Fairy stories we still find appealing, like the wine vessel never runs out

grahamg

grahamg

Old codger
Location
South of Manchester, UK
I tend to think about all kinds of things we were told in our youth as I get older, and one such example of this concerns the story, (or parable), about "the wine vessel or pitcher that never ran dry"!

The idea you could own something that might supply your needs for ever appealed to my young mind, and occasionally I've kidded myself I can help a mate by replenishing something they're always running out of, such as milk perhaps, imitating the story I heard as a child.

Usually I find the egos of mates I try to help means they reject my assistance, or at least don't fully appreciate it, " as they don't need anyone's help, certainly not thine", (they're macho guys okay, you get the point!).

Are there any stories you find popping into your mind in a similar way, taken from your childhood perhaps?
 

My mind works overtime, all the time, spinning out of control with thoughts on everything, and from every era.

Jack and the Beanstalk. Not that I have ever dreamed of having an endless, lifetime supply of beans at my disposal, but because of memories I have of camping overnight in a friends treehouse as a young child, or climbing the large cherry tree we had in our yard (as kids), or trying to climb up a gigantic maple tree across the street... if only I could have reached the crotch of that big old maple tree. My days were always full of adventure.

Another that visits me every time I see a rainbow, is leprechauns and pots of gold. I was a young child sitting out on the patio with my mom, when a rain storm rolled in. We watched the rain come down for a short while, and as fast as it came, the sky opened back up again exposing the rich blue and sunshine, and there was the most beautiful rainbow that seemed to be only a block or two away.

It was then that my mom told me about how a leprechaun always left a pot of gold at one end of the rainbow, and so I remember running up the street to try and catch the rainbow, but the more I ran and farther I got from our house, the rainbow seemed to keep moving farther and farther away.

A few years had gone by when one day looking outside the kitchen window there it was, a colourful rainbow like I had never seen before, and only this time I was able to run right into it... I was under it, living the dream, and because the rainbow started right where I was, I started running with it to try and catch the other end of it. I ran several blocks, but the rainbow kept on going. I wasn't able to reach the end and collect the pot of gold.

I often feel I'm missing my calling in writing children's books, because I have such an overactive mind and flair for all things past. When my children were little I read to them all the time, every night, and sometimes I'd make up stories which was always more fun.

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Not a fairytale per se, but nonetheless, a story that still warms me inside whenever I think about it or watch it, and that is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

For me being able to think about fairytales and stories as mentioned, reminds me of how easy it was to lose oneself in the moment as a young child, our dreams whisking us away to a land, far, far away.

There's just something so magical about imaginations and dreams from a child's perspective, especially when we can relate those dreams to.

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Another that I have never been able to let go and I still think about often, is Mystery in Dracula's Castle (Disney).

Somehow fairytales and stories and movies and things were real to me as a young child, not as if what I was watching was real, but where I could dovetail myself into the scene or makeup my own adventure based on these stories and things.

As I said, it remains all so magical to me even after all these years.

 
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I think of this parable quite often. For me, it's about finding the balance between personal responsibility to work and prepare for what comes against the desire to relax and enjoy life.

Looking back I was a little too much of an ant and not enough of a grasshopper.
 
Aunt Bea said:
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I think of this parable quite often. For me, it's about finding the balance between personal responsibility to work and prepare for what comes against the desire to relax and enjoy life.

Looking back I was a little too much of an ant and not enough of a grasshopper.
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That balance between "personal responsibility to work and prepare for what comes against the desire to relax and enjoy life" can be a tough one to find can't it.
I remember a pretty wise older guy once saying he tried to follow this advice, as a way to find harmony in life, "to do what you want to do as far as possible, and do the things you don't want to do but must do when you want to, (or feel ready to), do them". :)
 
I've always been captivated by "Little Red Riding Hood." I like to imagine alternative endings that don't end with the wolf's death and otherwise rearrange details of the story...and it was a wonderful song by "Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs," one that you can howl along with! After all, "even bad wolves can be good..." 🐺

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The fantasy that comes to mind is found in the 1940 Disney movie Fantasia. Micky Mouse, the Sorcerer's Apprentice dressed in a red sorcerer robe puts on his master's Sorcerer's Hat. The energy absorbs into his blood, whereupon he performs magical feats not unlike those of his mentor.
The lesson learned is do an honest days work and don't take shortcuts because they are rarely worthwhile


 
This is a good one too, quote:

"Have you ever received criticism that you felt was unfair or downright spiteful"?

If so, here is an interesting Aesop’s fable:

A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by his side a countryman passed them and said, “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?” So the man put the boy on the donkey, and they went on their way.

But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said, “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other, “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

Well, the man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his boy up before him on the donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passersby began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at.

The men said, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours — you and your hulking son?”

The man and boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, until at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them until they came to a bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and his forefeet being tied together, he was drowned.

The moral of the story is: Try to please everyone, and you will please no one.

https://medium.com/jumpstart-your-d...d-the-donkey-a-lesson-on-critics-e61990cf8a07

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