This Is only a Test

The human race has gone through many trials to get where we are today. We have faced the elements, nature, and each other. The reason we do battle with such forces is to gain the things we need for survival and things we want to make life easier for us. There are few better places to look for examples of such reasons than fairy tales. They show base human desires while explaining them in what are usually complex situations. Three excellent examples of stories that involve an ordeal are “The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest,” “The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes,” and “The White Snake.” While all of these have the common ground of involving a test, they also contain many similarities that make these tales examples of showing human nature in the face of trails. The stories seem to have another running theme that the good and hard-working people will prevail. These qualities, though not always present, contribute and eventually determine the hero’s ability to achieve their goal.

In The “Worn-Out Dancing Shoes,” the test is a proposition sent to an entire kingdom by a king. He declares that if someone can find out where his daughters sneak off to every night to dance, then he can marry the daughter of their choice. The princess as a goal can symbolize many things. In this modern time it could mean getting money by working, or even studying hard for a final exam. It shows the idea that not only can good things come to those that do good for others, but also those who work hard.

In the tale of “The White Snake,” a loyal servant gains the ability to speak to animals and is banished from the castle. He later returns to complete the task presented by the king to win his daughter. This is a very similar idea to the “Worn-Out Dancing Shoes”, but the major difference in the test this time around is that the servant is required to complete three separate tests to achieve his goal. There is also a kind of pre-test to the official ones. It involves the servant helping the random animals. Thus a test of his inner goodness is presented. The multiple tests can symbolize that not everything can be done easily, because once you’ve finished with one task, another can easily take its place.

However, in “The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest,” the test is presented quite differently. This is a test merely of inherent goodness in the two stepsisters. The first girl, who is innocent and polite, passes and is granted many wonderful things. The evil stepsister, not wanting to be out-done by the nicer sister goes out to find the gnomes. She goes on this journey like the spoiled child that she is. “She sewed her a magnificent fur coat to wear and gave her bread and butter and cake to take with her” (Grimm 48). She is mean and unhelpful to the gnomes. Therefore, she is punished and given terrible gifts. This test is not one that a person realizes is occurring, but one that tells children that good things come to those that are good.

The first story involves only a single test to win the princess, but the soldier follows them three times. The second actually involves three real tests. This is, of course, not counting the tests of goodness to the animals. The work that the soldier puts shows to a child that it is necessary to put effort into things to get what you want, and it provides a decent character for the children to be like. The soldier is also a reasonable man. “Then the king asked the soldier which princess he would like for his wife. ‘I’m no longer so young,’ he answered, ‘so