As a kid, I would always pick out a lot of plot-holes and question everything but after looking back at all these fairy tales as an adult, I have realised that they were never narrated that eloquently and they had subjective conclusions other than different versions coming from different perspectives. Now that I’ve reached a deeper level of understanding... I might be able to reinterpret a few tales & fables for you in my own words.
And don’t worry, I won’t be discussing their darker versions like other feminists... All these stories have actually stemmed from erotic, gothic literature (“little black books”, Ireland was widely known for it’s grim faerie culture) so its natural for their original context to have shades of lickerish aberrations & elicited dissolute hedonistic approaches which are nothing but implications of adulterous minds, all imbibed with female objectification, misogyny and loads of chauvinism which was extremely common back then... (I’ll be sharing visual aesthetics to let you time travel)
Please note: If you are the rightful owner of any of these archives or artworks then mail or message me and I’ll annotate you... I couldn’t find each of their sources but I’ve already accredited a few.
Let’s begin... I hope your kid doesn’t end up having loads of never ending questions like me after hearing them. I have narrated each story based on what I remember from my childhood days + I’ve also added some sense to the things I could never comprehend, using my own knowledge about fairy folklore.
Its 1:58 am right now *yawns* and I need some rest so let’s make it quick. I’ll begin with my classic favourite:
The Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time... long ago, there lived a King who was well respected and honoured in the whole kingdom for his fairness and indisputable hospitality. The King & Queen both were very cordial, warm, welcoming and indulgent with everyone, irrespective of their social stature or position in the hierarchy. They had recently welcomed a baby girl and it was a joyful event for them so they hosted everyone at their castle for a decadent feast & celebration. Their guest list boasted of the entire council of ministers, upper echelons, elites as well as common folks, amongst which the invitees also included mysterious creatures & magical entities like angels, pixies, fairies, elves, witches & nymphs to bless the newborn kid.
Everyone was very excited to attend this big affair but unfortunately things didn’t go that well... At the dinner table, due to the undying prejudice of their butlers & other kitchenette staff, one of the witches was spited beyond limit. She was served her food in silver cutlery while everyone else was offered golden, infuriated by this bigotry, she went to the baby’s cot to curse her but the Queen apologised for their misdemeanour and asked the maids to serve her everything in Fine Porcelain & Exquisite Platinum ware only...
This took care of everything & made the witch spit her anger, she spared the princess and headed back to her table... The palace would follow this suit every year, they’d invite people from all over for the princess’s birthday; time flew by quickly and soon it was the her 6th Birthday Bash! All the fairies and witches were again on the guest list, the Queen had cautioned her staff to be extra careful with the Witch but her own Princess was upto some serious mischief... she sneaked into the kitchen and surreptitiously spiked the witch’s food with loads of salt in order to play an innocuous little prank on her.
The witch, held by innate cynicism and viciousness ingrained in her core nature obviously didn’t take it neither in her stride nor in good humour...
She complained her parents about this and they summoned the little princess to bed, they asked her to apologise but the witch was ostensibly relentless! They asked her to forgive their daughter for her naive gesture but she vindictively said she would be back to punish her once she’s older. She told them, she’d spare her for now as a “kid” but she would teach her a lesson by the time she is 21.
Over the years, the Queen forgot about her warnings but the King kept worrying... he started seeking esoteric help from wizards and elves, he asked them how he could protect the princess from her looming fate; when one of them divined, the witch would be using a tiny “needle” to manifest her curse and swindle her with a spindle...
The princess was called Aurora - which has a very significant meaning in ancient Greek literature, I think it means “dawn” or morning... well even my name Zara translates to bright as dawn in Arabic which is exactly why I love this story.
The king made sure, she’s never affiliated with old hags or witches and he would constantly keep her away from spindles, needles and all sorts of stitchings. He’d refrain her from going near the sewing kit & also wean her off from hay stacks and unfinished knits because of which she grew deeper inquisitiveness for all that was elusive.
A few days before her 21st birthday... she was wandering around the castle when she happened to come by one of their old, outworn forts, she went inside to explore... it was all dark & grim, she wasn’t expecting to see a single soul over there but then she heard a woman singing, she was sitting all alone in deep gloom, eerily humming, the Princess was taken aback at first, she was also a bit intimidated to approach her but then she saw the witch knitting yarn on a spindle & she was instantly drawn towards it; she went ahead and asked her who she was... the witch lured her by responding in a warm, welcoming manner. She said she knows how much the princess loves to dress up and how her wicked father keeps her away from the atelier. She won her trust with false sympathy and then tactfully took her under her wing by offering to teach her how to stitch and use the spindle machine.
Aurora, reluctantly went ahead but as soon as she touched the cursed equipment... *yawns* into a deep slumber, she fell! Everyone in the whole castle & town, the butchers, the butlers, the maids, all the palace authorities, even birds and animals, guards, hunters. fishermen, all started falling asleep!
The King immediately rushed to look for his daughter and when he found her in a vegetative sedated state, he asked the witch what she was going to do next? She said, it’s a curse which would go on for years until some “bachelor” falls in love with the half dead princess. She went on to say, it was highly unlikely for anyone from the same town to show up as they would all be asleep but things could change if some wandering stranger would find his way to this “Doomed Kingdom” However, the biggest challenge was, if he would actually fall in love with her... head over heels, hopelessly in a state of utter despair and despondency... Inspite of several feeble, failed attempts of rousing her from that impasse, if at all he would lean over one last time without giving up hope & make a “sweet affectionate gesture” to express his feelings and acknowledge them, only if he would peck her lips, then the curse would break and things would go back from sedentary to awake!
After narrating this whole seemingly “implausible” prophecy she snapped her fingers & the King too dozed off to sleep!
The whole kingdom and its townsmen kept sleeping for thousands of years...
As a kid, I would always ask, “How could she not turn old after sleeping for thousands of years?”
I never got my answer but as an adult,
I’m assuming maybe...
time never flew by,
it was halted like a caged bird,
held captive in their paralysed bodies
along with their trapped souls... it froze,
like them, in a stalled state of
eternal inertia & stalemate
One morning, the sun shone in the most glorious manner... and out of nowhere came a charming Prince, he was lost and he was looking for directions (luckily there was no GPS back then) but to his dismay he was met with a dystopian land where everyone was sound asleep, be it people, birds or animals. He tried hard to wake ‘em up, he was parched, he was starving but no one was responding, after lots of futile attempts, he finally gave up! He was exasperated and exhausted... *sigh* when he then stumbled upon Princess Aurora’s open casket.
Her beauty was spell binding, he instantly fell in love with her, she was the only thing he liked about the whole kingdom.
He couldn’t stand to see her in that state, so he made numerous attempts to wake her up too but she was equally unresponsive... I know a lot of people have pointed out to this part & said that kissing someone while they are asleep should be considered sexually offensive BUT here’s the deal, these same people will not deter to get someone high & uninhibited to hook up with them, well even if it’s “mutual” (let’s say... without any prior manipulation or any sort of pressure as in threatening them with ire or petulance to make them give in out of fear of losing you forever) sleeping with someone in an inebriated state that too for your own pleasure, be it out of love or lust is just as bad as taking advantage of someone when they are not awake. Most have even accounted using people when they miss their exes, they imagine them all the while & deliberately get intoxicated to “do away with the actual ugliness of these (poor) pawns” (in their own words) with their wild imagination...
A lot of us would love to wake up with a sweet kiss.
And that is exactly what the Prince did, he’d almost given up but then something struck him, “What if I try Love as a magic potion? It can awaken anyone’s senses”
He then planted a soft kiss on her lips in an attempt to rouse her from her complacency and there... with a stolen breath, she woke up drowsily from her deep state of serenity and dreams.
It broke the curse and everyone else in that town also woke up, they eventually thanked him for saving them!!
You know what happened next right? The Prince and Princess got married in a pompous ceremony
and they lived happily ever after... duh!
The End.
Paper Craft by Jackie Huang
‘Rapunzel’
Once upon a time... there lived a cute couple in a quaint little cottage. They had it all love, warmth, food, a cosy little fireplace but the inevitable darkness of an uncertain future kept looming under this brightly lit furnace, they thought their family was “incomplete” for they were unable to have a kid, they struggled for years to conceive and when they almost gave up, they finally had something to cheer about... the wife was pregnant with a babygirl.
They lived next to a depressed, lonely witch (not bitch, not talking about any of us) who would always covet their happiness... she too wanted an offspring but unfortunately she had no chance of having one.
Most fairy folklores talk about how these mystical spirits have always been fascinated by small children and babies... They would lure and abduct them & take them into their world.
The witch was obviously into necromancy and spells so she had her own cultivation of magic herbs & other ingredients, for love potions, elixirs and filtres... she had a mini organic farm in her own backyard where she would magically grow some of the finest quality fruits and vegetables.
As a kid I would always wonder why was his wife was so gluttonous and wayward... why couldn’t she resist her urge to steal from that witch’s garden
But as an adult I’m assuming there was something out of my grasp back then
Here’s the deal:
The moment her pregnancy kicked in, she started having all sorts of cravings... she would ask her husband to foray into the witch’s garden and get her some fresh fruits and vegetables. The husband would climb over their neighbour’s picket fence when she would be away and steal a couple of fruits from her backyard. Since they were magically grown by the evil, they were not only irresistible like the forbidden harvest of the Garden of Eden... but also addictive, or else how would the witch earn? No one told me about this when I was a kid, nor did I read it anywhere online, I’m just assuming...
The wife soon got hooked to the witch’s homegrown foodmart... she would ask her husband to get into the her organic farm,
‘everyday’ for those relishable finds.
When the witch eventually realised they were stealing fruits of her labour, she served them a stern warning, she said she would curse them if they won’t stop... but they paid no heed and continued invading her backyard for more free stuff. She then decided to put a hex on them, she told ‘em she would kill the wife and her unborn child. As guessed this left the couple devastated and scared to death!! They apologised repeatedly and begged her for mercy... and after doing some thinking, the witch said she would let the mother have as many fruits and vegetables as she wanted, everyday and even spare their lives if they promise to give her their baby. They wanted to save their child at any cost, so they agreed.
As soon as Rapunzel was born, the witch took her away and confined her to a tall, isolated ivory tower in a deserted place.
Rapunzel grew up into a beautiful, vivacious young woman... with a commanding personality and charismatic aura.
She was like a crowning glory... her long tresses were her best asset & trademark.
She soon realised that the wicked witch was not her birth mother after she was imposed with several incapacitating stringent rules to follow, all the freedom was taken away from her, the witch would never let her out of sight for she was extremely possessive (not to be confused with “over protective”) Rapunzel was like ‘stolen piece’ of rejoinder for her which was traded for her robbed cultivation and she had become one of her priciest possessions, she could easily signify the witch’s “immaturity & blind stubbornness”... which had taken birth from a compulsive vindictive desire to get back at people and make things even. Rapunzel’s perpetual “good girl” capitulated, dormant presence would give her a sense of immortality, autonomy and empowerment.
Rapunzel would sit alone in the window the whole day... brushing her 7 feet long hair -the length too could indicate how strict and austere her step-mother was, it implied that she was never allowed to get groomed, because the witch was afraid she’d draw Male attention and she wanted to keep Rapunzel to herself like a victory or prodigious trophy in a covetable conquest of having something her previous neighbour didn’t.
Illustrated by Krista Huot
One day, a charming Prince came by on his galloping horse... he saw Rapunzel in the window and he was struck by her beauty & charm, he asked her if they could meet and after some initial hesitancy, Rapunzel deployed her long hair from the window and asked him to climb up using them like a rope.
He got there wondering why she was held hostage in that tall inaccessible tower... when she narrated her entire ordeal to his receptive ears. Both of them shared their thoughts and sorrows with candour and respect & then they realised they had feelings for each other which were hard to diminish.
They started meeting secretly everyday, the Prince would climb Rapunzel’s long, lustrous hair to meet her in her secluded space. This gave rise to a steamy, passionate love affair and the flames ignited in each of their hearts engulfed the whole atmosphere with smoke and intrigue. Soon enough, the witch realised that her caged birdie was ready to fly...
Ergo, using a big pair of scissors she snapped off her wings, by cutting her hair short and trimmed.
After that, it was impossible for the prince to see her...
Rapunzel would again sit alone in the window Longing for Liberty, Love and far away Lands.
She would dream of better days with eyes flooded in tears, she even tried growing out her hair but nothing seemed to work.
Sooner or later, the Prince realised that he had to do something, he knew she would pull him up every time when she had that much strength but now when all was lost, she was more than helpless.
He then laid out a plan to take the back route and climb the tower himself, on a lengthy row of spiral stairs.
He climbed it all the way to her room like an avalanche... and there he was greeted by the Witch who was more alert than ever, she was busy keeping an eye on Rapunzel. He asked her to leave with him but the witch stepped in & restrained her from evading, she then grabbed a pair of scissors lying nearby to stab the Prince. Rapunzel, in a confused state of frenzy and in some vague attempt to save her lover, frantically pushed the witch out of the window!
She fell from there and broke her neck, and they finally managed to escape her clutches, after that they got married and the prince somehow located Rapunzel’s biological parents to help them connect with her,
and they all lived happily ever after...
The end.
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
Once upon a time... long ago, there lived a beautiful 16 year old girl who was known for her lily fresh, dewy youthful charm. No one could compete with her beauty or wide-eyed innocence except for her jealous & equally stunning step-mother who was afraid her waning beauty would be taken over.
Before Snow White was born, her mother was very ill, she couldn’t even move... so she would keep in one place & scribble poems by the window sill.
It was the coldest month of the year, everything was covered in thick snow and blizzards.
She drew inspiration from her immediate surroundings and wished her baby girl would have crystal clear, porcelain skin
like the icy cold snowflake, frost
and hair in contrast as deep & dark
as the dense forest
She wanted her eyes to gleam
like the warm sun piercing
through the wilderness
and lips and cheeks “Apple Red”
Soon a raven haired Snow White was born but her mother died shortly after that and it unfortunately brought an evil woman into her father’s life who was more than anything, just cold & jealous.
She was insecure due to Snow White’s ethereal beauty and irresistible charm, so much so that she decided to ask her magic mirror, who looked better out of them...
She asked, “Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the most beautifulest of all?” To which the mirror replied “Of course you, Queen” but that was only until Snow White turned 16... after that, he would take her name and the Queen’s jealousy would know no bounds. She would then ask, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the most fairest of all?” to which the mirror would say, “You and Snow White, both.”
She was not satisfied with that answer either. She didn’t want any competition, she wanted to be the sole winner... slowly all this vanity and pride took over her rational mind (Now this is where it gets dark) and she asked one of the huntsmen to take Snow White to the forest, kill her & get her warm dismembered heart for evidence. She wanted to drink up all the drenched blood from her fresh “clean-heart” like Dracula to add her youthful innocent years to her own age... as an ‘antidote’ for never getting old.
The huntsman felt sorry for the very young & naive Snow White so he left her in the forest after taking her there on a sham “hunting expedition” and brought back a rabbit’s heart. Snow White was lost, she had nowhere to go... she kept wandering the woods day and night, in search of shelter & sustenance and then one day, she finally came by a small little cottage.
She desperately knocked there to seek refuge but no one was at home to answer her requests... she was tired and in dire need of rest, so she struggled to get in through the window and once she got inside she cooked some warm supper for herself and directly went to bed. The home was owned by seven little dwarfs, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful and Doc... well by the time they returned, she was already fast asleep.
They were out in the forest getting wood and when they got home, they noticed this stranger sleeping cosily in their bed.
They could smell tempting food in the kitchen which brought them all to a unified conclusion, they told each other, “Looks like she needs a place to stay, why don’t we let get bed & breakfast, she can pay us with such delicious meals...” they then waited for her to wake up to strike the deal!
On being up, she was not only surprised but also a bit scared of those seven siblings who kept staring at her in awe and keen... She told them, she had nowhere to go and they said they could let her stay in if she promises to work together as a team, they would do all the woodcutting whilst she would take care of the furnace and meals.
She readily agreed and after sharing a brief introduction and some camaraderie they all asked her to make herself comfortable, at home. Snow White was like a boon to them, they were used to having a shabby, unkempt life and she was like a neat & tidy, pretty little darling who made every effort to turn their house into a home, aah it was splendid... They soon grew fond of her and developed a caring and compassionate familial bond together.
Things were going well... till one day, the Queen realised that Snow White was still alive; after drinking blood from the heart, she confidently & relievedly asked the Magic Mirror, “Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest & most beautifulest of all?” the Magic Mirror said, “It was and it will always be Snow White.”
The Queen was shocked and in a fit of rage, she decided to see the truth; she asked the mirror to show her what had happened in the forest.
And after looking at the visuals, she sacked the huntsman and banished him from their castle. She even analysed his dagger to see if it had stains of rabbit blood on it, after that she lividly decided to take matters into her own hands and came up with a few evil & infallible notorious plans.
She first disguised herself as a senile, guileless peddler who had silky lace corsets for her... Snow White, having only one pair of clothes decided to let her in & try on some outfits. She offered to lace up her corset and tightly the laced the bodice, so much that she almost snapped on it, in an attempt to compress her nerves and make her breathless, at this point Snow White collapsed. Luckily, for her the dwarfs returned just in time to pull out the lace strings and save her at the last minute.
The mirror again revealed that Snow White was still alive by naming her when the Queen repeatedly asked the same question... This enraged the Queen and she visited Snow White again as a fine young lady who was graciously selling beautiful hair combs. The needles were laced with lethal poison... when she reached her foyer, Snow White a bit reluctant this time, she skeptically invited her in to run that fancy comb in her hair oblivious to the fact that the comb was glazed with ivy. As she ran the comb through Snow White’s hair, she scratched her scalp & pricked her with the needles which rendered her unconscious. The Queen thought Snow White was dead so she left from there. Again, the dwarfs returned just in time to pull out the comb and save her. They gave her some herbs to tend the scalp and treat her for whatever little amount of poison had entered her system.
The narcissistic Queen tired of hearing ‘Snow White’ again desperately approached her as an old hag with a poisoned apple this time.
She told her, they are the sweetest in the whole world and that she & her husband have started their own farming business... she said they were giving complimentary apples to everyone for tasting, she promised that she would never find such fresh and sweet apples in any other orchard. And, and... that there was something special about them, they are magic apples which could fulfil her wishes, all she had to do was pray for what she wanted and then grab a bite. Snow White didn’t want to be credulous this time so she kept hesitating but in order to convince her, the Queen took a bite from another apple and proved that they weren’t tampered with or contaminated in any manner... Snow White gave into temptation and took a bite too.
And it was a big bite... :/ as soon as she did that, the morsel got stuck in her throat and she fell into a state of suspended animation which fooled her step mother & she finally believe she was dead, the Queen then quickly absconded from there rejoicing her triumph. When the dwarfs returned, they saw Snow White in a motionless state so they tried reviving her heart but after numerous failed attempts they too believed she had passed away... They then mournfully placed her in a glass casket to preserve her there and prepared for her burial.
Illustrated by Angela Barrett
Soon a young, handsome Prince stumbled upon Snow White’s frozen body... the beauty of her frosted looks lured him enough to ask, “What’s wrong?” The dwarfs narrated the entire story, well he was obviously hoping to hear something less morbid... so after listening to what had happened he decided to take her to one of his best physicians. He promised to bring her back hale and hearty and they tearfully wished him luck. As he began the journey, the apple piece which was stuck in her throat freed up thanks to the galloping horse and she coughed it out... the Prince was surprised to find her awake, refreshed from her deep slumber, she asked “Where am I again?” He said, they all got panicky and presumed she was dead, he wasn’t sure of the exact cause or what to really believe in so he was taking her to a Shaman... to see if he could treat or revive her instead. She thanked him and he happily brought her back to the dwarfs to meet them! At first, they couldn’t believe their eyes but the next moment they were all jumping in joy!! By then Snow White had developed a natural liking for the caring Prince thanks to his rescuing nature & quick wits, the Prince too had fallen for her gregariousness and warmth (he was over her frosted pale skin) ... The dwarfs asked him to take her away & keep her safe somewhere far, where the evil envious Queen could never reach her. He took her along to his Kingdom but they would return to the forest every year to meet the dwarfs. On the other hand, her Evil Step Mother’s reflection would now turn green with envy, into something creepily monstrous and unrecognisable every time she would ask the Mirror about who it deems as the fairest and prettiest.
The Prince and Snow White spent a blissful life together...
And they lived happily ever after
The end.
Xoxo
Zara Sauleh
P.S. A lot of things mentioned in the above tales have neither been sourced from Internet nor any other book, they aren’t derivative works of preowned authors; everything is purely based on my own imagination, evaluation & psychoanalysis of people and their logic. Ergo, each scrutinised story might sound different or enhanced/emulated versions of the actual premise. Paradoxically I’ve not only reiterated but also re-written everything (from scratch) in my own syntax.
Thanks for sticking along... it would all be incomplete without C I N D E R E L L A
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