FAIRY TALES
Once upon a time, back before Disney, or DreamWorks, or William Steig, or the Grimm brothers, there were dragons. I don't mean real dragons, of course, but all over the ancient world the very first fairy tales were about dragons. Why was this invention of human imagination so universal? It spoke to human need: self preservation. Our ancestors feared three dangerous predators: snakes, big cats, and eagles. The dragon is a hybrid of these three. Hundreds of years ago we needed to tell each other to be afraid of snakes, big cats, and eagles as an act of self preservation, so we invented the dragon.
Modern fairy tales, like Shrek, focus on the human need for acceptance. We need to know that the things that make us different are also the things that make us
beautiful. Our ancestors used fairy tales to tell each other what to fear. We use fairy tales to tell each other not to be afraid. How did we get to this point? Why is fear such a natural part of our society?
