Once Upon A Time There Was Metaphor

"Easy for you to say so," said Walter, "The big bad witch isn't the least bit interested in fattening up little girls."

"I don't know why not," said Eve sounding miffed. "At least they aren't made out of snakes and snails and puppy dog tails."

We got into such a debate about Hansel and Gretel that we forgot for the moment about the bear and inadvertently began walking towards the bear. As we drew nearer, the bear was transformed. It was absolutely amazing! The big grouchy old bear was changed just as if the Fairy Godmother had waved her wand like the time she turned an eclectic collection of creatures into a coach and four. you know the ones I mean. The bear, cloaked in shadow, became in an instant a big scorched cedar stump at the side of the road, and not a moment too soon.

The point is that when you are scared, whether in fairy tales or in your other life, which adults call your real life, you are justifiably scared.

Some psychologists have been heard to exclaim that telling children that Santa Claus is real is flawed because you should not lie to children. During their formative years, children need to cope with uncertainities and also be exposed to the wonders of the world in a form that they can absorb. Yes, sometimes the world is scary but at other times it sparkles.

Lie my eye, it is not a lie, for bye and bye, that child will be heard telling her younger sibling that Santa will be coming soon and smiling a secret smile as she does so. Santa Claus is really about Mom and Dad loving their children so much that they are willing to lavish presents upon them and let someone else take the credit. What can be the harm in that?

All cultures have fairy tales. If a child were allowed to grow up without having had the privilege of coping with all the vagaries of life presented in scary, scintillating, scurrilous fairy tale stories,he or she would be naive in the extreme, for without having to cope with metaphor, the child would be ill equipped to deal with a world where not everything is as it appears to be.

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