The Most Amazing Story Ever Told

The Most Amazing Story Ever Told

P eter Parker , the shy photographer swallowed up by his angry editor, living with his aunt in a little house together, is in fact the Amazing Spider Man. Clark Kent , who grew up in little Smallville, and who works as an easy-to-forget reporter, is nothing less than Kal-El of Krypton, known more familiarly to us as Superman. And Bruce Wayne , the so-called playboy and wealthy spoiled brat who wastes away his time and energy on pleasure and selfishness, is in fact the caped Crusader, the Batman. You see, in hero and fairy stories, you can’t judge a thing on the basis of how it looks; you’ve got to go deeper down, further in, to the real meaning of the thing. In a comic book adventure, you simply can never comprehend the full nature of a thing by judging it purely on the face of it. In fairy stories, a frog may be a prince, a beautiful temptress a wicked witch, a po’ girl in the basement may be the future princess of the kingdom, or a small-town boy may be Superman. In fairy stories, it is prudent to kiss every frog you encounter, because you never know if a prince might happen to be dwelling inside it.

Frederick Buechner in Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale says this of fairy tales:

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