Why are pirates and highwaymen seen as heroes in children stories?
The pirates and highwaymen of children’s stories are related to the real lecherous, murderous villains only in that they borrow on a kinder, gentler version of their vocational reputation. As a group they are notoriously disrespectful of authority and most possibly of questionable morals. However, least we be guilty of judging others unknowingly, we soon find the victims are actually the victimizers. Be they the greedy heads of European government’s pilfering the wealth of the New World or the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham abusing the citizenry in the absence of the king. Who will stand for the innocent when authority is abused? The moral of the story is there for the children to discover and assimilate.
