The Sword and Laser discussion

Master Li declares, on more than one occasion, that there is "nothing more dangerous" than a children's fairy tale which happens to be real. The Duke of Ch'in is described as, essentially, a homicidal child.

And yet children are the basis of Number Ten Ox' quest. They are the basis of his sweetest memories, much of the lore of 'ginseng children,' and the most emotionally affecting passage in the book (and its initial inspiration), the prayer of Miser Shen.

Children hold a strangely diametric position in the text, both the nicest and nastiest imaginable.

Discuss.

That reminded me of the Deathly Hallows and how that children's tale turned out to be true.

Real children can be very kind and very evil too, now in fairy tales without any restrictions... Diametrical perhaps, but definitely not strangely, rather naturally.

Hmm, I don't think the role of children in the text has much to do with children or their nature in and of themselves. Rather, as in most things dealing with children, it is the perceptions and cultural artifacts built around children that are at issue.

Tales told to children are created by adults for children to meet whatever cultural or behavioral ends. In this case, if I remember correctly, the fairy tale happens to be true in that it is a retelling of history through children's play, a history most likely created by adults and related by adults, but in this case, probably passed on by children to other children.

As to the pleasantness of children, this also serves society, nature, and this text as a motivation for adults to act, to care, and to protect, but again based on the perception and values of adults, rather than anything particularly inherent in children.

The thing is, he uses western fairy tales as the examples. That threw me off.

Jenny wrote: "The thing is, he uses western fairy tales as the examples. That threw me off."

Yes, I agree, I was completely thrown by that, and since I was listening to the audio, I missed a bit while my mind went 'eh, hang on a minute'. Not quite sure why he did that when there are surely so many Chinese myths to chose from.