The Role of Fairytales in Child Raising
"The fig tree"
Once upon a time there was an orphan who grew up with
his stepmother. He lived with her and her son but the two children were not
treated equally. The orphan had to work much harder. And as if that were not
enough, the children had to wash their hands before having their meal, the
orphan with oil, his stepbrother with water. And only he whose hands were dry
was allowed to have his meal. So the brother was the only one to have his meal,
while the orphan was sent to the bushes to find some leaves for the sauce.
There he pleaded with a big fig tree for its fruits and sang:
"Lower your branches,
lower your branches, big fig tree.
Lower your branches – for the child
who has lost his father,
lower your branches – for the child who has lost his
mother.
Once, for having our meal, there were two of us,
one washed his hands with water,
the other with oil,
he, whose hands were dry was allowed to have his
meal!"
The fig tree lowered its branches and the child ate
its fruits until his hunger was satisfied and he turned back home.
One day a fig fell down into the basket in which the
child was collecting the leaves for the sauce. The stepmother tried the
exquisite fruit and told the child to show her the fig tree.
Upon coming to the fig tree she saw that the tree was
very high and that she was not able to reach the figs. She became angry and
told the child to tell her how he had picked the fruits. So the child began to sing:
"Lower your branches,
lower your branches big fig tree.
Lower your branches – for the child
who has lost his father,
lower your branches – for the child who has lost his
mother.
Once, for having our meal, there were two of us,
one washed his hands with water,
the other with oil,
he, whose hands were dry was allowed to have his
meal!"
The fig tree lowered its branches, and in order to
pick as many figs as possible the evil stepmother climbed up the tree. The
child seized the opportunity to punish the bad woman and sang:
"Rise, rise big fig tree,
take away the evil stepmother, up to the sky,
for she is the one who tells us to wash our hands with
water and oil".
The fig tree rose higher and higher. The evil
stepmother asked for mercy and swore never to be unfair again. The child had
mercy. He sang and the tree lowered its branches again. As of that day the
child was never treated badly again.
The traditional form of telling fairytales and stories
is increasingly being replaced by our modern ways of life. Movies, television
as well as the fact that today in most families both parents are employed and have
less time to spend with their children, increasingly define our everyday life.
Yet in our culture telling stories and fairytales is still very important. The
tradition is still alive in the form of comics, cartoons and movies that are
based on the content of stories.
In the SOS Children’s Village we work with children
who most often came to us from difficult situations. In fairytales such as
"The fig tree" the children identify with the orphan and his needs.
For our SOS mothers such stories provide an excelle nt means to address the feelings
of the child and to teach him values such as good and bad, tolerance and
sympathy.
Storytelling triggers off a complex process in the
child, arousing his imagination, attention, intellectual capacity, memory,
feelings and the readiness to get involved.
The structure of the fairytale, its plot and the
interplay of good and evil, the surprising turns, the expressive language, the
dynamic character of events and relationships as well as the concrete situations
resulting from various forms of behaviour arouse the
child’s interest in fairytales and help him orient himself in space and time.
On an emotional level the child identifies with the
"good" person to whom injustice is done. He trembles with fear about
his fate and shares his situation. The fight between good and
evil as a typical feature of every fairytale is a kind of moral lesson that
influences the feelings of the child and gives him orientation for his own behaviour. How intensely, often by shedding bitter
tears, do children experience the needs of the weaker to whom
injustice is done! How often do we notice their visible and audible indignation
against the tyrant who torments others without any mercy! How open and sincere
is their delight when the good triumphs over the evil!
In fables the child learns about typically human
features through similes in the animal kingdom: the lion as the symbol of
strength, energy and power. The rabbit personifies cunning, quickness and agility,
while the hyena stands for stupidity and awkwardness. The child recognizes the behaviour of people around him and with the greatest of
ease he learns how to build up relationships accordingly.
Fairytales
promote imagination and provide children with images for their inner world of
feelings in order to build up their view of the world and of the experiences
involved. The child discovers and understands the world through these pictures
and with his heart.