What Big Ears You Have: Lessons to Learn from Fairy Tales

Everybody loves a good fairy tale. Fairy tales are very imaginative, they take us to a place we can't go in our ordinary life. They have happy endings that make us feel good inside, or at least the Disney-ized ones do. But fairy tales aren't just about fun stories and happy endings, fairy tales are also about teaching lessons. Here are some of the lessons you should learn from some of the classic fairy tales.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
In case you haven't heard the fairy tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves here is a brief summary. Ali Baba overhears a large band of thieves visiting a treasure they have hidden in a cave. The magic words to open the cave are "Open, Sesame". After the thieves are gone Ali Baba sneaks in and steals some of their treasure and takes it home. Ali Baba's brother finds out about the cave and asks Ali Baba about it. Ali Baba tells his brother the password and he goes off to get his own treasure.

Ali Baba's brother gets inside the cave and has his treasure but forgets the password to leave "Close, Sesame". The Thieves come back and find Ali Baba's brother there and kill him. When his brother doesn't return home Ali Baba gets worried and returns to the cave and finds his brother dead, he takes the body home for a proper burial. The thieves return to the cave to see the body is missing and know somebody knows about their cave. They set out to find Ali Baba only to be tricked and eventually killed by a slave-girl named Morgiana. There are actually several lessons to learn here.