Hassinger 1
Ashton Hassinger
Professor Erica Delsandro
English 101
20 February 2013
Simon’s Stupendous Story
In the days when wishes really came true, there was a little boy named Simon
who had the most loving father in the world. One day his father mysteriously fell ill.
Lying on his deathbed the father said, “My dear child, if you always are thankful for all
you have and are never jealous, spiteful, or greedy you will one day have everything you
could ever desire.” A few days later the boy’s father passed on.
The boy did all that his father told him to do. He was always grateful for
everything he was given and had the best virtues anyone could hope to have. He would
take walks through the woods nearby to clear his head. On occasion he would notice a
wild band of horses. The boy shortly afterward became very fascinated by these
creatures. One day he noticed that one of the horses had given birth to a beautiful black
colt.
The boy’s mother remarries shortly after the passing of her husband. The boy’s
new stepfather and two stepbrothers were three of the most malevolent people this world
has ever seen. As children the brothers would trip the boy, kick him, break his toys, and
call him names. The boy would have to wake up very early to cut down trees for
firewood, split firewood, tend to the livestock, and countless other chores until dusk.
As the boy grew he would always go for walks through the woods in hope to see
the band of horses. He would always bring food along to try and coax one near him to get
a closer look. The black colt, still being quite naïve and innocent, strayed away from the
band, despite his mothers disapproving neighs, and took his offerings. As they grew the
boy and horse became very good friends. He could ride the horse, now a full-grown
stallion, at the age of eighteen. The boy would always meet the horse around midday at
Hassinger 2
the same clearing to give him treats, pet him, and play with him. He was almost like his
pet horse, but Simon thought of the horse as more of a person.
Simon, having grown into the most intelligent, most hard working, most
handsome man in the land, noticed the brothers coming back one day from the town with
news of a three-day jousting competition. The winner of the competition would take the
princess’ hand in marriage. Simon asked his stepfather if he could enter the competition.
His stepfather said, “You can go to the competition if you cut, split, and stack ten trees
worth of firewood.” Knowing there was no use in trying to fulfill his stepfather’s
unrealistic request Simon went into the woods. The black horse was at the usual clearing
and could tell something was bothering Simon.
Suddenly a fairy came flying out of a tree being chased by a rabid squirrel. Simon
took out his knife and stabbed the squirrel. The fairy was very grateful and told Simon he
owed him his life. The fairy, Alvin, said he would grant him any wish he asked for, with
a few exceptions. He could not wish for money, power, or to raise the dead. He
remembered how his stepfather wanted him to cut down ten trees. The fairy said it was
done. Simon went back to his home and saw the firewood piled up next to his house.
He went and asked his stepfather again. “You did cut all the firewood. But you do
not have a horse to ride, no jousting gear, and no experience. The competition is only a
few days away. If you cut down twenty trees I will allow you to go.” Simon walks into
the woods again to find Alvin. The fairy hears his wish and grants it. Simon returns to
ask his stepfather if he would be allowed to go yet again. “You did cut all the firewood.
But you do not have a horse to ride, no jousting gear, and no experience. The competition
is only a few days away. If you cut down forty trees I will allow you to go.” Simon walks
off in search of the fairy. Once he gets his wish granted the second time, he walks back to
his house and asks his stepfather if he would be allowed to go to the competition.
“There’s no point Simon. You do not have a horse to ride. You cannot compete if you
have no horse.”
Hassinger 3
When the day came his family went off to the competition to watch the two
stepbrothers compete. Simon went into the woods and asked the fairy for everything he
would need to win the competition. Whenever he had all the jousting gear and he had the
black stallion ready he started to ride off. “Wait! Do you not want any knowledge of how
to win?” Simon wished that he would know how to win against anyone he was jousting
against and the fairy granted his wish. Simon arrived at the jousting competition all ready
to go. He had his helmet on the whole time so no one would notice who he was.
The competition was set up so that if you lost once, you were done. Simon
noticed that there were a lot of other men there, trying to win the princess’ hand in
marriage. He went to the shack where you registered to joust. “Your name sir?” said the
lady after he answered a few other questions. Simon replied, “Duke Struthers”. Once he
was registered, he took the stallion to get prepared at the stables. The handlers at the
stable were shocked to see how resistant and aggressive the stallion was. Whenever
anyone else would go near him the horse would buck around nearly kicking people the
entire time. Simon finally managed to calm him down so they could tend to the horse so
he was in prime jousting condition. While the stallion was at the stables Simon decided to
walk around. He looked up into the stands and could see quite clearly where the king,
queen, and princess would be sitting. He saw the long wooden railing that he and his
opponent would be riding along, until one of them knocked the other from his horse. He
also found a tent, which had a lot of competitors inside relaxing before the tournament.
He sat down inside and they all harassed him for not taking his helmet off. He asked one
of the people walking around tending to the competitors for a drink and something to eat.
They brought him a glass of water and some bread.
Once the registration period closed they finally started up the tournament. The
first day Simon had to joust three different people. He was a little scared for his first
joust. Whenever the announcer called out his fake name and his competitors name his
heart started racing. He went out to the railing and mounted his horse. One of the stable
Hassinger 4
workers gave him his lance when he was ready. He awaited the sounding of the trumpet
and then rode as fast as his horse would go. He got his lance ready and aimed for the
man’s shoulder. As quickly as it started, it was over just as fast. His opponent lay
writhing in pain on the ground. He was moving on to the next round! The next two
people were just as easy to dispatch as the first. He had to ride home right after his third
joust so none of his family members would know he had left. He left the stallion ride off
into the woods and hid his jousting gear in the forest. The next day after his family left he
went to get the stallion and his gear. After he was all set he rode to the tournament. He
had to joust five people that day because they had more time without the registration
period. Yet again, he won all five jousts and returned home.
On the third day people were getting suspicious of Simon. He never showed his
face, like all the other victors, after winning. After his final joust, making him the victor
of the whole tournament a riot broke out. People rushed toward him from the stands. This
startled the stallion, which bucked Simon off his back. The horse ran off, “back to the
clearing”, Simon thought to himself. Simon started running home on foot. The mob
chased him all the way home but he started into the woods.
A few days go by and Simon is very upset. He got back to the clearing to find
there was no stallion there. He hoped it was just startled and would return soon. But one
day the king, queen, and a bunch of their servants came to Simon’s house. They brought
along the stallion in a cage on wheels. They say that no one has been able to ride the
horse, let alone go near it. “The only person who is able to ride it lives in this house.”
The two stepbrothers jump at the chance to ride the horse. The eldest goes first and
manages to get on the horse, but is quickly bucked off. The horse also tramples on the
man’s chest, killing him. The second stepbrother tries next. He is also able to get on top
of the horse, but he too is bucked off and has his head trampled, killing him as well. The
stepfather, desperate to have one of his sons marry a princess rushes to find Simon.
Simon comes back from cutting down trees and sees the stallion. His stepfather pleads
Hassinger 5
with him to ride the horse. Simon climbs atop the horse and everyone watches with
disbelief. The king excitedly says, “Then it is settled. This young man will be marrying
my daughter!” Simon goes to the castle with the king, queen, and his stallion to be
married and lives happily ever after.
Hassinger 6
Ashton Hassinger
Professor Erica Delsandro
English 101
20 February 2013
Reasons as to why I changed Cinderella
Whenever one picks up a fairy tale, either in movie form or in a book, they expect
to notice specific subliminal, or maybe not subliminal, stereotypical traits, which all fairy
tales have, inside. For instance most fairy tales have a very two-dimensional, rich,
dominant male who saves the main female from some sort of peril. Most fairy tales also
have the main antagonist portrayed as females, such as in “Snow White” when her
stepmother attempts to kill Snow White saying all the while, “Snow White must die!
…Even if it costs me my life”(Grimm 87). But the most important characteristic one
would notice is that most, if not all, fairy tales are focused on the story of a female
protagonist. One could argue that these stereotypical traits of fairy tales may even shape
who we are as people. When viewing them as enforcing gender roles it may be important
to think of what might happen if these three main characteristics were reversed in a fairy
tale, if the females in the story were flat characters with no story, if the main character
were a male, or if the villain were a male? In the revision of “Cinderella” I created, I
decided that these were the few things I would change, to provide an exact opposite to
“Cinderella”. If we truly “live our lives through texts”, as stated in Maria Tatar’s The
Classic Fairy Tales’ Introduction, then I feel that there should not be any universal story
characteristics (xii). When we’re exposed to the same idea over and over again it
becomes engrained into our minds. I question the logic in sharing these stories that have
so many similarities to each other, with children.
In many fairy tales, a major similarity is that the female has a lush backstory,
personality, and appearance. The prince on the other hand is very dull and you find out
very little about him other than the fact that he has money and power. The prince and
Cinderella are the perfect example of a stereotypical fairy tale couple. The prince is there
as an escape from a wretched life for Cinderella and Cinderella is a beautiful woman he
Hassinger 7
barely knows, so she clearly makes the best marital option. This sets up a gender
stereotype urging people to believe men are very dull and have no emotions, and that
women have so many dilemmas, internally and externally, in their lives. In my revision, I
reversed the stereotypical couple, so that the female would be boring and the male would
have a backstory. This causes the princess, who notices Simon because of his physical
and mental prowess, to be an escape from his miserable living arrangement. I believe that
this effectively disrupts the gender stereotype that men are always dull and that women
have all the troubles. If this fairy tale were taken as literally as the Cinderella fairy tale,
men would end up appearing more emotional and distraught, while women would be
more reserved and content. Yet I find this as a bad thing, because it would force ideals of
how to deal with your emotions upon people.
Most fairy tales portray a female as the main antagonist that let their negative
emotions get the best of them. This is partly because the main character is not only the
most beautiful in the land, but they also have the best virtues. An excerpt from “Beauty
and the Beast” shows this quite nicely, “The youngest daughter was not only more
beautiful than her sisters, she was also better behaved”(De Beaumont 32). This causes
other females to become jealous and in some cases physically unattractive in form,
because another trait of fairy tales is that ones outside appearance is the same as their
inner personality. This puts a heavy emphasis on physical attractiveness in our society. It
translates to people in real life who have good intentions are always beautiful and people
with bad intentions are ugly. I changed this in my revision by making the stereotypical
“evil stepmother” an evil stepfather. The beauty aspect was more focused on the women
characters, but when I switched the main antagonist to be a male it became more about
intelligence and ones abilities. This makes it look as if men can also be very jealous and
spiteful, which in reality is totally valid. In a perfect world, or a fairy tale for example, it
would be very easy to differentiate your friends from foes, solely based upon their
appearance. But in real life it is never so black and white. The two binaries I set up would
be the skilled and intelligent have a good morality about them, while the unskilled and
Hassinger 8
unintelligent have a bad moral standing. The stepfather clearly is unskilled and
unintelligent along with the stepbrothers because they make Simon do all the chores.
A lot of fairy tales have the main character, a female for the most part, doing all
the chores or some other desirable task such as being forced away from. “Cinderella” for
instance is a story about a girl whose stepmother makes her do all the chores and makes
her life miserable (Grimm 117). Be it that they have to go live with a strange creature, lay
in a coma in a golden coffin, or live under maternal tyranny, it seems all fairy tales are
focused around females. I believe this may be a social tool to help mold girls into
women. By having a story revolving around another female, usually resulting in one, if
not more, morals or lessons, little girls will learn how to be a woman by example. In
“Cinderella” one of the lessons was working hard, although it was by doing housework,
which some may see as sexist, in my revision I chose to make Simon be sort of a
lumberjack (Grimm 117). Another change I made was the situation in which the
character is noticed. Cinderella is noticed because of her beauty at the ball. Simon on the
other hand is noticed because of his skill at jousting. One aspect I left the same was the
fact that the royalty is still classified as the savior of the “Cinderella” character. This was
to change the gender stereotype that just woman need saving.
In my opinion, fairy tales do have an impact on the construction of our social
identity being that we hear them at such a young age. Yet I feel that at a later age you
should be able to tell what type of person you want to be and you cannot point fingers if
you do not get up and change what is bothering you. Fairy tales do definitely help to push
societies ideals upon growing children, but they are not the determining factor in who we
become. If people would just not be afraid of going against the social norms, to a certain
extent, this world would be such a better place.
Hassinger 9
Works Cited
Tatar, Maria, ed. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. Print.
Grimm, The Brothers. “Cinderella.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Tatar, Maria. New
York: Norton & Company, 1999. 117. Print.
Grimm, The Brothers. “Snow White.” The Classic Fairy Tales. Ed. Tatar, Maria. New
York: Norton & Company, 1999. 87. Print.
De Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie Leprince. “Beauty and the Beast.” The Classic Fairy Tales.
Ed. Tatar, Maria. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 32. Print.