The other day, for a point of comparison, my kids and I read two versions of Rapunzel (neither being the Disney version).  I used to believe that there was a moral to the fairy tales.  I thought that was the point to them.  There were minor differences in the two versions.  In both; the couple struggle to have a child, pregnancy causes the woman to lose her mind and feel she is going to die if doesn’t get her greens, the husband sells the baby for the greens, the witch takes the baby (naming her after the greens), locks the kid in a tower when she’s twelve, the girl is heard singing by the prince, he climbs up her hair and asks her to marry him (because a beautiful voice is how you pick a partner for life),  then the re-tellings diverge.  One goes the route of the prince and Rapunzel having their own ceremony, many night time visits, and pregnancy.  The other has the prince bringing a skein of silk each visit so Rapunzel can weave it into a ladder.  This isn’t the whole tale yet, but I will pause to pass some of the thoughts that surfaced while we were reading.  Why didn’t the father go somewhere else to get the greens?  Why did the witch lock the girl in the tower when she was twelve?  Why in so many fairy tales the relationships are based on arbitrary things (singing voice, shoe size,  physical beauty)?  Is there a moral that didn’t make it through the translation or the passage of time, or are they meant as pure entertainment?  Are they parables?  Vague illustrations of life lessons?

Back to the story.

The ladder weaving Rapunzel lets it slip that the witch isn’t the only one climbing her hair and is banished to the wilderness sans hair.  The prince when faced with a tower full of angry witch leaps off and lands face first in a thorn bush, losing his eye-sight and then wanders aimlessly (eating only roots and berries), until he hears the poor and wretched Rapunzel singing.  She cries on him, his sight is restored and they live happily ever after.  (The problem solving in this one caused much discussion.  The kids especially questioned the intelligence of the prince and Rapunzel.  Weaving a ladder out of silk?  What about maybe just bringing a rope or using the hair?)

The nightly visit Rapunzel wonders aloud to the witch why her dress is getting tight and is banished to the wilderness sans hair.  The prince, when faced with a tower full of angry witch loses his grip, falls, and is blinded.  He also wanders, eating only nuts and berries, until he hears a poor and wretched Rapunzel singing to their twins.  She cries on him, his sight is restored and they live happily ever after.

I guess the moral could be that true love conquers all.  Maybe I lack the romance in my soul to say that this tale is a convincing argument.  I felt, while reading it, I was missing too much information.  As we read the story I admired how my kids could enjoy aspects of the story but questioned the areas that didn’t make sense to what they understood about the world and logical problem solving.  We discussed what would make the story more believable still staying within the idea of the fairy tale.  Some of what we talked about was straight up criticism (and sarcasm and other observations that lead to lots of giggling), but they also demonstrated the ability not to take something at face value.