Fairy tales are about trouble, about getting into and out of it, and trouble seems to be a necessary stage on the route to becoming. All the magic and glass mountains and pearls the size...

He looked at the little maiden, and she looked at him; and he felt that he was melting away, but he still managed to keep himself erect, shouldering his gun bravely. A door was suddenly...

Silence is another element we find in classic fairy tales — girls muted by magic or sworn to silence in order to break enchantment. In “The Wild Swans,” a princess is imprisoned by her stepmother,...