Commenting on why the main figures in modern versions of fairy tales are almost always feminine, Miss Sushuri Madonna writes: I think the reason is simply that in the metaphysics of fairy tales, the figures who represent the Divine (and even the Dark Queen) are naturally feminine. It takes effort on the part of patriarchal redactors (in the official patriarchal scriptures, for example) to masculinize them. Where they are left to themselves - for example in folk-tales, especially when folk-tales have ceased to be understood as metaphysical documents - the feminine re-surfaces naturally. One very good example is provided by Dr. A.K.Coomaraswamy's great and scholarly article "The Loathly Bride". In it he shows, with enormous documentation, how tales of the bride transformed into unpleasant forms and rescued by the hero's kiss are actually tales of the fallen soul rescued by the Spirit. In ancient versions of the story, the fallen soul was represented by a female figure and the Divine Spirit by a male. Why? Because the writers were patriarchal and had some idea what they were writing about. But as soon as that idea was lost and people (on the surface of their consciousness) believed these to be "just old stories, only fit for children", the natural order re-emerged. Who today has heard of the marriage of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell or any of the other versions Dr. Coomaraswamy cites? But everyone has heard of versions in which the Divine Spirit is feminine, such as "The Frog Prince" or "Beauty and the Beast". Interestingly, the one currently remembered story in which the giver of the Divine Kiss is not feminine is the Sleeping Beauty, but that is because the focus of the story is on Beauty Herself, and the story has a double-significance - the most prominent being that of Beauty as the Divine Spirit in the form of the Hidden Treasure or Goal of the Quest.