A Study of Fairy Tales | Page 9

he saw from the top of the
tree on which he perched, a light, afar off through the wood. Certainly
the theme of a light in the distance has a charm for children as it must
have had for man long ago.
Sense impression. Good things to eat, beautiful flowers, jewels, the
beauties of sight, color, and sound, of odor and of taste, all gratify a
child's craving for sense impression. This, in its height, is the charm of
the Arabian Nights. But in a lesser degree it appears in all fairy tales.
Cinderella's beautiful gowns at the ball and the fine supper stimulate
the sense of color, beauty, and taste. The sugar-panes and gingerbread

roof of the Witch's House, in Hansel and Grethel, stir the child's
kindred taste for sweets and cookies. The Gingerbread Boy, with his
chocolate jacket, his cinnamon buttons, currant eyes, rose-sugar mouth,
orange-candy cap, and gingerbread shoes, makes the same strong sense
appeal. There is a natural attraction for the child in the beautiful interior
of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, in the lovely perfume of roses in the
Beast's Rose-Garden, in the dance and song of the Elves, and in the
dance of the Goat and her seven Kids about the well.
The beautiful. Closely related to this love of the material is the sense of
the beautiful. "Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing,"
says Santayana. Pleasures of the eye and ear, of the imagination and
memory, are those most easily objectified, and form the groundwork on
which all higher beauty rests. The green of the spring, the odor of Red
Riding Hood's flowers, the splendor of the Prince's ball in
Cinderella--these when perceived distinctly are intelligible, and when
perceived delightfully are beautiful. Language is a kind of music, too;
the mode of speaking, the sound of letters, the inflection of the
voice--all are elements of beauty. But this material beauty is tied up in
close association with things "eye hath not seen nor ear heard," the
moral beauty of the good and the message of the true. The industry of
the little Elves reflects the worth of honest effort of the two aged
peasants, and the dance of the Goat and seven Kids reflects the triumph
of mother wit and the sharpness of love. The good, the true, and the
beautiful are inseparably linked in the tale, just as they forever grow
together in the life of the child. The tales differ largely in the element of
beauty they present. Among those conspicuous for beauty may be
mentioned Andersen's Thumbelina; the Indian How the Sun, the Moon,
and West Wind Went Out to Dinner; the Japanese Mezumi, the
Beautiful; and the English Robin's Christmas Song. Little Two-Eyes
stands out as one containing a large element of beauty, and Oeyvind
and Marit represents in an ideal way the possible union of the good, the
true, and the beautiful. This union of the good, the true, and the
beautiful has been expressed by an old Persian legend: "In the midst of
the light is the beautiful, in the midst of the beautiful is the good, in the
midst of the good is God, the Eternal One."

Wonder, mystery, magic. The spirit of wonder, like a will-o'-the-wisp,
leads on through a fairy tale, enticing the child who follows, knowing
that something will happen, and wondering what. When magic comes
in he is gratified because some one becomes master of the
universe--Cinderella, when she plants the hazel bough, and later goes to
the wishing-tree; the fairy godmother, when with her wand she
transforms a pumpkin to a gilded coach and six mice to beautiful gray
horses; Little Two-Eyes, when she says,--
Little kid, bleat, I wish to eat!
and immediately her little table set with food so marvelously appears;
or Hop-o'-my-Thumb when he steps into his Seven-League Boots and
goes like the wind.
Adventure. This is a form of curiosity. In the old tale, as the wood was
the place outside the usual habitation, naturally it was the place where
things happened. Often there was a house in the wood, like the one
"amidst the forest darkly green," where Snow White lived with the
Dwarfs. This adventure the little child loves for its own sake. Later,
when he is about eleven or twelve, he loves it for its motive. This love
of adventure is part of the charm of Red Riding Hood, of the Three
Bears, of the Three Pigs, or of any good tale you might mention.
Success. The child likes the fairy tale to tell him of some one who
succeeds. He admires the little pig Speckle who outwitted the Wolf in
getting to the field of turnips first, or in going to the apple tree at
Merry-Garden, or to the fair at Shanklin; who