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 is 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.  Goodness and righteousness usually prevail over evil and its forces and the reader is challenged by the moral of the story to personally digest its message and hopefully integrate it into his personal life, and perhaps become wiser as a result.  Fairy tales have been written and spoken in a variety of forms and with a multitude of messages. Both The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood and There Was Once use the passage of time and resulting transformations of people, attitudes and concepts as a result of time passing to advance the maturity of thought and action.  Both authors accomplish this task by emphasizing that proper timing as well as the passage of time is the important factor responsible for the evolution of maturation to occur.

Both Perrault and Atwood illustrate how important the timing of 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 (Perrault 299). This teaches us that there is a time for everything and that doing nothing, even falling into a deep slumber, has an important role. Margaret Atwood drives her point by using what begins as a typical fairy tale, but quickly the tale is abandoned as the descriptions come under attack as being politically incorrect, outdated, misogynistic and therefore in dire need of change.  The story line creates a humorous dialogue with the actual story sacrificed to make the point that time passing (in this case probably hundreds of years) that many of our social attitudes, mindsets and stereotypes no longer are valid and require that  the new version of the tale reflect that. 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 (Atwood 305-306).

Perrault's princess is portrayed as an over protected princess, a heroine who, though passive in her actions, matures over a one hundred year period.  She evolves from a fifteen year old girl who suddenly, after the passage of time, and through no actions of her own, comes to life as a more mature individual, as if something special has happened while she was asleep, as if some kind of intuitive learning has taken place inside her (Bottigheimer 54).  She accepts her prince and the duties of wife and mother as a result of the passage of time (Franz 87). Even Margaret Atwood's heroine would end up in Marriage. The terminology Atwood uses to illustrate the transformation is "woman". Hence a transformation over time (Atwood 306). Just as sleeping beauty's past has been dead for a century, Atwood prescribes that the past is dead when writing "enough of the dead past" (306). Atwood's caustic commentary throughout the story highlights that most of the current thought regarding poor, beautiful, goodness and the stereotypes associated with the past concepts need to be revised if not discarded completely. Through the passage of time, just as with sleeping beauty, transformation through time generates the next sequence in life or in the evolution of social thought and attitude.  Atwood wants the established stereotypes to be discarded, as sleeping beauty discarded her adolescence and entered into a stage of maturity.

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, especially for children, "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 so in a clever manner. 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 line 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). 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. Both authors, one contemporary and one centuries in the past, utilize time and its passage as a catalyst for change; Perrault's for transformation and Atwood's as a plea for revision. For those living centuries ago, the fairy tale with its magic and evil reflected the superstitions and beliefs held by most because science had not yet provided the answers or solutions that would ultimately prolong the lifespan.  Fantasy was an escape.  Perrault provided that. Atwood presents evidence, line by line, that what was, requires transformation.  No fantasy or fantastic storyline required, only a line by line question challenging the ancient order of thought as being obsolete.Hayden-McNeil, 2014. 296-303. Print.
