A Fairy Tale Wife

This morning, being Saturday, found me and Steve enjoying a cool, cloudy breeze flowing all around our living room through the open windows. I sat in my yellow chair, with my tea tray all lovely on the table, and he sat on the couch with his coffee, reading. We were both reading.

We used to have a rule, that we must read one fairy tale out of Grimm's Fairy Tales before we watch any TV together. These include the classic, famous, longer tales, but more often, because there are more of them, we read the obscure, short ones, that usually have a moral. Those fairy tales are written so simply, leaving so much to the imagination. They have sentences like, "So, the man got up, put on his hat, and went into the forest to seek the beast." Or something like that.

I've always thought of myself as the damsel in those tales, the princess, lost, bewitched, betrothed, enchanted or otherwise. (I have been all of those things!) I never think of the wives in those tales. If a wife is mentioned at all, it is usually to give some small, practical word of advice, encouragement, or complaint to her husband, who then predictably puts on his hat and goes into the forest, where the unpredictable can finally happen. And the story always follows him there, instead of staying in the cottage, with his wife.

Today, for the first time, I felt very like a fairy tale wife, without meaning to, (and it felt fine! I was surprised!) when I stood up from my yellow chair and said, "I will get dressed, and look for my gold ring." That is just like something a wife in a fairy tale says, don't you think?

I will get dressed, and look for my gold ring, said his wife.

I misplaced my cross ring last night and complained slightly to Steve about it, but was too tired to dig for it on my junky dresser. This morning, as I sat across from him with my tea, I kept offering the unsolicited information that I might get dressed soon. Finally, after dallying as long as possible, I remembered my ring, and decided to get up from my yellow chair. Of course as soon as I did, I said the Fairy Tale Wife line and had to sit back down and write about it.



(This picture is not Grimm's, but it is one of my favorite illustrators, so I liked it best.)

I am going to go have my day now. Even though there are no forests here, something magical might happen! After all, I am a fairy tale wife.