Good & Evil are Two Sides of the Coin

The discussions that stemmed, from this bedtime story that this father told to his own young daughter, translated…

Since my daughter was little, she’d loved the stories of “Rapunzel”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Cinderella”, “Snow White”, all of these, she’d, memorized by heart, although I’d still, stowed away some of the Chinese folktales, or stories like “Journey to the West”, to balance things out a bit, but, there’s, that etched thought of how the princess and the prince all lived happily ever after, these, systematic, fairytale happily ever afters.

I’d not intended to destroy this scent of innocence in her, and up to now, in my and my wife’s hard work, she’d still believed in the existences of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. And yet, after the summers, she’ll be entering into the elementary years, and, as her father, there were, worries, I’d hoped, that she could, have more knowledge of the good and evils of this world.

Yesterday, I’d read along King Lobo in The Animals I’d Know with her, it’s a story of a witty wolf king, Lobo, he’d led his packs to attack the herds, and the owner of the ranch put out a bounty on his head, but, the alert Lobo not only didn’t take the poisonous bait, he’d even, dug up the animal trap the hunters set to capture him from the sand. In the end, the hunters caught Lobo’s wife, Blanca, and, had her scent on the beast trap, to lure him, and, Lobo was, caught by the trap, in all his limbs, he’d, struggled again and again, and again, in the end, he’d, lost all strengths, and his legendary life ended.

In the process of the story, I’d acted out the stories, and tried to using my high-pitched voice to make myself sound like the wolves, and my daughter became, really engaged in the stories of the battling of wits of the human and animals, but after the story, she’d started crying, “Dad, the ending isn’t right! The Wolf King shouldn’t get caught! Humans are awful!”

The children easily empathized with the animals, but, The Wild Animals I Have Know was NO Andersen’s fairytales, he was a realistic animal writer; at this time, the words of Romain Rolland, “Good and evil are two sides of the same coin”. I think, perhaps, I can use this as a discussion of the boundaries of good and evil with my daughter, using the cracks between fairytales and reality.

“Happy, why do you feel that the human was evil?”

She’d replied, matter-of-factly, “because they’d killed the King Lobo”. I’d asked, “But the wolf ate the cattle that the humans raised, don’t you think that the cattle’s end was awful too?” She’d replied, “then, humans can tell King Lobo to become a vegetarian, there’s no need to kill him!”, I’d chuckled, “Happy, the wolves are carnivores, that won’t ever change.” She’d replied instantly, “The cattle were already dead, that couldn’t be changed either, even if the hunter killed King Lobo, he’s not having his cattle back either! Why did he still kill him?” I’d asked, “but, Lobo will keep on killing the cattle, then, how would the owner of the ranch live without his livestock?” Happy became annoyed and replied, “Well, they can find another job!”

Seeing how my daughter’s mind worked, taking this fairytale, toward that unmanageable realm, I’d not had the mind to correct her, the point of this story, was to start her thought processes, instead of giving her a correct answer. I’d patted her head, “Happy, you can stand on the side of King Lobo, or the side of man, even, the side of the cattle, you just need to know, that there’s no definite bad guys, or definite good guys in this world, okay?” She’d, nodded, then I’d continued asking, “Then, do you think daddy is a good guy or a bad guy?”, she’d started, laughing, “BAD guy! You’d told me a story that’s made me cry!”

And so, this simple bedtime story, started a debate between this daughter and her father on good and evil, and, the man made the discussion after the story fitting to his daughter’s age and understanding, and that, is what bedtime stories should do, they should help your children think imaginatively, to help them think up alternative ends to the stories you’re, telling them.