Introvert Fairy Tales

There's a small blog called Introvert Fairy Tales, which has some fun, short fairy tale retellings. One of my favorites is Sleeping Beauty:

Introvert Fairy Tales: Briar Rose was born a happy, responsive baby to her doting parents. Eager to celebrate the birth of their first daughter with family and friends, they invited the whole community to join them in a feast.

At the feast, the people brought gifts and voiced their hopes and prayers for the new baby. As more and more people spoke, one woman sat in the corner looking more and more uncomfortable. These people were delivering curses. They used different words, of course, but they were terrible things to wish on a poor child: to be forever judged on her appearance, to be burdened by expectations; to be always seeking the approval of others.

Towards the end of the evening, when the crowd had died down, the woman approached Briar Rose and finally spoke.

“Life will be hard. It always is. These people seem to have ensured it. But you’ll pick up hobbies and one day, if you’re very lucky, you’ll end up discovering a craft that you love. Time will fly while you do it, you’ll be completely focused on the task at hand and it will help with the stress.” She paused, considering her final words. “May you never get RSI*.” And with that she left.

Briar Rose never did get RSI, and moreover she never pricked her finger on a spindle because she developed callouses on her hands in all the right places from a very early age.

I found many of these more clever than several I've read like this over the years. Don't miss the Beauty and the Beast one. Loved it, too. Hope the project continues.

*RSI: Repetitive strain injury.