Fairy Gifts
I’ve wondered about something. You know those fairy stories, the ones about the ogre who put its heart in a box, or somewhere other than inside its body? They usually have some simple reason, like the ogre wanted to live a long time, or something like that.
But here’s the question: why do they never wonder why the ogre decided to get rid of its heart? There are other things that would preserve life, I’d think. But if the heart is about emotions….
I kind of feel like if I were in a fairy tale, I’d wind up being the ogre. Because, really, sometimes the best way to cope with life is to lock your heart up in a box, put it as far away from you as you possibly can. If you hide your heart, put it where no one can find it, then you won’t get hurt as much.
What made the ogres decide to lock their hearts up? I don’t think it was because they were living these happy lives, where their hearts weren’t getting hurt, over and over. I don’t think that anyone who felt safe would go and lock up their hearts. Because I kind of think that the only reason you’d be willing to stop feeling emotions is if you felt more pain than pleasure from the emotions.
Did the ogres start out evil, or was that just a side effect of locking up their hearts? Hard to say.
