Fairy Tales: Opies and Children at Play Continued

Back to the Opies and their fascinating points! 

One of the Opies' points is that children like to play in the streets. Build as many safe and environmentally friendly and special skateboard parks you want, they will gravitate to the sidewalks and "adult" parks--on purpose, it appears, though not deliberately or even aggressively. That's where they are--so that's where they play. And they liked to be watched--but they will ignore adults while they are playing.

"Ironically," the Opies write, "the bombing of London was a blessing to the youthful generations that followed" (15). All those piles of rubble!!

Another Opie point is that boys and girls play differently. In her book, People in the Playground (children call themselves "people," not "children"), Iona Opie points out that there are girls who prefer to play the boys' games, and boys who prefer to stay with the girls, and nobody makes a fuss about it. Nobody labels it. Nobody sees it as indicative of anything. 

Well, adults would. But the children that the Opies observed rarely did. 

Overall, boys and girls play differently, though the rule creation and attitude towards games is often quite similar.  Boys want to smash each other's marbles. Girls want to look at the marbles and talk about them. Iona Opie does not stigmatize either behavior, a welcome change from so much discourse on children these days.

Regarding rule creation, Iona Opie points out that children will be fiercely protective of rules, including who is allowed to play, once a game starts. If you weren't there to begin with, you are not allowed in. 

Adults would fuss and interfere and talk about being "exclusive versus inclusive." Iona Opie maintains that children are quite accepting of this "we have a strict number" rule: complaining to a teacher is considered a last resort. In fact, when she questioned a young boy about this rule--what he would do if he was denied entry into a game--he said with obvious exaggeration that he and the other boys would break up the other game. However, his friends laughed, disagreed, and said, "We start our own game." 

The Opies also wrote about HOW children talk. In their first book about lore and language, they refer to rhymes that are passed on from child to child. They provide, quite enjoyably for history buffs, the following:

Hark the Herald Angels sing, 

Mrs Simpson's pinched our king. 

The Opies point out that the verse was in circulation BEFORE Edmund abdicated. The verse indicates that kids were well-aware of the rumors and debates circulating throughout the adult world. It also indicates how quickly children passed the verse on: "Many an advertising executive with a six-figure budget at his disposal might envy such crowd penetration" (6).

Check out kids' jokes.

One of the aspects of Lore and Language that shocked the intelligentsia (leading to the somewhat defensive forward by the Opies in the subsequent book) is that children tell stories and sing verses that are scatological, unfunny (to other people), borderline sexual, and violent. The Opies point out (correctly--to the dismay, I am sure, of people who like to equate language with personality formation) that children often are more attracted to the sounds and the transgressive nature of the words than with the words' actual meaning or intent. (If you've ever heard a child say, "Poop" and then fall off a seat laughing alongside other children, you know what the Opies are talking about. Hey, "poop" is a funny word!) 

Such verses and words also illustrate a point that the clear-headed Opies make again and again: children do not invent (in fact, within their culture, they are extremely traditional). They borrow, they alter, they take what exists and make it into something else. They are not merely imitating, however, since the verses they change often have distinct regional differences. Sometimes, a "new" child's version of a rhyme or story is adopted. Sometimes, it is only temporarily enjoyed before the group moves back to their version.

Consequently, I had to wonder what kids are borrowing from now. What are they mocking (often unintentionally) in corners that adults can't get at? Tell us to be good little boys and girls who accept and tolerate everyone and say all the right things and play together all the time and label ourselves correctly...we will decide to worship Elsa, a character that gives everyone the finger without asking for permission. 

 Which brings me to one of the Opies' best statements--and most relevant to these fairytale posts!

"[O]ral lore is subject to the continual process of wear and repair, for folklore, like everything else in nature, must adapt itself to new conditions if it is to survive" (9).