My mom used to put me to sleep reading fairy tales. I always enjoyed those stories especially that of Cinderella and Snow White. As soon as I was old enough to pick my own clothes, toys and accessories, I always make it a point to have my mom buy me stuffs that have Cinderella or Snow White’s picture on them. I became obsessed and I wanted to become like these princesses to the point that I grew up knowing that at one point or another, I will meet my own prince and find my true love.
I am all grown up now and I’ve matured. Despite that, my love for fairy tales never waned. I have now children of my own and I feel that it’s their time now to love the fairy tales that I once loved as a child. I bought a handful of these classic stories on CD and had my child watch them whenever there’s no school (my child is not allowed to watch TV during school days). She loved them and I like the way my child responded to these stories. I see myself in my child-back during the days when I was still a gullible little child.
One night, my husband and I decided to have a fairy tale marathon with our daughter. We started watching fairy tales after dinner and on it went until we finished three: Cinderella, Little Mermaid and Mulan. We went to bed happy and dreamy. We felt like little kids.
As I lay in bed that night, I started reflecting about the fairy tales that we just watched. That night, I was a cross between being a child and being an adult. I started thinking about the plots of the story and how the characters went from being the underdogs to being the most beautiful princess in the kingdom (as with the case of snow white), or get closer with to the man of your dreams (as that of Ariel’s). Eventually, I arrived at a conclusion. These three princesses or ladies that I was so fond of when I was a child were basically identity theft criminals!
I wanted to laugh at myself that night but just so you’d understand, here’s how I arrived at the conclusion.
Cinderella: She was a house helper who, through the help of her friends and her fairy god mother was able to assume the identity of the loveliest girl in the kingdom. She was able to deceive the prince but when the clock struck 12, she was forced to return to her original identity.
Little Mermaid: Ariel was so in love with the prince that she rescued that she was so willing to give up her mermaid-ness to be with the human that she loved. She drank a potion which allowed her to be a “normal” human with legs and lived with the identity until the prince was married off to another.
Mulan: This is a clear cut case of identity theft. Mulan took on the identity of his father because she did not want her father to join the army because he was too old.
Okay, I know. Their motives were noble but they’re still identity thieves, right?