The Wrong Lilies

The Wrong Lilies

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Truth About Magic

Having been a great fan of fairy tales and magic always, I've come to a realization that there are many kinds of magic.  Not just the 'white' magic and the 'black' magic, but the real magic as opposed to the illusions.  For instance, my favorite fairy tales are those, like Cinderella, that have a grasp on the real world.  She is poor and badly treated, they meet when she goes to the ball all by herself (forget about the pumpkin coach), but the girl he searches for is her, no tiara or beautiful dress, just her, the real one.  The stories that turn straw into gold or lead into gold (a contemporary one would turn plastic into gold), they just don't work for me.  For instance, think how impossible gold window blinds would be.  First they'd have to have huge ropes to hold and adjust them, then they'd clang, and you just know that sooner or later they'd fall, probably while you were entertaining someone you wanted to impress, and they'd see the cobwebs behind them.  So I prefer the real magic.  The way that in real life, just as in good books and good movies and good plays, people meet and discover friendship or affection or both, and the world becomes a bit better.  Now, really, which is better, gold window blinds or a better world?

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