Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time long, long ago, someone told a story while sitting around a fire. Of course, we have no idea exactly when story telling began or who that first story teller was. It doesn’t matter who the storyteller was, or who all the forgotten storytellers who followed were. It was an attempt to make sense of the world.

The beginning stories; myths, folktales and fairy tales, usually had elements of magic like dragons, wizards, witches, talking animals or magic objects like magic mirrors, a magic ring and even beans as in Jack in the Beanstalk. The number three was often important in those stories, too, like in The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Wishes, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff to name a few. The number three carries on with three main characters; victim, villain and the hero who goes on a quest to save the victim or thwart the bad guy and often has to fulfill three challenges to reach his goal. The only heroine I can think of offhand in those early tales was Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, who killed the evil witch and saved Hansel.

Over the years the stories have been altered and changed, but many sill followed the same motif of good conquering evil with a happy ending as in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Harry Potter series. This is not true with more modern literary works, but it still holds true with most mysteries, albeit with an absence of magic except in some paranormal mysteries.

I have always enjoyed reading folktales and took a class in college about folktales. It was one of my favorite classes. Folk tales have been told all over the world. Much of the fairy tales originated in folk tales like Cinderella which comes from France as does Puss in Boots and  Beauty and the Beast and others. The Fisherman and his Wife, Little Red Riding Hood, and many, many others came from Germany. In North America there was People Who Could Fly, The Wonderful Tar Baby Story (Uncle Remus) and Paul Bunyan’s Cornstalk, and many more told by American Indians.

Some authors have picked up on the fairytale or folklore theme and altered them like Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and others written from the point of view of one of the characters from a fairytale. The same was done even earlier with children’s books like The True story of the 3 Little Pigs! By A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka. One of my favorite children’s picture books was An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler in which the princess locked in the tower by her wicked step-father in the end rescues Sir Wilber, who comes to rescue her. It’s a delightfully funny tale immensely enjoyed by all the classes I’ve read it to both in my own classes and in the many classes I substituted for later.

Because we live in a world often filled with violence, dishonesty, and unfairness, we still hope for the happy ever after ending portrayed in many fairy tales even though deep in our minds, we know it can’t always be that way. Of course, some fairy tales are cautionary tales like The Fisherman and His Wife or The Emperor’s New Clothes, but most mysteries, other than noir, and especially in cozies, do follow the fairy tale motif ending of: “and they lived happily ever after,” unless it’s part of a series where we’re only given hints that if we keep reading the series it eventually will be with a happy ever after ending.

Of course it’s rarely the same joyful tripping down the path of happiness we envisioned when Cinderella was romanced by the handsome Prince Charming, and they went off to live in his castle where her life then became perfect; no quarrels, no problems, no dirty diapers, no sickness, and all was love and laughter, Sigh.

No, mysteries are more realistic than that. However, we do have the same motif; victim, villain, and hero/heroine. The heroes or heroines may be flawed. In fact, that makes them more interesting if they are. The reader may not know who the villain of the story is in advance, but will follow with the hero/heroine’s quest to bring the villain to justice, trying to figure it out as they read along, either who the villain is or how the villain will be uncloaked. Usually the hero or heroine has a friend or sidekick, although not seven dwarfs like Cinderella had, but someone to bounce ideas off of and help them when necessary. There may not be a Cinderella ending, but it almost always brings satisfaction to the reader because justice, at least in mysteries is served. And that’s what makes mysteries so popular. It brings a sense of justice to the reader. At least it does until they pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV.

Do you like happy endings in your mysteries?

Do you like folk tales or Fairy Tales?