Fairy Tale

Got a fairy tale over the weekend. Went to SKS and in midst of all the rich Christian Literature there, I chose to get a fairy tale by George MacDonald. Don ask me why. i don go to SKS often. If not for an outing, I would not have gone there on sat too. Anyhow, it is the fiction shelves that got to me this trip. Never knew they were there.

What caught my eye first was this novel called: Three weddings & a Giggle. Sounded like fun, three simple love stories to make the bimbo feel good. Was tempted to get it there and then, but I thought that coming to a Christian bookstore to get a love novel sounded far too frivolous.

So reluctantly I moved on- thinking that perhaps if I go back there again in time, and it catches my eye again, I’ll get it on impulse the next time round. So that at least I’ll know it is something I tried to resist, but gave in eventually because it is what I really want. It’s a shopping strategy that always fails me. I never fail to get the thing on the second visit- maybe because I never spend the time in between considering the purchase. The second visit always justifies the purchase. Heh.

Anyhow I moved along and came to this series of fairy tales by George MacDonald- the great nineteenth-century innovator of modern fantasy, influenced not only C.S Lewis but also such literary masters as Charles Williams and J.R.R. Tolkein. That’s what they said. Lewis said that George is the master who baptized his imagination, and George does fantasy better than any man. Wow. Pardon my ignorance of your existence for so long, George. But that didn’t matter.

I love fairy tales. I missed fairy tales. I used to seek the modern equivalents in the fluffy romantic comedies- until too many similar plots start falling flat on me. I gave up, and fairy tales remained just a distant memory. But now face to face with the good old paperbacks, big words and illustrations, the child in me was aroused. I need a fairy tale now. I want to read one. Two titles caught my eye “The Wise Woman and Other Stories” and “The Light Princess and Other Stories”, guess which I picked.

Getting a fairy tale in a Christian bookstore is perhaps equally frivolous. And worse still, childish. But thankfully George justified my purchase. “I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether 5, or 50 or 75.” I am delighted to meet George for the first time. I know I will not be disappointed. Hello George, sweep me into your world of fantasy galore! Oops, this means the River Between will have to wait again. ha.