Reading binge

continues. I read (in some cases re-read) the fairy tales referenced despite Figes' succinct précis of each tale she references. I'm a slow reader (I read as I would hear pauses, inflections, and rhythms of speech) but managed the slim (by modern standards) 180 pages in a few hours. This passage I made note of:      

How old is old enough for a child to know the world for what it is? In order to survive even the most mundane existence, by the standards of what we call the civilized world, a child must at some stage be taught not to touch dog shit, never to run into the road, not to go off with strangers. This is particularly difficult to explain, since we do not want our offspring to think badly of the human race. In stories evil and wickedness is easily recognized, personified in a witch, a monster, someone with features of outstanding ugliness. What if you cannot tell? What if anybody could be bad, underneath? What if that nice man who looks like an uncle, who smiles and maybe even brings a sweet out of his pocket, is not what he seems? When and how do we explain, try to explain, about the existence of paedophiles, child killers, Dachau, men who wear brown shirts and armbands and high shiny boots, in short, everything that might or might not go on beyond the garden gate?