FOR EVERY LOVELY GLOBE FLOWER, THERE IS A DEATHCAP MUSHROOM

Sarah Maitland, author of From the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairy Tales, sees the magic of the fairy tale as being inexorably tied with the forest, with all of its hidden danger and beauty:

“(…) even the most being magic is not safe, cannot be safe, because it is unfamiliar, spooky, weird and eerie. The woods are chaotic and wild; life goes on unseen within them, and for every lovely globe flower, springing golden in a small patch of sunshine, there is a death cap—Amanita phalloides—shiny, olive and yellow, just as pretty, but deadly poisonous, lurking under the oak trees. And in the stories, for every kindly old woman who gives you a useful gift, there is a very similar one who may gobble you up, put you under an enchantment, or imprison you in a tower. All magic, even good magic, all spells, even kindly benign ones, carry the fear of the uncanny with them. Such magic is complex, twisted, strange, and should be feared.”