Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors.
Trouble for the Grimm Brothers’ protagonist in Sleeping Beauty centers around a spindle on which she pricks her finger, being drawn into a deep sleep. This is a very real possibility for those who frequent rusty nail sanctuaries. Though the great majority of us in the United States have been vaccinated since birth, tetanus remains quite prevalent in Kenya. This prompted UNICEF and the World Health Organization to begin vaccinating infants and pregnant women, those most at-risk. Unfortunately, the country’s Catholic church claims this is part of a conspiratorial effort to sterilize recipients.
The most iconic scene of Sleeping Beauty is the kiss, after which the princess wakes from her centuries-long slumber to live happily ever after. A Louisiana man on a cross-country flight from Houston to Newark demonstrated that the reality of this image is far more unsettling. Devender Singh was discovered on top of a sleeping female passenger, kissing, groping and fondling both her and himself. He faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
It’s wedding bells when the princess wakes. A 91-year-old Polish woman found herself in a less enchanted situation, coming to in a cold storage unit 11 hours after being declared dead. Janina Kolkiewicz’s doctor swears she showed no signs of life at the time of examination. However terrifying this may seem, at least Janina didn’t wake to find her entire family a century in the grave, proving there’s more than one bright side to life’s return.
This edition of Fairy-Tale Files is brought to you by Fairy Tale Review intern Zane Johnson and poetry editor Jon Riccio.