A Glimpse into the If-Condition of Faerie

[Philosoraptor]

For a while I have been thinking about fairy tales, their relation to myths, and the relation both faerie and myth have to the truth. This was aroused first when I read Chesterton's remarks on Sleeping Beauty and the meaning it gives to Death, and then I turned to Tolkien's essay on Faerie. Most recently I read his Silmarillion for the first time, which provoked an inner fight about freedom and its tragedies, but last night while watching Beauty and the Beast I had an inspiration on the meaning of the conditions laid down in many fairy tales: "You can have this if..." So here it is, linked to my blog, where I published it first, but the full text is attached below as well. http://deinoslogos.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-glimpse-into-if-of-faerie-while.html

[Raven]

I really enjoy the Silmarillion. It is a true masterpiece of modern mythology. That said, some of the ideas are pretty heavily borrowed -- from the Kalevala, in particular, in the case of Turin Turambar. But of course Tolkien used the idea of a magic, invisible-making, corrupting ring, which readers of Plato's Republic should recognize. I'm not trying to say that Tolkien is a thief, more like Tolkien took what he wanted and reworked it masterfully. Originality isn't everything.


Anyway, to your blog post.
Yes, there are "if" or "but" statements in some fairy tales. One thing worth notice though, is that not in every story is the "if" or "but" left blind. An example of a story without a "blind if" is the bilblical garden account (which has genre similarities to fairytale but which I believe is God's revelatory truth in scriptural form). In the garden the reason is given, "for on the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
I agree with those accounts that say that the single command given to Adam and Eve creates the possibility of free will -- the possibility to obey or disobey. In a sense, this choice gives them moral autonomy. It gives them the option to live or die, to believe or not believe, to be in relationship with God or not.
Similarly, in fairy tales it provides the opportunity for a "fall," out of which there must come a redemptive act. Cinderella stays out past midnight against advice, and this leads to her fall -- she loses a slipper -- but allows for the redemptive figure of the prince to seek her and locate her and form a relationship with her that delivers her from the tormented state of her everyday life that was corrupted after the death of her mother and the remarriage of her father to the tyrannical stepmother figure.

I think you're driving at a correct thing -- to obey the if or but statement is a choice of faith and a surrendering of the will. As a Christian, I have to do this in my if statement,  "for if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Romans 10:9.
This is kind of the new if statement. In the garden the if statement removed humanity from communion with God resulting in death, and in Christ we re-enter relationship and communion through faith, resulting in life.

To say that Jesus is Lord is to surrender our will. But interesting enough, in the garden, we're provided with a why, even if not with the entirety of the details we might desire. There are some of statements in the Bible that don't have this consequence so clear, such as the prophet who was killed by lions after ignoring God's direction. 1 Kings 13 is a very interesting chapter!

One of the classic fairy tales, to me, is "Bearskin." This is a classic deal-with-the-devil fairy tale. It takes a similar form to rumplestiltskin which is probably better known. In these fairy tales, the "if" is made in a deal with a malevolent figure in exchange for some worldly good. "If I do this for you, then you must give me, " (Rumplestiltskin) or "if I do this for you and you die in the next 7 years, the. I get your soul" (Bearskin). In each case, redemption comes in the release or escape from the curse of the if statement to which the protagonists freely and foolishly joined themselves, and in each story the protagonists end up better off than they began, but by an element of grace (perhaps perceived as luck, but there is arguably no such thing, really, in fairy tales even when described as such).


So how do if statements with stated consequences play into your concept, and how about malevolent "if" agreements in story? The malevolent ones seem to me the same in a way, just despair, desperation, or misplaced faith is playing a role.