Fairy tales usually begin with the magic words, "once upon a time or there was once". In each case, the reader or listener becomes instantly aware that it's time for imagination. As the story unfolds, one places himself in the company of the characters and experiences the emotions of the tale, be they frightening or exhilarating, or anything in between.  We look forward to the ending knowing that goodness and righteousness usually prevail over evil, and that for the most part, fairy tales have a moral message that we can take with us once we know how it all turned out.

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, while not your typical "and they lived happily ever after" fairy tale, does include the usual cast of good, evil, hero and villain characters and, typical of the time period in which it takes place, enables those who could never experience the wealth of the kings and nobles to imagine what it would be like if they could.  Especially today, many young girls aspire to be a princess and enjoy all of the benefits associated with royalty. Charles Perrault teaches the reader or listener a great deal.  His stories typically end with a moral to the story contained in a poem. Having also read There was Once, it became obvious this very brief story also contained a message, a moral, although not as subtle as the moral in Charles Perrault's story. 

Each story teaches how important the timing of your actions are and how it can affect the life that not only you live, but the life that others live as well along with the legacy you leave behind when your time has passed, although each story accomplishes this task in a very different manner. The heroine in Perrault's story waits one hundred years before she finds what turns out to be true love. This teaches us that there is a time for everything and that doing nothing, even falling into a deep slumber, has an important role ("Sleeping" 1). Margaret Atwood isn't as subtle with her time reference, she gets right to the point. The time for change is now. We don't experience much of a story, or any story at all as there is no tale, however there is a strong message regarding society, its evolution over time, and that it's time to rethink the stereotypes and perceptions regarding what constitutes beauty, poverty, aging, correct role models and perhaps, above all else, the terminology that labels and stereotypes us. It attempts to destroy the fairy tale concepts that defines our contemporary society ("Perrault" 1).

For instance, The Sleeping Beauty story contains the definition of perfection as the most beautiful person in the world, with the ability to sing and dance, play musical instruments with skill, have abundant grace, and furthermore, instantly recognize her prince charming and true love, even after a century long slumber. There are the attributes to which young ladies have aspired for centuries. The princess was a role model for the ages; Margaret Atwood destroys that perception by marginalizing physical description as the prerequisite for determining beauty and instead suggests describing people simply by stating their or ethnicity. What was politically correct for centuries may no longer be correct. Correct or not, prince charming continue to be attracted to their princesses, at least at last, by their physical appearance. That may not be quite politically correct, but it is the reality.

Each author chooses to use what appeals to his or her audience in order to make a point. Perrault uses fantasy and fairies and an ogre who creates the circumstances of her death and allows for the royal family to live happily ever after. Margaret Atwood uses humor, satire, and brevity and concludes, not with a poem that illustrates the moral of the story, but with a question, a question which is also a proclamation and an encouragement: why not here? (Atwood 306)

There was Once briefly describes the protagonist as poor, but beautiful and good. Margaret Atwood establishes the relationship between goodness and beauty as a pain, the two having been linked for centuries, while Perrault focuses on the beautiful princess, whose trust in her husband is without doubt or question, Atwood's focus is on portraying stereotypes as part of fairy tales and children's stories. Her humor and satire enhance the message that the age old stereotypes are prejudicial and need to be replaced.

For the great majority of people in the seventeenth century life was short, dull, and dangerous. Most were peasants who owned little, worked from sun up to sun down, and could only dream of living the life of a prince or princess. Since most people were illiterate, stories were heard rather than read. Having ogres and fairies and the casting of spells and magic were well within the superstitions and beliefs of the time, "The good fairy travels many leagues in a fiery dragon drawn chariot" (Perrault 298). Charles Perrault challenges his audience to imagine and create in their minds a world of fantasy and make believe. Each author establishes a relationship with the reader or listener and does to in a clever manner. Atwood's line about conditioning is significant as it appears after the author tells is that it is about us and insists boldly that we are too judgmental and puritanical and that so much of it conditioning. We are conditioned to accept the generalizations and stereotypes such as those contained in fairy tales as valid, and Perrault's tale of good vs evil, wealth, power, beauty, and the desire for love and glory are the true measurements of happiness, security, and success. Reading The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood simply serves to validate the accusations Margaret Atwood presents to us in the briefest of short stories.

There was Once puts time in perspective. Margaret Atwood's lines that shed light on what she thinks about the timing of one's actions are "Enough of the dead past. Tell me about now" (Atwood 306). She concludes with the question for her readers: "So why not here". Perrault's princess is representative of the cycle of nature and after one hundred years, nature has stirred. The princess has evolved into a woman who bears the fruit of adolescence and eventual maturity: the birth of children. The cycle repeats itself, but only when the time is right.

If you could put Charles Perrault and Margaret Atwood together in a room by themselves and asked them to talk about how important timing is to each of their respective stories, you would get an interesting conversation. Atwood's short story is much more straightforward about what you need to pull from it while Perrault's short story is a little bit more vague, leaving the reader to wonder how much Perrault thought about the timing of the actions of the characters in the book. Both authors would concur that timing is important, but might disagree on the degree of importance. In The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, Perrault probably chose the number one-hundred for no particular reason at all besides the fact that it may have sounded more appropriate than most other numbers, but nonetheless he would probably agree that time period is very important. It seems as if Margaret Atwood would be the type of person to go a step further and make sure that the number of years represents some time of symbolic meaning and not just a number pulled out of her head, she would give it meaning. Although their styles and opinions differ on the specifics of the importance of timing in their respective stories, Margaret Atwood and Charles Perrault would both agree that timing is very important to not only their stories, but life in general.
