Fairy tales

I'm going to post this under "Funny things".


See "My first year teaching", posted January 27th, this year, for my account of a story my principal had related to me of "The Three Little Pigs" -- a story, he said, that he had heard first-hand, while he was 'observing' (circa 60-70-80 years ago, now, as of this writing).


You know, the thought of Grimm being the author of fairy tales was ALWAYS appalling to me. WHY should fairy tales necessarily be "grim"?


All that aside, and I hope you have gone back to read my post of 1/27/08, I would like to introduce you to (if you haven't already been so introduced!) an author that lends (in my opinion) a great deal of humor. I should say 'leant', as he is no longer with us, I'm sorry to say ... said author is James Thurber.


The story of which I'm speaking is the one about "Little Red Riding Hood". You know, the one where this sweet young thing goes through the woods on the way to her grandmother's house, gathering flowers, merrily skipping along, thinking cheery thoughts about her life and her grandmother, etc??

That's the one. You've got it!


All right. So, on she goes ... collecting, skipping, going along her way, and very much looking forward to seeing her beloved grandmother.

She gets to her grandmother's house and goes inside. (Meanwhile, of course, the big bad wolf has devoured her grandmother and is hiding in her grandmother's bed, trying to disguise himself in her grandmother's clothing.)


Well, you know at least one version of that story, I'll bet. I wonder if you know Thurber's version? ? ! ? ! ?


Thurber's version is that Little Red Riding Hood, upon entering dear grandmother's house, imMEdiately sees that it is not her grandmother lying there on her bed ... it is, instead, a wolf dressed in her grandmother's clothing. She pauses not for a millisecond, takes a pistol out of her little handbag, and shoots the wolf dead!!


Thurber's stories often had a moral attached (much like Aesop, I guess) to them.


THIS one's moral was, "It's not as easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be!"


I recommend Thurber. I also recommend those "Burma Shave" signs that used to appear along the the roadside, one after the other ... funny, funny, funny! (Again, you should probably allow for my somewhat [perhaps?] demented sense of humor.)