The fairy tale discusses what a sane man will do in a mad world.
Chesterton, G. K., Orthodoxy
I know what you might be thinking, ‘I’ve grown up past fairy tales’ or something like that. Fairy tales are for children after all, right? Or maybe you are quite the opposite and think no one, even kids, needs them. Maybe you have thought that to let your kids believe in fairytales and enter the worlds they make will somehow corrupt them, or cause them to doubt real life mythology – as a pastor I hear this quite a lot from well meaning parents. The argument is simple, though incredibly flawed. If we let our kids believe in fairy tales, magic, fairies, giants, the whole gamut as kids do (throw in believing in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus and you will have a revolt on your hands), then when they realize it’s all not real, maybe they will no longer believe in God, or trust you as a parent. It’s as if they equate (as many atheists do, ironically) that to believe in God is on par with the kind of belief we have in fairytales. However, these are not the same things in the slightest. The reasonable evidence for the tooth fairy is incomparably less than that of theism. I have no fear that because my daughter thinks fairies might be real right now, that when she learns they aren’t, her worldview will be shattered (however, fairies = small angels? Why not?!). Or I have no fear that my son who hopes that Narnia is a real place and Aslan a real lion, will disbelieve in heaven when he learns Narnia is pure fiction. It’s a naive and revealing position to be so fearful of silly things like that. And if, in a truly unfortunate event, that they do disbelieve, it won’t be because my wife and I encouraged their imaginative wonder and belief.
I think all of this, because it seems to me that fairy tales reveal to the mind of a child the true workings of life. I think fairy tales with all their wonder and imagination actually train a child to think better about the world they live in. They may not be real, but they are true.
In the world of fairy tales and magic, the world is presented in such a way that upholds the basic foundations to how we all hope life will actually be. Wizards and giants aside, they show the world as it is, and in some ways as it is meant to be, as it could be, through simple and powerful lessons. Things like wonder, justice, bravery, morality, magic, hope, and love, fill these stories. These are the building blocks of life as we hope it to be. Clearly, they are not perfect stories and some tropes and stereotypes can be done away with, but the narrative power should never be underestimated.
The lands that we enter, as we read through or tell aloud our favourite tales, bring us into the knowledge that, for example, the world is broken in so many ways – curses, broken trust, evil powers, less than human conditions brought about by pride, the ugly side to us humans – all true. All real. All made… plain. Yet, despite the fact the world has evil witches, evil rulers, and evil villains, the world is still full of wonder. It is good. Beautiful forests, and families, creatures and adventures. There is mystery – a tension – that is beautiful and real. The world of fairy tales, though familiar, is anything but flat.
There is also a sense of awe that exists there. We can’t really explain why things are the way they are, however, it is nonetheless beautiful. The ‘why’ is usually some kind of magic. Not unlike our world though. Sure we don’t rely on magic to explain away phenomena that exist today, and we clearly don’t expect some kinds of unexpected events – a tree producing golden fruit – but yet, what’s so expected about a tree producing any fruit? Or an apple falling to the ground? This is expected, because this is what is, not because it is what must be. It seems that we have trained ourselves to think that because we have understood the how of a thing, that means we conceive of the why. That is hubris. Knowing that something occurs in this or that way, doesn’t lead us to understand the fundamental reason why it is that way and not another. There is a certain kind of magic that exists in our world. The force of why things are arranged as they happen to be and not another way. Why the laws that govern the world are fixed as they are, and cause the predictability of the world we navigate. There is a magic sure, we just call it providence and delight. Kids are far more ready to see this at work. It might be why we have been called to be as they are to enter the kingdom.
There is also something we might call heroic about them. The heroes of these tales – all derivative of the great Hero no doubt – are trying to make the world conform all the more to the ideal world of justice, beauty, right, and truth, because that’s what heroes do after all, right? They seek to redeem what is lost. Repair what is broken. Save what is in danger. Heroes show us the kinds of risks worth taking and for what reasons. They are not all the same of course. Some are braver in that daring sense, fighting a dragon, slaying a giant, protecting the world from a sort of doom, and others are brave in that they love the beast. They love the unloveable thing, which in the end makes it loveable. Both brave, both noble. Both more needed today.
But these things aren’t arbitrary. Heroes have not only a cause to be brave, but a reason for seeing their actions as such. The world of a tale works in such a way that modern people seem to hate, within a fixed moral system. The assumption is that deep evil and glorious good are at work in the very world they inhabit. That there are fundamentally wrong actions and right ones. There are ideals we chase – Prince Philip wielding the sword of truth – and decisions we must make even when it is costly to the self – jack slaying a giant. These are lessons that a kid needs to grasp if not in pure moral reasoning, at least in narrative example. The example actually makes heroism real. Makes it more than an inspiration, but actually possible…in the small ways heroic acts happen in a kids life. Maybe for them it’s climbing a bit higher on the jungle gym, or making a new friend, trying something new, or standing up for a friend. Small acts of bravery that bring about big things. But the good is not only in the heroic feats, but also the failures. In these stories we learn not to covet, to lie, or to be greedy – or find ourselves clothed in dragon skin. Learning that bitterness always corrodes, and curses, the one who holds on to it. That a lack of care makes men into beasts, and that not listening to your mother can have grave consequences.
And it is also no small thing that these stories stir the soul for a real life hero. The one from whom all other heroes derive their virtue and power.
There also exists in these worlds a kind of magic that is not altogether unreasonable, but simply has it limits. Why does the pumpkin turn back at midnight? Why not another hour? That is how the magic works. And because of that limitation, it makes the magic more powerful, and useful. There is a truth here that is often missed. Limitations live within the world as a way to make it more, not less. We want unlimited power, but we see it always corrupts the one who has it. The lesson is one that needn’t be learned but through a good story.
It may seem odd, but maybe read a tale. Get lost in a world, not real, but true.
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
C.S. Lewis
Mike Rutledge.CA 
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