Fables and Folktales: The Boy Who Found Fear At Last

So the weight of adulthood expectations is what finally gets him throughout his harrowing adventures? Honestly, kinda relatable.

Boy going back to his mom with an army of guards, a horse carriage with immense wealth and power: Mother I found out what fear is.

“Mom I found fear.” “How?” “I’m king of the realm now.” “WHAT”

It's a small thing but the "Are you sure you don't want anything else?" "Like a third bracelet?" really got me, so adorable and hilarious

So he wasn't scared by literal ghosts, zombies, mermaids, bandits and the legal system... but was scared by responsibility. Relatable!

Honestly, that the only thing that this crazy little boy who thinks he's invincible actually fears is power and the responsibility that comes with it is a brilliant twist.

The idea that they weren't sure so they released more pigeons and they all kept going to him until everyone is like "fine he is the king" is just so good. I agree this should be more well known

I love the subversion of becoming king in a folk tale. So often it's part of the happy ending, like so often it ends with "He married the princess" or "The king named him as his heir" or "He achieved his destined birthright to the throne" and now we move straight to our "happily ever after", but no. In this story, being named king is still the climax, but actually having to rule is a massive responsibility that usually gets completely glossed over, but here it takes center stage. I love it

poor kid realized he has responsibilities and immediately got a panic attack

Sometimes I find the moral of old folk tales a tad convoluted but "adult responsibility is the scariest thing of all" hits WAY too hard 😱

At first I thought this would be a version of a Brothers Grimm fairytale, of the youth who journeyed to learn what fear was. It ends quite differently, but the outcome of that story was hilarious to. There, after a similarly fruitless journey to find fear, the man de-cursed and won a haunted castle and married a resident princess . However, having failed to find fear increasingly depressed him, which increasingly annoyed his wife. So one night she filled a bucket with cold water and fish, and dumped it on her sleeping husband. Who woke screaming, and finally knew how true fear felt.

The idea that he basically got cuddle-piled by pigeons and that's how he got over his first time experiencing fear is too precious for words.

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself. And weasels, those little bastards will get you

The Bandit leader being sad after not being able to scare a literal kid is so hilarious and wholesome at the same time

3 mystical women: try to scare the young boy to no avail A single pigeon: hold my birdseed

The best part of Red's art for this video is the fact the boy keeps jumpscaring everyone else. Just casually pops in like 'hey, what's going on?' and everyone else freaks tf out. 🤣

Kid isn't scared of monsters or dying but he's scared of responsibility. Relatable.

Not scared of monsters or dying... But responsibility and failure? Oh boy, I just found the most relatable folktale yet

I heard a version of this story, but the ending was 100% different. After going out and having all his adventures, the boy finds out his mother is getting older and experiences the fear of losing her before he gets to see her again. So he travels back, and helps take care of his mother, finally understanding what fear is, in his case the fear of losing a loved one.

I read somewhere that when you're very young, your nightmares are very primal and basic (being chased by animals, falling from heights, etc.) But as you get older they get more modern and realistic (being fired, running late, eviction, breakups, etc.)