This one was interesting. There was a lot of Freudian analysis to wade through, and some of the conclusions were a bit of a stretch. E.g., lizards are an obvious phallic reference and the number three is an obvious phallic reference (one shaft and two testicles) and dwarves? Also an obvious phallic reference (they "skillfully penetrate into dark holes"). It got to be a bit of a joke for me - trying to guess how the next story was oedipal and/or phallic. It's a little much in places.

But part of this were fascinating. I like the idea that fairy tales are their own special genre and that unlike fables, the moral of the story should be left ambiguous because the child will get different things out of it during different tellings. That the "dark" versions of a fairy tale can really help a child face their conscious and unconscious fears. But it was hard to wade through the Freudian stuff to get to the interesting ideas.