Towards the end of last year I began to read titles belonging to an interesting genre. Can you guess which one? Children’s books. I picked up “Jack and the Beanstalk”. The book was printed on hard paper, so that one could hardly see any difference between the cover and the few pages of the book. The book was profusely illustrated; the lovely drawings in enchanting colours splendidly captured the story. I loved reading the story. Yet again. The English fairy tale shows us what the human psychology is.
I guess there is a child in all of us, that still wants to be pandered to, that still needs to be pampered, through stories that are delightful, enchanting, fantastic. That’s what I discovered from the delight that ensued from holding the book in my hands and reading the story with many children, all enjoying their fantasy trips.
I realised that while the genre may cater to children, it isn’t for them exclusively; there is something for adults too to learn. Children’s stories, tales and fables have a moral to tell, a lesson to understand, a beauty to appreciate.
And they don’t lose their charm. Their charm has no shelf life. Well, literally. And literary-ly. They are fascinating no matter how grown up we are. And it seems like we, as adults, like to and also need to go back to them to learn something, to apply in our daily life.
I now wanted to read more titles in the genre. So I picked up the next book that my eyes fell upon. It was a collection that contained Aesop’s fables, Grimm’s fairy tales and Andersen’s tales. A large collection. First in my selection was the Andersen’s tales. So I read “The Ugly Duckling”. I had memories of little kids fascinated by the story over the years. The story brought pleasant memories. Now with my interest in environment issues and wildlife protection, the story had yet another significance; the issue of ecological balance and equilibrium seemed to come to the fore. No matter how small or ugly looking a creature it has a role in the mega and magnificent phenomenon of ecological equilibrium. Also the philosophy of the co-ordinates was pertinent: right thing, right time, right place!
The next story was “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Now this had something to tell about human psychology, and the human ego, and, well, child psychology, for it was a child who had the guts and the innocence to verbally state the truth! A simple story like “The Storks” has captured the phenomenon of bird migration, and the myth and legend of a little baby being brought by the storks! Meanwhile, I realised that just as the great Indian epics are now becoming bases for illustrating various management principles from effective communication to time management, children’s stories could be used to reveal significant contemporary issues.