So… we are studying fairy tales in my very feminist, academic, and postmodern class this semester. We’ve examined original tales of Cinderella from China, Russia, Germany, England, and Thailand… all of which seem to include aspects of gore and decapitation, not to mention brave heroines who defy all gender norms and expectations. Not only so, but we’ve talked about Bluebeard, a wicked blue-bearded pimp who murders all of unfortunate wives in a slaughter room (quite similar to the one in Disturbia), and addressed how modern-day fairy tales seem to exclude certain facets of husband infidelity, murderous intent, and violence. My teacher (and I say “teacher” because she is not yet a “professor”) had much to say about how all of the Disney movie princesses glorify marriage and finding Prince Charming (in her opinion, why can’t a Disney princess fall in love with a “Prin-cess Charming”?). Needless to say, fairy tales depress her, because they institutionalize certain gender roles and convince little girls that if they sleep for 100 years, their knight-in-shining-armor will hurdle all of the bramble bushes in order to climb into their tower to give them a wake-up kiss. While I have beef with Disney heroines for reasons that do not fit in this already very long post, I would agree with her that fairy tales are just… rather disappointing and unrealistic on the whole.
The best stories are epic stories that contain truth — whether these truths are expressed through allegories or allusions, as long as it contains truth, I think it is a good story. Though I’m not much of a literature buff, I do enjoy letting my own imagination run for a bit. I’m not submitting this for class, because I am pretty sure the allegories and allusions I use will be attacked most fervently, but here is my venture into story-telling (otherwise known as the product of an afternoon of not wanting to read for class). I might and might not finish it, but regardless, I hope you can pick out a few parallels…
Once upon a time in a land far away, (totally redundant and overused starting phrase)
Sometime during the heat of the Bohemian era, alongside of multi-colored gypsy caravans, jangling bells and tambourines, a rather notorious freak circus would often venture into the rat-infested city to find social pariahs desperate to avoid gawking stares from passerbys. Of the individuals welcomed to join the freak circus, there were men who swallowed swords and women who resembled apes; half-giants and mermaids, children with two heads or four legs, and even those who ate fire. The master who founded the circus retrieved each and every member of his company himself. They called him “The Prince,” and regarded him as their benefactor. “In exchange for your performances,” the Prince said, “I promise you a life in which you will taste the most extravagant of foods and wines, the kind of my very own stock. You will never again beg on the streets or suffer for your deformities; HERE, your deformities become your pride, your glory, and your identity; HERE, you have a name, you have significance, and you have eternity.”
The freak circus lived and journeyed together, and, under the direction of the Prince, they were never without extravagant food or drink or merriment — that is, if they complied with the regulations of the show. They were to never leave the show for any given circumstances, and the consequences for the one who attempted such an act of treason were at minimum, very severe. Despite these things, the circus was a unit, a family, and a lifestyle — and so they went about their days as such.
Now, the gem of the freak circus was a girl whose impoverished parents sold her when she was but a child. She was blind in both eyes and walked with a limp, but her voice was very lovely. The Prince, who was very knowledgeable in the ways of the world, persuaded her parents to sell her to him and spare her the shame of being mocked for the rest of her life. Her parents did not know that at the time, the Prince was already brewing ideas for an entire tour through the city to feature his newly-bought sparrow. The Prince promised to raise the child to know of her parents’ sacrifice and to one day bring her home. And with tears in their eyes, the child’s parents wept their goodbyes and watched as the circus caravan fade from sight.
Now the Prince had an evil heart and was only ever concerned about himself. He decided to keep the girl in the circus for as long as she lived, for his eyes were set only on the profit she would bring for his business. In order to discourage her from ever leaving his company, the Prince tied ropes and bells around her wrists and ankles so that she would not be able to run away. Furthermore, the Prince told her that her parents did not want her and that she was to regard him as her guardian from now on, for he would be the one to provide for her anything she should desire.
And so she grew. As she grew, the fame and reputation of the freak circus grew as well. Not only did Bohemians and aristocrats from near and far flock to listen to the girl sing, but also foreigners from other lands, who often came with gold and other such treasures to give to the Prince and his sparrow. The rest of the circus grumbled quite a bit, for the Prince never doted on them quite as much as he did his new starlet. However, their complaints were short-lived, as the Prince had a very nasty temper and often resorted to cruel and unusual punishments for acts of insubordination. Instead, they harassed the girl all day and all night, making fun of her limping gait and blindness and saying awful things about the Prince (“Surely he will tire of you one day and feast upon another freak’s abilities! your parents did not love you, for they sold you to the Prince! The Prince only dotes on you because you can sing, you just wait until he forgets about you!”).
Now it pained the girl in her heart to hear these claims, for she was very aware of her limp and the fact that she was blind. Their scornful mockery and claims sired doubt deep within her heart, for she truly desired to know who she was before she began to live with the Prince and his company. On one particular evening, after the circus gave a successful performance and the company were merrily counting their coins and carousing, the girl mustered up her courage to approach the Prince in his private room. Upon hearing the bells jangling at her wrists and her ankles, the Prince opened the door and permitted her to come into his lair.
“What is troubling you, my singing sparrow, that you should come and seek me when your friends are celebrating their success?” he said with a smile.
“Who am I?” the girl spoke, her voice quavering just slightly. The Prince’s smile stretched a little wider across his face, appearing though as if it were strained.
“Why, you are my starlet! You are the crown jewel of the circus! You are the show-stopper, the featurette, the icon of my freak circus!” he said. But the girl looked troubled.
“Where are my parents?” she asked. The Prince’s smile turned into ice and his brow furrowed in anger. He replied in a cool and dangerous voice.
“Why my child, I am your guardian. Your parents did not want you, they threw you away onto the streets, and it was I who collected you from the filth and gave you a second chance,” he said. “Your parents did not love you, they did not want to love you, and I took you in — after all that I have done for you, providing you with imperishable and extravagant food and drink, shelter and a place to belong, how can you even dare to question my generosity towards you?” the Prince’s voice ended in a snarl. But for too long had her questions been unanswered; the girl barreled on:
“You say you care for me yet you bind my wrists and ankles with ropes so that I am never out of your sight. You tied bells on my binds so that I can never escape. The food and drink that you give us is indeed imperishable, but it is never satisfactory. We eat and eat but cannot be satisfied; we are always in want of more. We drink and drink but our thirst is never quenched; we are always in want of more. You promised us a place to belong, but you exploit our weaknesses and profit from them at our expense. I don’t have an identity here,” the girl said, “because you have claimed everything that is rightfully mine and have been telling me lies from the day you took me away.”
The Prince’s anger escalated upon hearing these words — never had a member of his company been so forthright in his presence. He leaned closely towards the girl as if to tell her a secret. He said:
“So you have figured it out. I feast off of your ugliness, your deformities, and your ignorance… I provide you with imperishable food that never satisfies and drink that never quenches thirst. They call me ‘the Prince’ but do not know that I am truly the Prince of Lies and Deception… and the moment you are mine, you can never not be mine… you and the rest of your freak friends are mine forever, my freak performers and social deviants for the rest of eternity!” and with a maniacal laugh, the evil Prince threw the girl out of his private room and tied her to the back of the circus caravan, where she would be forced to limp behind the caravan as they drove from city to city. He said to her then: “This is your life. I did not make you the way you are, but you did yourself, you stupid, wretched, blind and limping girl. You brought this upon yourself!”
Upon receiving her punishment, the girl cried for the rest of the night as she realized the gravity of her very-bad-situation. The next day, none of the circus company dared to visit or help her (they did not want to end up in the same situation) and so the poor girl straggled behind the caravan as they rode from city to city. The Prince, in his nasty temper, forbid any circus members to release the girl from her binds. So the poor girl was forced to endure mud and dirt; cold and scorching heat — as the caravan rode on towards their destination. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, the girl began to lose her once lovely voice. And as months became years, she was no longer known as the starlet of the circus, but rather, the blind and limping girl who trails behind the circus caravan.
One one particularly starry night, when the caravan was stopped and the Prince and the entire company were fast asleep, the girl looked up into the sky and lamented over her plight:
“Is there any hope for those who are hopeless? What does one do when one loses the will to live, yet cannot die because they encounter worse things than death even as they live? Surely I am cursed, surely I am beyond saving. No one will come to my aid, for what worth is it to save a blind and limping girl from an evil Prince?”
(to be continued…)
