old. But beyond that, they hold no significance in terms of entertainment or moral lessons, in today’s day and age.

Do ladies actually want a tall, dark and handsome prince charming to save the damsel in distress? Not anymore. No thanks, too, for those candle light dinners – rather, we love to hangout in a pub with our girly gang over a glass of wine.

We are all flawed characters, unlike the picture perfect pretty characters of the fairy tales.

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Yes, we are complex, as is life. We have more choices to confuse us, but we can handle our own battles. We are capable of spreading and scattering our fairy dust every where, because we are charmers. Yes, we don’t take the apple candy from strangers, as Snow White did. Neither do we leave a trail of snacks like Hansel and Gretel, as we believe in making concrete paths for ourselves, and never looking back.

We believe in our triumphant selves, instead of being delicate darlings with a prim and proper attitude, with chauffeur driven cars/carriages. We want men to respect us, but this should not be judged or labelled as their chivalry or by their virtue of being a gentleman.

We do not want a fairy Godmother to turn a pumpkin into a carriage. We don’t wear glass slippers and go to a party looking for Mr. Right. Well if he is the right one, then he will definitely value you, treasure and respect your true worth and come calling for you. We don’t need to kiss a frog, for finding Mr. Right, though finding Mr. Right is definitely a Herculean task nowadays.

Ladies of today are setting new fairy tales for themselves, by doing fairly well for themselves, in every field. Our fairy tale not necessarily has to begin with romance and come to an end with a wedding. It has to be much more than this.
I do read out fairy tales to my daughter, but not with the aim of only looking for Prince charming, who comes for your rescue. I firmly believe, that she should be capable of taking care of herself.

Yes we need fairy tales in this maddening world, but with slightly different endings to begin with – one where we can buy roses for ourselves, without expecting anyone else to do so.

We should teach our children to accept their flaws, and be their own heroes and heroines, to feel special.

We are our own Red Riding Hood –  a Beauty who cannot be a scapegoat for others faults; a Snow white who is not only beautiful, but also ready to give back, when treated shabbily .

And we definitely do not want to be in the shoes of Cinderella, where the Prince Charming selects you on the basis of your shoe size, instead of your qualities and nature.

Yes old fairy tales do mislead us. We need to revamp them with our women power. I love reading them, but do not relate to them !

Be beautiful, but bold as well. Let’s compliment ourselves, and not look for others’ nods. Let’s not expect a red carpet treatment from others, or dream of being owned or rescued by others. Let’s be the fairest of all, but not just in beauty, but also in character and confidence.

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