The culture of fairy tales has changed with time. Today, they
are considered children’s stories by adults. The only way in
which fairy tales have survived is through parents reading them
to children, but these adults have been disapproving of those
parts of fairy tales that make them serious literature. The
marchen, or fairy tale, has evolved into simple happily-ever-
after romance as parents have pushed stories for children away
from violence and irrationality. Stone argues that adults should
not censor out the parts of fairy tales that make them literary.
The brutality and unreality does not affect young readers
negatively. In fact, it is the parents, rather than the
children, that are most disturbed by such stories. Marchen used
to conjure up images very different from those conjured by fairy
tales today. They used to force readers and listeners to
consider the balance of good and evil and the necessity of
overcoming obstacles before ultimate goal achievement. The
romance was rarely an integral part of the