Enchanting Limericks about Fairy Tales

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Albert Einstein typically gets the credit for this pithy piece of parenting advice, but whether or not he really said it doesn’t really matter.

The fact is, it makes a good story, and that’s what fairy tales are all about. The special theory of relativity may rely on objective verification, but myth and folklore do not. If the story says there were three sisters and one had freckles, then there were three sisters. If the story says the earth was created in six days, then so be it.

So long as there’s an internal logic to the story, then you have something worth reading. How you choose to interpret that story is up to you. And the more interpretations the better. Why should there be a limit placed on the shades of insight to be gleaned from a piece of literature?

The following series of limericks celebrates this polyvalent wisdom of legends and folklore. And I hope you walk away from it with a keener understanding of the human condition.

     Catch a Fairy by the Tale
     A devouring dragon resides down below
     Inside of the oven where stepchildren go
               It’s a personal test
               A spiritual quest
     To enter the place that so few of us know

     Pinocchio
     This puppet behaved himself horribly
     Speaking to elders ignobly
               But everyone knows
               To beware of his nose
     For we know that he’s prone to hyperbole

     Jonah and the Whale 
     A metaphor helps with the truth to unveil
     See for yourself what’s inside of a whale
               A dark hollow place
               With some hard facts to face
     Without inner wisdom you’re certain to fail

     The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 
     Conjuring energies at your command
     Channelling nature to strengthen your hand
               Invoking vibrations  
               With keen incantations
     Exerting the power that few understand

     The Tale of Bluebeard
     A wife left alone with the keys to the palace
     Discovers a room full of secrets and malice
               She might have ignored it
               But fate draws her toward it
     And some say the key soaked in blood was a phallus

     Dangerous Liaisons  
     Little Red Riding Hood what would Freud say?
     A girl begins bleeding then wanders astray
               She’s lured off the path
               By cunning and craft
     And ravaged in bed when the wolf has his way

     The Ground of Becoming  
     Latch on to life if your ardor is able 
     Every last option remains on the table
               The one became real
               With the turn of a wheel
     And someday will come when the truth becomes fable

Further Reading

If you liked these limericks about Fairy Tales, you’ll be sure to enjoy:

• The Legend of Rusty the Wagon
• The morning is wiser than the evening
• Limericks about Moby Dick
• Limericks about American Literature
• Limericks about Darkness and Sorrow
• What is a Limerick?