How is the introduction paragraph 1 to 8 related thematically to the fairy tale the narrator tells? What specific plots elements do they share?

With the first lines of the official bedtime story, now told by a third-person narrator, Gordimer continues to pique the reader’s curiosity and, perhaps, their concern: she utilizes one of the most famous refrains from fairy tales—”happily ever after”—but is applying it to what is obviously a contemporary story set in Gordimer’s home of South Africa (the suburb, car, various examples of technology, riots, and “people of another color” support this assertion of time and place). Right away, the reader must decide if this is really a bedtime story, a children’s story, or a fairy tale. It has a little boy in it and it is told in a simple, light, fashion with the familiar trappings of the fairy tale genre, but the riots, robberies, and casual racism complicate matters. Gordimer’s tone, which is tongue-in-cheek and satirical, also deviates from the traditionally serious tone of the fairy tale.