Last week, I went on about Cinderella, my favorite children’s tale. This week, let’s talk about my least favorite. ALADDIN and the Wonderful Lamp. This story has been around since the late nineteenth century. It’s been told and retold. Disney made a lovely animated movie that they had to change the entire story to make work.

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Here’s why I don’t like Aladdin: In almost every version he’s a spoiled or lazy boy with no desire to better himself. His father dies and he makes no attempt to take care of his mother by learning a trade. She slaves over other people’s laundry to keep them fed and yet he still won’t go out and get a job. Then a man comes and says he’s his uncle, an uncle he’s never heard of, and he runs off into the mountains, down a magic passage and retrieves a lamp for this guy. So, Aladdin is not too bright either.

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He screws over the evil magician (not his uncle by the way) and goes home, where he realizes that the lamp has a genie in it. First he feeds himself and his mother, I’m all right with that. Then he spies on the princess (Bulbul not Jasmine) coming out of the baths and finding her so beautiful, he must marry her. So, he uses the lamp to pay off her father for her hand. In some versions the king betrays him and she is married off to another. What does Aladdin do? He terrorizes the princess and her groom by having the genie kidnap them every night. He then has the prince dragged out in the elements all night long while he sleeps in the bed with Bulbul. After a few nights of this the husband wants out of the marriage freeing up the princess for Aladdin.

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First issue is that Bulbul never seems to have any opinion other than she’s terrified of Aladdin during the kidnappings. She’s bartered about with no indication that she likes either man. And the husband just cuts and runs without a fight.

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It goes on with the magician coming back but Aladdin foils that plan too. I’m just not sure this story sends the right message. If you’re a shit who only your mother can love, you will still get what you want through guile, trickery and terrorism. Not exactly my idea of a fine childhood value. LOL… You can see why Disney had to make a few changes.

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What’s your least favorite fairy tale? Tell me why.

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Do you believe in MAGIC?

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Wising Game is on sale now for only $1.99. You will love this sweet story about real magic.

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The Earl of Westbridge is dying, and without a male heir. His daughter Mary will lose her home if she does not marry before her father passes. She has already turned down two men while holding onto the hope of finding true love. In her desperation, she plays the wishing game, a childhood folly devised to chase away fear during thunderstorms.

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Avery is the unwilling heir to the Westbridge earldom. He arrives a few days before the spring holiday in the middle of a horrific storm to offer his assistance to his distant cousin. Expecting a spinster who had been put on the shelf, he certainly never expected to develop feelings for the beautiful Mary Barrow.

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Mistrust and doubt engulf them. It will take a miracle to bring them together. Or maybe just a wish come true.