Every year, CBS shows the old claymation Christmas Special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Every year, the woke snowflakes get their perineums burned and it completely ruins their day. Lisa wrote about the bullying kerfuffle last year, read it here. This isn’t just about the bullying. The horrific fairy tales of the past taught valuable lessons that these pitiful whiners need to learn.

This year’s round-up of whining comes from PopCulture.tv. A father’s ego and bullying are mentioned:

Early on in the episode, Rudolph finds himself needing to wear a fake black nose to hide his “different” red nose per his parent’s request. He does so to avoid embarrassment, and ultimately is the center of the joke when it feels off and the other reindeer, besides Clarice, make fun of him.

The scenes of bullying strike a chord with some home viewers.

“Between Rudolph and Hermie…The North Pole seems like the most toxic work environment to ever exist. Ruthless bullying and then banishment to the Island of Misfit Toys,” another user wrote.

Since Lisa addressed the bullying last year, I am going to focus on the horrifying fairy tales and children’s literature of the past. Could there be lessons in those pieces that our children need to learn? I think so.

Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm wrote the old, scary fairy tales. I remember reading to my son from Bill Bennett’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses”. Robert Louis Stevenson, another writer of horrific tales, wrote the original “A Child’s Garden of Verses”.

There was a story in the Bennett book about a little girl who slammed doors, while running in and around the house. One day, she slammed the front door and a statue of Abraham Lincoln fell on her and killed her. I don’t remember my son ever slamming a door. Lesson learned. Savage parenting is my style.

Those of us of a certain age grew up reading Grimm’s fairy tales. These tales were not virtue-signaling stories beating children about the head with inclusion and diversity. Rumpelstiltskin was thwarted in his plans and tore himself in two. Cinderella gets the prince in the end, after years of indentured servitude to her step-monster and evil step-sisters.

Charles Perrault wrote the original version of Cinderella. He also wrote the children’s fables Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. Bluebeard tells his latest bride not to open a certain door. Curiosity overcomes her and:

Having come to the closet door, she made a stop for some time, thinking about her husband’s orders, and considering what unhappiness might attend her if she was disobedient; but the temptation was so strong that she could not overcome it. She then took the little key, and opened it, trembling. At first she could not see anything plainly, because the windows were shut. After some moments she began to perceive that the floor was all covered over with clotted blood, on which lay the bodies of several dead women, ranged against the walls. (These were all the wives whom Blue Beard had married and murdered, one after another.) She thought she should have died for fear, and the key, which she, pulled out of the lock, fell out of her hand.

Bluebeard figures out that she opened the closet and just before he is about to lop off her head, her brothers save her and kill Bluebeard. But, yowza. Curiosity could kill you.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote many poems about the joys of childhood. He also wrote Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The man had a twisted side.

Here the ladies of The View actually have a common-sense discussion of Rudolph.

Yeah, what’s the problem? Rudolph rose above the bullying, forgave everyone, and he’ll go down in history.

Other fairy tales teach important lessons. The Frog Prince tells us not to judge a book by its cover. Hansel and Gretel kept their wits and overcame their oppressors. Many of the old children’s fairy tales and fables tell us, often, stories of people whose childhood sucked, but they grew out of it to become beautiful, successful and/or rich. The stories are horrific and hopeful. And, sometimes, life really does suck. Get over it and you will be a much happier person. If you expect life to be a banquet, with unicorns to ride after, you will be miserable.

Rudolph got bullied but he was the happier reindeer.

Give me the old stories any time over the new dreck.

Photo credit: Pixabay.com/Neopri/Pixabay License