By the time I was old enough to read them myself, the first several volumes were very worn. Some of the stories were so popular with us that Dad can still recite portions of them today. One of the major ways that human beings differ from other creatures on the earth is that we tell stories. Our earliest primative cultures gathered around the fire in the evening and told the stories of their culture and what had happened in the hunt or the garden that day. The important and significant stories were remembered and passed on, just as they are in our families and communities today.
Stories capture the essential meaning of our lives.
They tell us who we are, where we have come from. They inspire us and challenge us. Stories have great power. And many have recognized this. Bruno Bettleheim has written about the power of fairy tales to shape our understanding and psychological development.