Looking for Gold: The Alchemy of Cinderella, by Mary A. Osborne

The hidden teachings of a beloved fairy tale

Parabola Podcast Episode 35: Change & the Changeless

Story Editor Betsy Cornwell shares Jim White’s moving essay “The Esoteric Shakespeare” and Scottish and Chinese fairy tales, as well as wise advice from Rainer Maria Rilke, in this episode of Parabola magazine’s free monthly podcast.

Parabola Podcast Episode 28: The Miraculous

Story editor Betsy Cornwell shares excerpts from Parabola Magazine’s new issue, “The Miraculous,” including three new poems by beloved author Jane Yolen.

The Search for One Thing, by Betsy Cornwell

“Give it one week of hard frost,” my new husband says, “and all the green will be gone.” He has slowed the car to let two adolescent does cross the road, and we watch them vanish neatly into the ditch on the other side. […]

Parabola Podcast, Episode 10: “Generosity and Service”

Story editor Betsy Cornwell explores our current issue, Generosity and Service, in Parabola‘s monthly twenty-minute podcast.

Sister God, by Betsy Cornwell

When I was three or four years old, I started to grow afraid that I was evil. That year I had the worst nightmare of my life thus far: intense, consuming, and hyper real in the way that only very young children’s nightmares can be. In it, I walked from my bedroom down the creaking stairs of our…

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race, by Anonymous (West African)

There once lived, in Fanti-land, a man named Father Anansi. He possessed all the wisdom in the world. People came to him daily for advice and help.

Waking Up Aurora, by Rhiannon Thomas

I’ve had quite a tumultuous relationship with fairy tales. The Little Mermaid was always my favorite as a child. Not just the Disney version, where everyone lives happily-ever-after, but the original, where the mermaid feels like she’s walking on a thousand knives and almost stabs the prince to save her own life when he falls in…

Maidens & Monsters, Betsy Cornwell

Cinderella slaves for years for her heartless stepfamily; Beauty offers her life to the Beast at her father’s request. […]