Topic Research: The Legal Charges in Fairy Tales

Storybook Topic: Fairytale Judge

The Emperor’s New Suit Source.

In The Emperor's New Suit, a fashionable emperor hears of tailors who create beautiful clothes with a special cloth that can only be seen by those worthy of their station. The emperor hires the tailors to create outfits for him, and everyone involved in the process agrees that the clothes are incredible.

However, there is a secret to the cloth. The tailors are actually scammers, and the fabric is not real at all. Everyone only pretends to see the material, so they don't invite ridicule on themselves. This charade continues to a point where the emperor will walk in a parade showing off his new clothes, which are nothing but air.

It isn't until a little boy in the crowd notes that the emperor isn't wearing clothes at all that everyone stops pretending that the clothes are real.

Ideas for Retelling:

The tailors are charged with scamming.

The emperor is not charged with indecent exposure because the public humiliation was enough punishment.

Illustration from Page 45 of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (1899) by Helen Stratton Source.

The Little Mermaid Source

In The Little Mermaid, merfolk turn into sea foam when they die, while humans have immortal souls. The only way a mermaid can gain an immortal soul is for a human to fall in love with them. This is the basis for why the little mermaid goes to the sea witch and trades her tail and voice to meet the human prince. At the end of the story, the human prince marries a human princess, and the little mermaid is destined to die. She is given a choice between killing the prince and living or becoming sea foam. The little mermaid chooses to be selfless, and instead of becoming sea foam, the little mermaid becomes a daughter of the air. As a daughter of the air, the little mermaid can do good deeds and eventually earn her own immortal soul.

Ideas for Retelling:

Contracts are invalid with minors. The little mermaid is only 15 during the story.

The judge instead promotes her to be a daughter of the air so she can earn her own immortal soul.

Illustration from Page 132 of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen (1899) by Helen Stratton. Source.

Rumplestiltskin Source.

In Rumplestilkskin, a poor farmer deceives the king into believing that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king puts the farmer's daughter into a room with straw and tells her if it isn't gold by morning, she will be put to death.

The mysterious Rumplestilkskin appears and tells the farmer's daughter that he can spin the straw into gold for her, for a price. The farmer's daughter gives him her necklace. The next day, all of the straw has been made into gold. The king puts the farmer's daughter into a larger room with straw and orders her to spin more gold or die.

Rumplestiltskin helps out the farmer's daughter again. The third night, the king decided to marry the farmer's daughter if she spun the straw into gold a third time. The farmer's daughter has no more possessions to give Rumplestilkskin, and instead, Rumplestilkskin asks that after the farmer's daughter is queen, that she will give him her firstborn child. The farmer's daughter will die if she doesn't have gold made by morning, so she agrees.

The farmer's daughter marries the king, and they have a child. Rumplestiltskin comes back for the promised child as payment, but the queen doesn't want to lose her baby. He promises that if she can guess his name that he will leave her and the baby alone. The queen eventually discovers Rumplestilkskin's name, and he goes for good.

Ideas for Retelling:

Father is charged with lying to the king about his daughter being able to spin straw into gold.

King is charged with ruining the economy with all that extra gold made.

Babies are not allowed to be sold in contracts. The queen must pay Rumplestilkskin the amount of gold he made from straw with work hour compensation.

Illustration from The Blue Fairy Book (1889) by Andrew Lang. Source.