Fairy-tale Logic By A.E. Stallings Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks: Gather the chin hairs of a man-eating goat, Or cros
s a sulphuric lake in a leaky boat, Select the prince from a row of identical masks, Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks And snatch its bone; count dust specks, mote by mote, Or learn the phone directory by rote. Always it’s impossible what someone asks— You have to fight magic with magic. You have to believe That you have something impossible up your sleeve, The language of snakes, perhaps, an invisible cloak, An army of ants at your beck, or a lethal joke, The will to do whatever must be done: Marry a monster. Hand over your firstborn son. What shift occurs between the first and second parts of this sonnet? A) The second part of the sonnet asks the reader questions. B) The second part of the sonnet directly addresses the reader. C) The second part of the sonnet claims there is no way to win in a fairy tale. D) The second part of the sonnet refers to the real world, rather than a fairy tale world.
