Here There Be Dragons So What About Happily Ever After?

One of my favorite birthday gifts the Middle One ever received was a pillow case with a Sandra Boynton illustration of a tiny knight, sword in hand, facing a huge dragon. The caption read, “No guts, no glory.” I put it on his bed for years. I loved it. A daily reminder to my little knight that in this life “here there be dragons” but go forth with courage. Be valiant. And give it your best.

A few days ago, the Oldest Little wanted to write and illustrate a book together. For our brainstorming session, I brought out Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling. Number four is the hero’s journey. “Once upon a time (fill in the blank), every day (fill in the blank), Because of that (fill in the blank), etc.” I read the prompts. She filled in the blanks. She wanted our story to have a princess, a cookie-eating dragon, and a prince who came and rescued the princess. They would get married and live happily ever after. She wanted the prince to be her dad, but I reminded her that Dad was already taken, so we compromised and decided to make him “a lot like Dad.”

With our plot in place, we began drafting our story. But as the bad guy started closing in, something in me resisted making this a helpless princess happily ever after tale. Those always remind me of my friend who told me she hated “happily ever after” endings. She said they misled little girls to grow up believing that in life’s bad moments a prince would always appear and rescue her and all would be perfect forever and ever. She’d had some hard stuff to deal with in her own life, and while she had come through in a good place, she wanted her daughter to be more prepared than she had been for the tough things in life. Oldest Little is four, she loves happily ever after. I love her. Would I be Big Bad Grandma if I changed the storyline?

But life. Here there be dragons.

Last week Kent had to have a heart catheterization. You think you have a grasp on what it means to be mortal until you hear the words, “heart cath” spoken about someone you love. Suddenly, you’re face to face with sobering reality. He was shaken, worried, and he started making sure all the important information was in one place in case things went terribly wrong.

Prompted by Daughter-in-love, Oldest Little ran over to her Papi, gave him a big hug, and then she prayed for him. “Dear Jesus, help Papi be brave and strong. And we love him. Amen.” Oh. My. Heart. She slew that dragon. Papi hugged her tight, took heart, and rode off to the battle with courage.

I love dragon stories and while I’m not big on fairy tales, I do like Cinderella and a few others. The Oldest is an English major. She made sure to educate me that the original fairy tales were dark. Really dark. But that their purpose was to teach children to face the dark side and survive. They might not have lived happily ever after, but they faced the dragons and either came out wiser, or the story of their terrible plight helped those who heard it become wiser.

Like Oldest Little, I prefer the Cinderella story I grew up with. But I know in life, sometimes the prince doesn’t come, and sometimes he breaks your heart, and even when he does show up, even if he’s a keeper, he’s still a flawed human creature just like the princess. And then real life happens. Here there be dragons.

As a mom and a grandma, I want to guard my little Princesses and Princes from those dragons completely. But as their mom and grandma, I love them deeply and I want to prepare them to face their dragons with courage, to be brave, and to be strong. And in my own quest, fighting my own dragons, I have found that, in the words of George Bernard Shaw, as quoted in The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, “This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” Life is tough. Life is unfair. Here there be dragons. And, while “Happily ever after” sounds good on the surface, there are dragons out there and a good warrior doesn’t go forth without a sword. My sword is Mark 12:30-31, and it has stood me well.

But back to our story. My inner editor kicked in and I decided we needed to tweak the plot a little. I asked her, “How about our princess and our prince fight the dragon together?” She considered this for a minute. “Okay, that’ll work.” So, we went back to our storyboard and revised our ending. The Princess and the Prince would join forces, defeat the cookie-eating dragon, get married, and fight dragons together happily ever after. That worked and both author/illustrators were happy with the final manuscript.

As for Papi, he was brave and strong and he got all good news, though he wasn’t thrilled about the order to get busy with a regular exercise routine. The Princess and the Dragon is complete, and we are on to our next project. As for “Happily Ever After”? Well, life’s not safe. Here there be dragons. I don’t presume to think I have all the answers, but I know the King, and He does, and I’ll gladly point you and my little Princess to Him without hesitation. And C. S. Lewis is right, “He’s not a tame Lion.” He can take anything you throw at Him and He can see you through whatever dragons you’re up against.

So, Be Brave. Be Strong. Have Courage.

And go slay those dragons.

 

(Thanks, Pam, for the “Go slay those dragons!’ quote)