A remark on a not so sensefull fairy tale.

By Meher Pestonji, Mumbay

"Nani, read me story," toddled my three year old granddaughter as she or her twin brother do each afternoon. This time the book in her hand was Cindrella.

"Get another book, darling. This story isn't good for you."
Her mouth puckers downward with another of her maddening 'Why?'s."I'll explain when you are ten years old, okay? Now shall we read Thumbelina? Pinochhio…."

My resistance to Cindrella is not new. Its high on the list of fairy tales discredited by feminists for celebrating passivity among women. Poor Cindrella is stuck with kitchen drudgery while her stepmother and stepsisters preen with beauty aids. Along comes the rare invitation to the Prince's ball and they drive away leaving her alone with her friends - lively kitchen mice (oh puh-leez!).

As Cindrella bemoans her fate, fairy godmother arrives to transform her into a beauty, the mice into horses, a pumpkin into a regal coach and off she trots in her new avataar to the ball where the prince (naturally…!) falls head-over-heels into love with her. The spell breaks at midnight and Cindrella runs into the dark before she's caught out as an imposter. In the hurry her glass slipper falls. This helps the prince find her. And then the happily-ever-after …

Aside from the feminist position my objection is to the outdated stereotypical projection of 'step-mother' and 'step-sisters'. Step-parents and siblings may have been the ogres they were depicted as in the days when these fairy tales were coined but few kids had to deal with real 'step-anyone' at that time.

The scenario is quite different today. The number of kids facing re-marriage by one or both parents has increased multifold and with it comes the step-relative. Almost every child in a city like Bombay has friends or classmates with complicated family relationships. To fill children's mind with preconceived prejudice is to sow the seeds for friction where smoothing the path is necessary for adaptation and adjustment.

My other objection is to the concept of Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming. Fairies and elves, goblins and gnomes are all part of a child's imaginative vocabulary. They break through the glass ceiling of the Real World to transport the child to Fairyland, Toyland, Never-Never-land and other worlds children dream up on their own.

But far too many fairy tales feature young girls waiting endlessly for Prince Charmings to deliver them from sad fates. (Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) We want our girls to grow up resourceful, resilient and confident enough to take responsibility for their decisions. We don't want them waiting a hundred years for Prince Charmings who are as likely to arrive as the Man from the Moon. Its high time we stopped feeding myths celebrating meek and passive responses that have psychologically subjugated women for centuries.

Its wonderful for a child to hear about Pinocchio's nose turning longer each time he tells a lie, about a lion needing to be rescued by a mouse, about the witch who wants to eat Hansel till the witch herself is pushed into the oven by a plucky Gretel. Such stories fire the imagination while sending out messages necessary for today's child growing up in the world of computers and I-pods. 

Will someone put a full stop on dreary Cindrella tales that foster dependence on fantasy as the only way out of difficulties.