Lore: Fairy Tales

There is a partial theory about fairy tales that sadly gets overlooked in these busy times, for clarification, –where is it that fairy tales actually came from? Fairy tales are a major part of lore, and folklore, because unlike so many examples of lore, fairy tales were written down, and recorded, many in huge volumes. Those collected in Europe, by the brothers Grimm are especially indicative of their origins, even more so are the stories that come specifically from Germany. Ask yourself, why would so many people suddenly make up so many different stories? There are literally thousands of fairy tales, some very similar to each other, and told with few changing details.

When Europe was being baptised, and basically swept through with torches, swords, and other implements of destruction, the Christians left in their wake dead women, men, children, burnt homes, villages torn down to the ground. All over, throughout a period of centuries. But where did their religion go? The “mythology” as the Christians would have called it, the Paganism that so many New Age flakes embrace today, was not destroyed, but carried on by word of mouth, until gradually, the great tales of ancestors, heroes, and deities became nothing more than bedtime stories.

Norse mythology is especially indicative of this theory; several fairy tales, and indeed a very famous one have their roots in ancient Viking, and Teutonic mythology. For example, almost everyone has seen or heard of the animated film, “The Swan Princess”; and the princess is portrayed as frail, pitiful, with only the most meager amount of courage, requiring the aid of various ludicrous anthropomorphic animals to help her escape. In Teutonic mythology, the Valkyrie have the power to turn into swans, –Valkyrie being the female spirits of divine and courageous death on the battlefield, as well as those who determined the fate of warriors. If a Valkyrie was captured in swan form by a man however, that did not mean she would pitied and rescued by the gods. Instead, Valkyrie who were stupid enough to get caught, incurred the wrath of Odin.