Little did I know that I would also be moved to tears. Really. The opera tells the story of a little fairy who sneaked out from heaven to experience the excitement of this earthly world. She promptly met a young man, fell in love with him, contrived to marry him and got pregnant.
When the Heavenly Emperor discovered it, he got quite angry and ordered the fairy to return to heaven. Naturally, she didn’t want to leave her husband and was initially defiant. At that point, the Emperor struck the young man down. To save the life of her husband, the fairy was forced to submit and return to heaven. What was wrong with what the young couple did? To find love and happiness in this messy world, to escape from the sterile blandness of “heaven”? And that is a sin punishable by death?
Of course it is just a story, a legend. It is not real. Yet the story has been around for hundreds of years, and beloved by so many. It must have struck a chord with many. It certainly struck a chord with me.
Surely, in the young couple I see the image of so many young people who dare to challenge the status quo, to question the authority of the establishment, to want the freedom to choose, to love.
Am I being old? To be touched by such a simplistic, implausible, old story? Or is there really something that is truly honourable in there?
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