Dear Daisy,
Thanks for this post! I do think that fairy tales partially act as a way for children, especially female children, to think through and deal with the violences and dangers of the world. I know I loved my Andrew Lang "Fairy Books" - Crimson, Olive, etc - as a kid way more than all the safe/grimly positive "children's books" from the seventies.
It was a revelation when I went to college that even those stories had been sanitized for children, and when I read some of the original versions of the stories ("Little Red Cap" being one of the more disturbing) well, they made a lot more sense.
"My Brother is Being Arrested Again" is a book I keep recommending to friends.
Best,
Jeannine

Inexplicably missing from the Baring-Gould; I found it in 2 other collections as an adult:

A man of words and not of deeds
Is like a garden full of weeds,
And when the weeds begin to grow
It's like a garden full of snow,
And when the snow begins to fall
It's like a bird upon the wall,
And when the bird away does fly
It's like a shipwreck in the sky,
And when the sky begins to roar
It's like a lion at your door,
And when your door begins to crack
It's like a stick across your back,
And when your back begins to smart
It's like a penknife in your heart,
And when your heart begins to bleed
Your dead, and dead, and dead -- indeed.

Another excellent post from a consistently captivating writer. Geoffrey Handley-Taylor's statistical overview laid me out in the floor with laughter.

Rather than policing fantasies, and in addition to the usual subjects, might we improve our educational system by developing curriculum in the following modest subjects from grade K through the end of middle school:

• Conflict resolution (because learning how to make peace, forge acceptance, and work across differences should bloom at the root of personhood)

Have a beautiful day.

Unfortunately, people have been trying to sanitize children's stories and fairy tales for year -- typically by people who miss the point of the tales. Political correctness has run amuck in this area for a long time, first among conservatives, and now among the Left (with PC). I've read Mother Goose that was turned into Christian propaganda (thus sanitizing it and, ironically, eliminating the morals of the stories) and politically correct versions of fairy tales which essentially do the same thing. I have been told by German friends that the Grimm's Fairy Tales we have are both made incomplete and sanitized by the translators (one story I have yet to find by them is the one about the girl told not to play with matches, and when she does, she burns herself and her house up). Fairy tales are intended to educate. And, yes, fear does educate (why else would you go to watch horror movies or get on a roller coaster?).

Death by shrivelling? Somehow that seems like the worst way to go.

Anonymous poem: "The Little Turtle" I believe this poem/rhyme belongs to poet Vachel Lindsay [1879-1931] published in 1923. Prior to the poem yjese words are written:
"A Recitation for Martha Wakefield, Three Years Old"

Regards, Vonnie

Jonathan--Are you the Philadelphia (former?) dance critic/poet? If so, I think we were on a panel together once, but I forget what it was on--it was a looooong time ago. Best, Daisy