ABSTRACT
The idea that the language of the fairy story could be impregnable to a foreign invader adds an interesting dimension to the enduring description of the stepmother as wicked. The wrestling with such uncomfortable ideas as paternal desire needs to be spoken about and it is remarkable to think that the fairy story did provide helpful ways of confronting such situations. One answer is that fathers and stepfathers have throughout history played a much less significant role in child rearing during the early years of infancy. Until the nineteenth century the only chance of survival depended upon the newborn child being fed with 'mother's milk,' and so the maternal figure was necessarily all important. The women have supernatural powers, the men do not, and one consequence is that fathers and stepfathers tend to slide out of the tale and be forgotten.
