Unlike the Puritans, John Ruskin believed fairy tales were the perfect literature for kids. In an introduction he wrote to a new edition of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, he expressed his belief that fairy tales are "free from faults." John Ruskin's King of the Golden River is an organic continuation of the fairy tale tradition. It is an all-male version of Cinderella. The book reclaims fairy tales by updating many of their standard features to fit Ruskin's reality The female version of Cinderella in each culture defines the ideal woman. This work utilizes, manipulates, and reinvents the fairy tale as a tool with which Ruskin comments on and criticizes contemporary definitions of masculinity specifically the pedagogy of Muscular Christianity. The South-West Wind Esquire and the King of the Golden River, who help Ruskin's boy Cinderella, Gluck, are physically as small or smaller than their charge. Still, their power exceeds that of his large and violent brothers, who arguably represent contemporary ideals of masculinity. The King and Wind are able to control the weather, turn a desert into a garden, and grant wishes. This readjustment includes, most importantly, a redefinition of the conservative image of masculinity most fairy tales endorse. Ruskin challenges this notion