The Science of Fairy Tales?

The title and the "inspiration" to write something about fairy tales was lifted from Yahoo's front page. The headline caught my attention as I love fairy tales. I remember, as a child, I fantasize about Jack and the Beanstalk and Hansel and Gretel. I don't think much about Cinderella and Snow White. The witch in the mirror intrigued me more. :)

Anyway, yes, I guess Jack and the Beanstalk has the greatest impact on me. I was fascinated with the giant's hen that lays the golden egg. I wish I have a hen to do that for me. Lay me golden eggs in my own backyard. Wow! I have a Fort Knox in my very home.

I remember getting a little nervous whenever I think of the giants in this fairy tale. There was a show the title escapes me now which features fairy tales. Jack was featured and there was this giant lady with a macro shot which startled me. Gad, was she scary.

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!??
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he 'live, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

I kept wandering then if it could happen that a beanstalk would grow so high and reach the sky. I would really, really give it a climb and see what is up there. That thought made me excited as a child. I was even plotting on my mind how I would escape the ogre when he sees me up there. Dodge, run, run faster, slide down the beanstalk.

What science could explain a beanstalk growing as huge as the one at Jack's. I know that there are explanations for gigantism but a giant beanstalk?

And what about Hansel and Gretel. One lazy afternoon as kids, my sister and I was able to catch a movie about Hansel and Gretel and how they managed to escape the witch. They actually tricked the witch so she'd get inside an oven before she bakes Gretel. Yep, an oven. Burn, baby, burn. Clever children. :D

I fancied about the witch's house made of candies and cookies. How I would guard it from the other kids who would want to steal a cookie from it. I wondered how it is to live inside one.

Fairy tales speaks of social causes of the period. Hansel and Gretel depicted the hardships in medieval times. As for the case of Jack, it created controversy as it was interpreted to espouse stealing. For what it's worth, fairy tales handed us moral stories generation after generation.

As for its science, fairy tales should not have any explanations, no science. Maybe they can actually happen as science says. Like how the explanation was with the parting of the sea during Moses' time. An adult like me would want clear cut explanations.

A small voice tells me though to let me use my imagination freely and not confine my thoughts in a box full of cold calculations and justifications why Rapunzel's hair could carry a man, why the Little Mermaid lost her voice to a sorceress, why a carpet can fly, why a hen can lay golden eggs.

Some imaginations need to be left alone. Don't be a party pooper. I don't want to lose the child in me.

*Credits for the pictures goes here for Hansel and Gretel and here for Jack.