The tale begins with the disappearance of Truth. Five wise men set out to find Truth. They all come back with different answers: Truth= Science, Truth=Theology, Truth=Love, Truth= Gold, and finally Truth=Wine. The men argue and get into a fist fight. Interestingly the narrator makes sure it is know that Theology was the most badly injured. Then a child steps in, and says she found Truth and they all follow her to a meadow. There the whole town see a beautiful creature who proclaims she is Truth, and everyone immediately identifies her as a Fairy Tale. The Five men leave the meadow, but everyone, child and women especially, stay with the fairy tale.
I think that the author is offering us the fairy tale as Truth because truths can be hidden a narrative. In a way, the fairy tale is more truth than the five wise men's individual claims because a fairy tale can incorporate all those things. They are comforting, entertaining and educational. They are the epitome of everything anyone would want because all truths can exist in them without contradiction. Thus, this story itself is not a fairy tale, but it is meant to make us appreciate the concept so that we can freely enjoy any fairy tale.
This sounds like an interesting narrative on fairy tales and carries over pretty well to what we have "learned" to be a fairy tale. Each day in class, we are presented with different facets of a fairy tale passage and each person has reason to believe in his/her explanation. Fairy tales are what we as the audience make of them. There may be certain explanations that are more commonly accepted than others, but to say that only one is valid takes away from the allure of fairy tales themselves.
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