G. K. Chesterton:
When we are very young children we don't need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough.
A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is exicted by being told that Tommy opened a door.
Boys like romantic tales; but babies like realistic tales — because they find them romantic. . . . This proves that even nursery tales only echo an almost pre-natal leap of interest and amazement.
These tales say that apples are golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water.
Orthodoxy quoted in John Piper, When I Don't Desire God, (Crossway, 2004), 196, paragraphing added.
For more on Chesterton, see Pastor John's recent post, The Sovereign God of "Elfland" (Why Chesterton's Anti-Calvinism Doesn't Put Me Off).
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Recent posts from "They Still Speak" —
- A Comforting Message for the Closing Year (Charles Spurgeon)
- Go to the House of Feasting Tomorrow (Charles Spurgeon)
- Pastors, What You Preach Is Already Decided (Charles Spurgeon)
