Owl King by Bex Hogan

We welcome Owl King author, Bex Hogan to the blog today sharing insights into fairytales and how they inspired her writing.

Once upon a time, fairy tales weren’t for children. They were dark and terrifying, filled with content that would make modern day parents’ toes curl. They were told to reflect grim realities, stories shared by mothers to warn daughters, folklores passed through generations, or tales created for literary salons to entertain aristocrats. Their audience was never a child at bedtime seeking to be soothed.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that this changed, when shifts in politics and society meant that it was deemed necessary to teach children morals through stories. Slowly, the fairy tales began to be sanitised, the more violent, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate aspects removed. But even then, they remained far darker than the versions we have today.

When I was a child, my mum read me Grimm’s Fairy Tales at bedtime. She didn’t pick and choose, leaning in to every gory detail. And how I loved it. When I became a mum, imagine my disappointment when I found myself reading modern retellings that had been stripped of what I considered all the best bits as a child.

Now, of course, there’s nothing wrong with perfectly nice tales. There’s every reason children should have books available that are pretty and have happily-ever-afters. For many, that is the escape they need, and I am all for escapism.

But in the process we have watered down these wonderful stories, rich with history, and lost their true magic. There should always be a place for the scary stuff too. Because life is scary. For me, being scared by stories was a safe way to be exposed to complicated emotions and help me explore them. Within the pages of a book, I could learn how to face fears, imagine how to overcome them, understand they are not insurmountable. There is evidence to suggest reading frightening content helps children develop emotional resilience, a powerful tool when growing up. It also helps them learn boundaries – if a book becomes too much, they can close the book the moment they wish. They do not have to be exposed to anything they aren’t ready for, they have a level of control that is empowering.

There is a reason fairy tales have endured for so long. The stories have universal appeal, something relevant for every new generation. Obviously we want our children to read age appropriate stories, but I think it’s time to return fairy tales to what they once were. Let children venture into the deep dark wood, with danger and beauty lurking in the shadows. They might discover a lot about themselves while there. A quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein in which he supposedly said, ‘If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want your children to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.’ Hard to argue with a genius!