Journal+3

=**Journal: What do myths and fairy tales have in common? What is the purpose of fairytales? Discuss a tale you remember. **=

Myths and fairy tales have been the essence and basis for all novels. They both tell stories that are meant to benefit our lives and knowledge. When humankind didn't have an answer for why the sky is blue or why it rains, myths answered the questions. Fairy tales provide entertainment about enchanted castles, horrid monsters, and beautiful princesses. They don't tell us how we were created our how we die though. However, fairy tales aren't useless or trivial, they became important to teach girls and boys how to behave in society. Both myths and fairytale teach important life lessons, as well as fascinate our minds with incredible phenomena.

Fairy tales educate people how society currently is and how to properly navigate through the social circles. However, no one wants to hear an ordinary story about a girl who has to learn proper skills to find a husband. People do want to hear about a beautiful maiden that needs to be rescued by a prince or about a fearsome beast that only a princess can save from a curse. Both myths and fairy tales play with the fantasies of the mind with quests, heroes, and mythical beasts. The valuable lessons they teach are still taught to us today. In the //Three Little Pigs//, only one pig worked hard and made a strong dependable house. It paid off when a wolf attacked all the pigs and one is kept safe. The moral of the story is that hard work pays off, and that work goes before play. It also shows the progression of technology that society is experiencing at the time. It went from a straw to a stick to a brick house which were being used around that time period. Another example is //Beauty and the Beas//t. Mothers taught their daughters that their husbands may be old, ugly or scary. However, if their daughters learned to love this "beast" then perhaps her life could be like Beauty's.

Although many fairy tales were originally dark and morbid, many grew lighter. In the original //Three Little Pigs//, the pigs were killed and eaten by the wolf. As time progressed, the pigs either escaped to the brick house or from the wolf's stomach. As society grew less harsh, so did the morals and lessons of the fairy tales. In American, woman aren't forced to marry men twice their age and they aren't owned as property. There also isn't a literal big bad wolf waiting to swallow you whole. The morals and lessons still carry over to today though. Beauty is still considered important, and many women are still expected to be good housewives. Fairy tales and myths will always be spread through writing, talking, and any other form of communication. The stories they tell will never get old as long as we continue to learn and grow from them.