A Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a cocoon. She longed to make friends with all the other children out playing in the sunshine but she was reluctant to break through the walls of the cocoon. And, gradually, as time passed, the walls got thicker and thicker and she looked less and less at the sunny meadows outside where the other children were playing. And, anyway, she said to herself, I am safe in here. No one can hurt me here. And slowly she came to like the cocoon although she still occasionally cast glances at the sunny meadows and the laughing, playing children.
Now, because this is a fairy story, you know there is going to be a fairy godmother, right? And so there was a magical woman with magical golden scissors in a chain around her neck. She took these magic scissors and cried out Snip snip! The scissors flew from the chain and started cutting through the cocoon. But suddenly, just when the little girl was sure that she was going to get out, just when her heart was beating violently and her stomach was full of anticipatory butterflies, the scissors stopped…
Oh, please let me out! she cried. The fairy godmother looked at her lovingly.
No, my dear, she said. The next part you have to do by yourself.
And so the little girl clawed and tugged at the cocoon, but to no avail. And, to her horror, the sticky strands were weaving themselves together right before her eyes.
And then, she remembered. There were also words of power to say. She put her hand on the magic scissors and cried out loudly, Snip snip!
The scissors commenced snipping, the sticky strands parted and the little girl burst out of the cocoon into the sunshine and the flowery meadow. And all the other children came running to her and wanted her to play with them because all the time she had been wanting to get out of the cocoon, they had been hoping she would do that and come and play with them.
And they all lived happily ever after as do all the heroines and heroes of fairy tales.
Would that it were so…