“But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again” C.S. Lewis

There is an enduring and endearing nature of fairy tales that begs an explanation. Fairy tales are imaginary and even whimsical stories that contain many unrealistic characters, magical occurrences and silliness. Yet, people remember these silly stories for their whole lives.  Parents read them to small children and children in turn, beg to hear them repeated over and over again.  The explanation for this thirst for fairy tales is simple.  Fairy tales are timeless in our culture because they allow kids as well as adults to come face to face with profound existential life issues, such as the loss of a loved one or fear of a monstrous person, or even fear of the future, through the lens of an entertaining and unthreatening story.
Fairy tales are appropriate for children on the most superficial level because they are entertaining for children. The idea of an enhanced second world is a welcomed adventure for children.  On a deeper level the child reads and understands the moral dilemma laid before them in the story. They are able to relate to the characters and their struggles because fairy tale is clear about what each character is felling and what they must do to overcome their hurdle. Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for example, is overly ambitious to a fault.  He wants badly to be king of Narnia and is willing to betray his family for it. “He did want Turkish Delight and to be a Prince (and later a King) and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn't want her to be particularly nice to them – certainly not to put them on the same level as himself – but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn't do anything very bad to them”.  Children can relate to Edmunds’ betrayal because everyone experiences selfishness and at some point secretly wishes for similar things.  His family’s forgiveness and Edmunds example of earning redemption is important to children.  Edmund’s redemption by his family teaches children to forgive someone who has tried to hurt you.  It also shows a good example of how to apologize to those you’ve wronged. In the story, Edmund shakes hands with each of the others and says to each of them in turn, "I'm sorry."  Each of the others responds to Edmund, "That's all right.  And then everyone wanted very hard to say something which would make it quite clear that they were all friends with him again – something ordinary and natural – and of course no one could think of anything in the world to say.”   This simple yet touching exchange between a brother and his siblings engaged in a fairy tale land power struggle is appropriate for children because it is so engrossing. The story is timeless because children intimately relate to a story of sibling rivalry carefully woven into a wonderfully tale of magic and adventure.  
Another scene that all children can relate to happens later in the same story when Edmund finds himself in the house of the Witch.   Although he terribly craves the enchanted Turkish delight a dwarf serves him only bread on the floor. In a pout Edmund refuses, “Take it away” said Edmund sulkily. I don’t want dry bread.” It’s a scene almost every child faces when faced with food that isn’t their favorite. The When he refuses the Witch looks him down and he quickly changes his mind.  “he apologized and began to nibble at the bread, although it was so stale he could hardly get it down.”  (page 112). The episode is humorous because it involves such a common situation in a household. The child wants a favorite food and is insistent. But the adult, in this case the Witch, refuses to indulge the child. The pouting child is brought into line by just a stern look and hopefully learns a lesson. The adult enjoys the fairy tale as well. It is from a different perspective but the adult hears the story in exactly the same way as the child. The story is enjoyed and relished by the adult and the child reader.  
This example demonstrates that the timeless appeal of fairy tales doesn't end at childhood.  The adult experiences fairy tales in a more complex and nuanced way than a child but the stories certainly touch a nerve. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis seems to speak directly to the adult reader when he describes a fight between Peter and a fearsome wolf.  After Peter kills the wolf kills at the last possible moment, “he just had time to duck down and plunge his sword, as hard as he could, between the brute’s forelegs and into its’ heart.”  The scene he describes next can only appeal to the adult, “he struck him with the flat of the blade” and then announces that Peter is Sir Peter Wolf’s- Bane.  The scene mirrors the returning war hero receiving a medal, title or other honor from the government. But in this case the authority figure is the Lion Aslan, who stands as an obvious substitute for Jesus. This imagery can only be fully appreciated by the adult reader although the story is clearly enjoyed by all ages.    
Because the C.S. Lewis classic is rich with symbols of Christian figures and philosophy it is a good place from which to draw these deeply embedded fairy tale themes. The renewal of life is cleverly worked into the story toward the end when Aslon breathes life into the stone statues of animals. “Everywhere the statues were coming to life. The courtyard no longer looked like a museum, it looked more like a zoo.” This renewal by Christ in the form of the lion, Aslan, is clearly intended to be understood as Christ’s power of resurrection. For children, the scene is more whimsical. The statues come alive in a colorful scene of  “glossy chestnut sides of centaurs, indigo horns of unicorns, plumage of birds, reddy-brown of foxes, dogs, and satyrs, yellow stockings and crimson hoods of dwarfs…” (page 168)that is guaranteed to delight the imagination of any child. This ability to strike a chord simultaneously in the mind of an adult and child lies at the heart of the fairy tales timeless relevance.  
Whether the story is heard by a child as an adventure with parallels to common childhood themes or appreciated on a more nuanced level by the adult reader, fairy tales are a special category of literature that fills a niche in our culture that hold a unique and timeless place in our hearts.