One thought on “Share your thoughts with the class: In what way does Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood help to “clean your windows” as Tolkien would say?”
I can’t say they did. I think those two fairy tales are so omnipresent that they’re familiar themselves: they’re already part of the ‘hoard’ Tolkien wrote about. I’ve felt what he’s talking about with other stories, though. I think maybe it’s easier for this to happen with the less-familiar ones that don’t get reprinted except in bigger collections, so that when you read them they’re almost entirely new to you, except in that they have some of the bits and pieces (characters and places and situations) that you recognize from other fairy tales.
I can’t say they did. I think those two fairy tales are so omnipresent that they’re familiar themselves: they’re already part of the ‘hoard’ Tolkien wrote about. I’ve felt what he’s talking about with other stories, though. I think maybe it’s easier for this to happen with the less-familiar ones that don’t get reprinted except in bigger collections, so that when you read them they’re almost entirely new to you, except in that they have some of the bits and pieces (characters and places and situations) that you recognize from other fairy tales.