To Tell a Fairy Tale of Life in the Real World
     

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there were bits and pieces of the
 world which were not comprehensible. People, in their attempt to
 make the world comprehensible, split three ways: Religion, Science and
 Tales. Science is a way of testing to discover the universe and it?s inner
 ticking. Religion tends to find an explanation that suits it, and it
 takes awhile for that to change. Tales are the various folk and fairy
 tales passed down over and over again in the traditions and cultures
 of the species we affectionately title Humans. Tales are the most liberal
 of the three- sometimes combining earth spirituality (Native
 American trad.), or sometimes the fantasy to put the children to bed.
  Sometimes, as in �sop?s  Fables, the characters are animals personifying
 humans- Raven as cunning, Fox as mischievous. Almost every civilization,
 in it?s beginnings, told stories to explain the ways of
 the world to itself. There are several motives behind folk and fairy
 tales. To entertain with rags-to-riches stories and instill optimism,
 the stuff of the peasantry. A lesson to teach through supposed real
 life examples. To stimulate the imagination. To simply make
 someone happy. Even some more contemporary (20th century) stories,
 like The Little Princess, which have been adapted to film and stage
 convey the ideals of story telling. In a 20th Century Fox Film, entitled
 The Little Princess, the young lady protagonist tells stories to
 other girls in the school as well, rescuing them from the doldrums created
 by Ivanhoe and other so-called classics. Tales are an integral part
 of culture, and they are used to teach, to humor, and to inspire.
  Jill Ker Conway?s upbringing- style in the anglicized outback
 of Australia was not particularly different from this. It is reasonable
 to assume that she, as a youngster, was told  the stories and
 tales traditional to a European upbringing. Those fairy tales of ?The
 Little Cinder Girl?, and ?Red Riding Hood?, perhaps ?Puss In Boots?,
 ?The Musicians Of Bremen?, or maybe the archaic, like ?The Hedley
 Kow?. How does the way her life occurred compare to the children?s
 stories of her youth?  Stories are based on real life occurrences.
 Somewhere along the line, someone experienced something that
 sprouted a tale. As time passed the tales were embellished, thus creating
 what we now know as fairy tales. Fairy tales also effect the life
 of those who read them, in one way or another. How do they affect
 ?real life people?? In ?real life? ways. 
	
All tales have one thing in common: they are meant to teach the listener
 something. Whether it is ?true beauty is on the inside? (?Beauty
 and the Beast?), ?true love has no barriers? (?Cinderella?) the classic
 ?good triumphs over evil? (?Little Red Riding Hood?) and anecdotal
 sayings from tales called fable- ?It is one thing to call for
 death, and another to see it coming? (?The Old Man and Death?, Aesop)
 and ?the same measures will not suit all circumstances, and we may play
 the same trick to often? (?The Ass Carrying Salt?, Aesop). The
 ideals presented to people in stories and tales are those of society.
 The stories of the rags to riches motif try to show us that great
 things can and will happen to good people. That fairness and virtue
 and true beauty are the important things in life, and while looking
 beautiful is nice, if one isn?t beautiful on the inside, outer beauty 
is worthless. Thus teaching these ideals to a next generation, in the
 hopes that the idyllic fairy tale life incurs. Jill Ker Conway enjoyed
 reading when she was young, gobbling up all matter of book, including
 children?s stories. In her childhood, a children?s story was a Fairy
 Tale. She probably read all manner of fairy tale, whatever she could
 get her hands on. Another source of stories for Ms. Conway was a Scottish
 man by the name of Mac. Mac, upon visiting the Conways would tell stories.
 As the visitor was a Scottish man, the stories told were probably
 folk stories.  
      
How did these stories reflect upon her life? Well, to run a comparison,
 after the death of her father, she is left to take care of her mother.
 She does this diligently,  with out ever verbalizing complaints.
 Her mother, whilst sick, is not an easy woman to get along with,
 and so- we have an invalid parent and a bright and beautiful young
 lady?  Sound familiar? The French story of Beauty and the Beast is similar.
 The story?s original plot line had a wealthy merchant who suddenly
 went bankrupt, and his daughter, Beauty, was the only one really
 willing to stick around to help during the crisis. When ms. Conway's
 mother falls ill and subject to broken bones, she is there to order the
 House and make meals. What is her great reward for all of this? First
 off, as her mother sees her become more and more self -reliant,
 she agrees to help more with tuition and other college expenses.
 Second, as a result of returning to college, she re-discovers
 her first love- history. Her honors history classes offer her several
 benefits- the chance to study with somewhat like minded people,
 and also the chance to study what had always caught her mind. This
 doesn't always yield for a beast who is really a prince charming, but in
 her life, it does open quite a few doors.
	
Jill Ker Conway lived far away from most outside influences for most
 of her life. Day in and day out, she saw the faces of her mother, father
 and two brothers, unless of course, it happened to be sheep shearing
 season. This brought about on her as well as her mother a deep sense
 of isolation. Not that her mother was in any way wicked, or that
 her hair?s tinsel strength was anywhere around what is necessary for
 climbing- but isn?t this somewhat reminiscent of the story of Rapunzel?
 A young lady trapped in a place far away from where people live,
 with only books an the occasional small animal visitor? Australia,
 by her very nature, aside from cities, is isolationist country.
 Where ?Each settler could look out vacant horizon knowing that
 all he saw was his.? (Conway, 6) This doesn?t do much for social skills.
 Ms. Conway, resulting from her Rapunzel-esque isolation, was uncomfortable
 speaking to strangers- as was Rapunzel upon her first meeting
 with the dashing young man. The similarities that can be brought
 up between Ms. Conway?s life and the fairy tale world bring up an
 important point- fairy tales are somewhere based in fact. Somewhere along
 the line, there might have been a little girl who tried to go to her
 grandmother?s house to bring goodies, and was accosted by a strange
 man who tried to take her from her objective. Something of epic
 proportions, like a poor young lass marries a prince, and as the news
 spreads, the story morphs, and increases from epic to fairy tale. Finally,
 some smart person writes them down, and  the world discovers Cinderella. 
	
A fairy tale of any following has an effect on whomever reads it-
 like anything else a person reads. It goes in subconsciously, and affects
 the doings of the reader?s life. As one reads and hopefully enjoys
 a story, one is picking up details of the story that connect to other
 things, perhaps read or perhaps part of one?s own life. That?s part
 of the reason for the tale?s existence, to make people connect to other
 things, and from that draw a web of ideas and ideals- the stuffing
 of a fairy tale. Perhaps a story called Utopia was the basis for Karl
 Marx?s utopian society, governed by a system called Communism.
 Jill Ker Conway is very much affected by the philosophy and politics
 of Marx. ?Was it true that we were monopolizers of the land, that Shorty
 and all my other shearer friends were expropriated laborers??Who
 were the rightful owners of the land I had always thought
 to belong to us?? (Conway, 170) The ideals of communism are those of
 a fairy tale. Fairy tales affected the mind of Karl Marx, causing him
 to describe an idyllic society that could never function in real life,
 at least not until every person on the planet becomes nothing more
 than a domesticated robot. But the ideals of universal fairness, and
 equality, and that classes aren?t the mark of a man are all fairy
 tale. Jill Ker Conway spent much of her college years puzzling
 over communism and it?s ramifications. 
	
	
Jill Ker Conway?s life, to some degree, mirrors fairy tales. She can
 easily play the good little daughter, taking care of invalid parents.
 Fairy tales are easily identifiable as sometimes having some fact, even
 to a minimal, plot-necessary degree. The desolation of her faraway
 home on Coorain in her early years impacted her social skills. The effects
 of fairy tales also can cause world moving events- The rise of
 Communism in the USSR and China. Fairy tales affect the stuff of our
 existence- from our childhood dreams of castle-dwelling, to the very real
 and very serious problems occurring from the fall of Capitalism
 in Communistic countries. How do fairy tales affect ?real life?
 people? In ?real life? ways.