This happens as well in South Africa where the white population lives in luxury while the blacks are left to suffering and starvation.
A fairy tale also contains a moral, or the story itself acts as a sort of cautionary or warning tale. The phrase, "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED"" is seen three times in the story and it seems to imply that this is a warning tale. The family in the story is a white middle-class family, and they are constantly worried about the "people of another color"" who live beyond their "palace"" walls. If they had treated the people fairly they would probably not have to live in fear of bad things "the people"" might do to them. The white people in South Africa would not have to live in fear of revolts if they did not try to rule over the black population. Nadine Gordimer wrote her fairy tale as a warning to the white population of South Africa that their fairy tale life is not as perfect as it seems and may not turn out so "happily ever after."".
"Once Upon A Time,"" relates to the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty."" In "Sleeping Beauty"" it is a witch who puts the curse on the princess. In this fairy tale, the husband's mother is referred to as "the wise old witch."" She gives the little boy the book of fairy tales for Christmas. After his mother reads him "Sleeping Beauty"" out of the book, as a bedtime story, the little boy pretends "to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty back to life."" Instead of rescuing the princess as in the real fairy tale, the little boy falls prey to the "DRAGON'S TEETH."" This is fairy tale like as well because princes often fight off dragons in fairy tales. The white people in South Africa represent the witch of fairy tales, because they provoke the bad things that happen in the country. The "DRAGON'S TEETH"" represent the weapons used against the black people. "The sunlight flashed and slashed, off the serrations, the cornice of razor thorns encircled the home, shining.
