Happy Endings

Most fairy tales have almost ridiculously happy endings.  All the protagonists get what they want, and the antagonists are either killed, exiled, or they magically disappear from everyone's lives forever and ever.  How many times have you seen this line written in a fairy tale? :  "And they all lived happily ever after".

Everything always works out at the end!  However, while that's all lovely and wonderful and fluffy, these fairy tales aren't very realistic.  In real life, not all stories end on a positive note.  And since many fairy tales are meant to teach younger children certain real life lessons, shouldn't there be fairy tales that have not-as-happy endings as well?


(Mind you, sad fairy tales do exist; The Little Mermaid is a noteworthy example.  But I'm not talking about the dolled-up Disney Version - I'm talking about the traditional story by Andersen: the title character becomes nothing but a bubble at the end...Go read it now!)

So what do you think?

-Vociferously yours, Vicky.