How the Lassie Didn't Go East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Author's Note

For fairy tales to work, everyone has to be remarkably stupid. Most fairy tales depend on everyone failing to talk to one another, and the rest of them depend on people failing to do what they're told.

Put it this way: Imagine if, in the folk tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," the White Bear had actually talked to the lovely lassie. Imagine if, when he crept into her bedroom all man-shaped that first night, he'd said, "So, bee-tee-dubs, I'm actually prince, but I'm under a spell that transforms me into a White Bear by day. To break the spell, you have to be patient and not look at me at night, not once, for a whole year. And also, maybe we can hang out together during the day? We could play chess if you don't mind moving the pieces for me."

Also, there are better uses for candles than ruining princes' nightgowns.

Cover art features watercolor illustration by Kay Nielson (1886-1957), released by the National Library New Zealand on The Commons with no known copyright restrictions