In the Fairy-tale Forum Facebook group earlier this month, the question of sexism in fairy tales came up again, and members responded with a variety of strong answers against the idea.
There is a lingering misconception in fairy tales that the princess sits around waiting for the prince to save her.
But, countless times reading Grimm this year, I’ve thought to myself, there goes the girl saving the boy again. It happens. A lot. Enough that I wonder why this myth persists. (And we’re not even touching on the idea that fairytales are symbolic; this is just regarding the plain reading of the text.)
Oft it’s a sister saving a brother. Or a girl saving her betrothed.
And in the case of one of this week’s stories, we have a wife setting out to save her husband in The Nixie of the Mill Pond.
In this story, a miller down on his luck accidentally promises his newborn son to the water nixie in exchange for wealth. (She asks him for what was just born in his house and he, for some reason, thought it must be a dog or cat and so agrees.)
The miller’s son grows up, forbidden to go anywhere near the millpond. He is told the water nixie will take him if he touches the water.
One day, after he is grown and married, the promised man kills a deer near the millpond, and not realizing where he is, he washes the blood off his hands in the water. Immediately the delighted water nixie rises out of the water and takes him down under the water to be with her.
When he doesn’t come home, his wife fears what has happened and sets out to rescue him.
So why does this perception of sexism in fairy tales persist?
Is it because a lot of the popular fairy tales end in marriage, and therefore, girls must be under the patriarchy, because surely girls don’t want to get married. Oh. Wait. Girls do kinda want to get married, don’t they? And they prefer courageous men who they can count on. Hallmark channel’s Countdown to Christmas anyone?!?
So, the next time someone tries to tell you how sexist fairy tales are, maybe agree, then follow up by saying, yes, so often the girls have to go out and rescue the boys for doing foolish things.
ALERT! This series of posts has turned into a book! Preorder the ebook now; paperbacks and workbooks to follow!
Here are some quotes from the other stories this week:
