But Im not so interested in the hidden messages, the morals or the justifications. -(The Brothers Grimm Childrens and Household Tales 1812), Features: Murder, beheading, quite-possibly-incestuous domestic abuse, mild necrophilia, death by flowers. A husband and wife livehappily together, awaiting the birth of their baby. The sister becomes so irritated with her questions that she says she flayed herself. Once again, evildoers are punished: jealousy inspires Snow Whites mother to attend her newly-revived daughters wedding, where she is eventually forced to put on scalding hot iron boots and dance until she drops dead. Indeed, in the French version many believe the modern tale is based on, the pair actually end up stumbling across the devil himself. They're enough to make you wonder why fairy tales are ever considered okay for children. But what? Often, they would be used as warnings to children. Then, one day, they come across a cottage and decide to seek help. But in other versions, he doesnt take losing quite so well. They also kill his children. Rapunzel. Again, the Grimms Brothers version fails to present a romanticizedlet alone remotely appetizingoriginal. A dutiful girl, she sets off despite her horrible sense of foreboding. Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm were linguistic scholars in 19th-century Germany who kind of fell by accident into being the names most popularly associated with fairy tales across the world when they started collecting oral folk tales from their friends and neighbors. And so, instead of kissing the frog she finds, she instead throws it violently against the castle walls. Not knowing shed been rumbled, she says they should be put naked in a barrel fitted with spikes on the inside and then rolled through the town. Read the entire fairy taleDont go too deep into the forest. In fact, even the Grimm brothers re-wrote their version to make it more suitable for younger audiences following a backlash in their native Germany. -(Giovanni Francesco Straparola The Facetious Nights of Straparola 1550ish), Features: Coma sex/rape, attempted infanticide/forced cannibalism, death by burned alive alive. The story of a young duckling who is bullied for being ugly but then transforms into a beautiful swan is famous around the world. Much of the original tale, then, sees the Ugly Duckling struggling to survive alone through the winter. Snow. But theres a catch: every step the mermaid takes will feel like it was taken on razorblades her feet will bleed ceaselessly. Then, she dies. Horner had a look inside the pie and managed to take the deeds to one house for himself. Whats more, the boy-puppet doesnt even show the slightest remorse for murdering his fathers insect friend. Rapunzels prince met a grisly end in early versions of the fairy take. Germany still proudly celebrates the Brothers' gift for storytelling all along its Fairy Tale Route. Saved by a telltale digit! The witch learns of her romance and, in a fit of rage, cuts off her hair. Hansel and Gretel A terrifying story of cannibalism and child abuse, which thankfully ends happily for the protagonists, this tale of the Brothers Grimm also has all the elements of an exciting adventure for children, including gingerbread houses, talking geese and hidden treasure. It grows so long, in fact, that when a passing prince hears Rapunzel singing from her window, he is able to climb up to meet her using her hair as a rope. *Philip Pullman,Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. In this version, the queen that visits Snow White's cottage first tempts her with a corset that she . The step-mother then places her own hideously ugly and deformed daughter in Biancabellas bed, and when the king returns home, she tells him that his precious Biancabella miscarried a child, and has become hideous with grief. When Snow White and her handsome prince wed, the groom commands that the evil queen be condemned to dance until her death. When I look for creepy October reading, I turn to the OGs of twisted terror: the Grimm Brothers. Cat and mouse in partnership. Some fairies fly by and find the sight of the old woman so funny that they endow her with gifts of wondrous beauty, intelligence, and youth as a reward; she now has the body and face of a 15 year old! In the later versions, Hansel and Gretel get wise to the witchs plan and, after some time as captives, manage to escape. Indeed, the Danish writer wanted to show how noble self-sacrifice could be though he undoubtedly also used the tale to warn his young readers about the dangers of having unrealistic dreams and even trying to break out of the social class you were born in. The Goose Girl fairy tale started out as a dark morality tale for young girls. The king looks out his bedroom window in the morning, discovers a stunningly beautiful girl sitting in his tree, and immediately takes her for his wife. Here, the king asks the fraudster to name an appropriate punishment for a servant who pretends to be a royal. In his version of Cinderella, a poor girl worked to the bone by her evil step sisters, finds a fairy godmother who transforms her from her sooty present just in time to attend a glamorous ball. But in each one of these stories, some darker theme emerges. Two old, ugly sisters live together near a king's castle. The Juniper Tree.You two arent having any. Soon she snags a king for a husband, as fairytale women tend to do, but her journeys not over. Yes, we all know Cinderella's stepsisters had their eyes pecked out by birds, and Snow White's stepmother was forced to dance in burning hot iron shoes until she died. The original, titled Schneewittchen und die Sieben Swerge in German, is story number 53 in the Grimm fairy tale collection and is a little different. And when she tries to solve this problem, she is almost burned at the stake. Here are our sources: Little Red Riding Hood, 1810. The British Library. The story of the youth who went forth to learn what fear was. The eponymous Ugly Duckling manages to find refuge with a kindly old lady, but her cat is also a bully and forces him out of her home. After much arguments, the imp gives her one last deal: only if she can guess his name will she be able to keep the baby. And in some versions, he makes them join an army and fight in the Crusades. Presumably, they all live happily ever after though Doralice was probably in need of some therapy. (1823-26), and has since been translated . However, everyone agrees that it was just supposed to be a game, so they can't tell if the boy is evil or not. Tragically, the prince meets someone else and marries her. The work was first translated into English as German Popular Tales, 2 vol. He freaks out and throws her out the window (as you do). When he returns the next day, then, she passes the test. Her feckless dad is forced to chop off her hands, but even the stumps are too pure. UC Davies. The wolf devours Grandmother; and after putting some of her flesh in the pantry and some of her blood into a bottle, he climbs into Grandmothers bed. Her father, beside himself with grief, orders the palace and surrounding countryside be abandoned so he can put the event out of his mind. Little Red Riding Hood rarely enjoyed a happy ending in early takes on the tale. 26-06-2023 - List of fairy tales: The frog king or Iron Henry. The dark horned stranger cannot get to her though, cause she prays, the girl prays. Its true that picking messed-up moments from among the Grimms fairy tales is like shooting golden geese in a barrel, but some stand out among their routinely bloody brethren, adding cannibalism, filicide, and dismemberment to the usual stew of lies, misanthropy, and murder. The particularly disturbing part is that murder in fairy tales very often happens within families. The murdered mans skull is later discovered in the flower-pot, and the evil deed is uncovered. Then, in a twist thats often left out of modern versions, the animals tormenters are almost all slaughtered. Almost every child in the Western world knows the story of a princess who kisses a frog and the animals transforms into a handsome prince. Even the ever-optimistic Cinderella would haverun from most of the princes in these stories. She then props the childs body up in a chair and places the head back on his corpse, covering the wound with a handkerchief. Another family favorite is the story of Snow White. The prostitutes are all buried alive in the public sewer, save the youngest, who is married to the servant. The story of Cinderella is, for many, the ultimate fairy tale. When shes on there, the youngsters use the saw to slash her throat and then escape to their freedom. Often those innocent plot points end up seeming all the more morbid. Snow-white. The worst things that happened in fairy tales aren't for those seeking happily ever after. They return to the kingdom where the false queen now reigns: the evil plot is revealed, and the step-mother and her two daughters are burned alive in a furnace. In modern versions of The Ugly Duckling, the suffering and bullying is toned down. When the father has finished eating, the little girl gathers up her brothers bones from under the table and places them beneath the juniper tree where the boys dead mother is buried. And, for the most part, they have positive endings, with the protagonists overcoming challenges and living happily ever after. Rapunzel. In a sick twist, the mad monarch eats them! Beauty and the Beast is even older - this disturbing tale of beastly passions can be traced back to an Indian version from 2,000 years ago. When she is grown, Talia manages to find the only piece of flax in the entire kingdom, gets a splinter of it stuck beneath her fingernail, and falls into a deathlike sleep. The women, realizing this asa chance for glory, attemptto fool the king into thinking they're youngby sucking on their wrinkled fingers and only showing him those. By Willow Dawn Becker Blog | Faction | Scary Stuff April 15, 2021 Werewolves, murderers, water nixies, and the devil himself are just a few of the horrors that Grimm collected in their vast story search of the early 1600's. Read the entire fairy taleCold, cruel dealings with a strong child. Perhaps one of the most basic dark elements common to Grimms' fairy tales is murder. There are two versions of this German story, and both of them are terrifying. Its here where her wishes are answered. Features: Murder, dismemberment, cannibalism. Anwesha Ray 11 November 2017 View Germany really is a fairytale land. However, from this point on, the tale is much darker than the Disneyfied version. The king sees her, and decides that even if she was an ugly old liar before, she's pretty and rich now, so he marries her. The brother and sister. She lives a royal life, while the real princess is cast out as a lowly goose girl. Talia falls pregnant and, without waking, eventually gives birth to twins.. There is an appearance of ghosts, giants, ravenous black cats and dogs, skeletons and dead men hanging from a tree. The dog faces the dog but is hit by a train and dies. The brothers Grimm - The 40 best fairy tales: 1 - 20 1 Rumpelstiltskin There was once a miller who was poor, but he had one beautiful daughter. In "The Jew in the Brambles" the protagonist happily torments a Jew by. No hard feelings, Pop! The original tale of the Fox and the Hound is bloody, cruel and sad. - Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions - 2023 Roos Public Speaking & Storytelling, Please enable JavaScript in your browser to submit the form, The 9 Scariest Grimm Fairy Tales (I read all 200!). No little girl for this big bad wolf tonight. Back in the early 1800s, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were working as librarians. They kill his mate. In most versions of the tale, the wolf eats the grandmother whole. There's a reason why the Grimm fairy tales work so well as Christmas pantomimes. 4. Then, one day, a rat-catcher in multicolored (or pied) clothes arrives and offers to drive all the rats away. Most infamously, one version which the Brothers Grimm copied later have that Rumpelstiltskin is so angry he stamps one foot right through the castle floor. The boy playing the butcher takes the game too seriously, and tackles the pig boy and slits open his throat, killing him. Only for those who dare! Wikipedia. But the sanitized version of today is a long way from the tale published by the Brothers Grimm more than 100 years ago. The cook, unable to kill the babies, hides the twins and serves up two baby lambs instead. Working, as he so often does, through a series of forged letters, the devil manages to trick the traveling king into believing his wifes given birth to a monster, and to trick the kings mother into thinking he wants her to murder his wife. This gory detail is often left out of the story. Puss in Boots. In this version, the king was a married man when he assaulted Sleeping Beauty. The modern Sleeping Beauty is based on a tale penned by the Italian storyteller Giambattista Basile. He even grows up alongside dogs. The girl wakes up, broken-hearted, and goes into the woods to dig up her lovers head. In this version, the big bad wolf rushes to Grandmothers house after a little girl tells him she is delivering some milk and bread to the old woman. In an attempt to make herself feel more youthful to the kings touch, the old woman takes all her loose, sagging skin and ties it behind her back with string. The story centres on the small German town of Hamelin. The end. In one version, the mother of the two children playing sees the killing while bathing her youngest child, rushes down in a fit of rage, and kills the older boy herself. The darkness in this fairy tale is in how they deal with the child, all from Gods choices to the ending. Whats also left out is the fact that the Brothers Grimm had a lot of real-life stories to draw on. Disneys version was somewhat true to the Brothers Grimm story. How to Write Fairy Tales With AI (Try for Free), 10 Great Oral Storytelling Games for Adults. They marry in a wonderful wedding attended by humans and merpeople. They collected these fairy tales from many different people. So, happily ever after, right? He falls onto a rose bush, with thorns impaling his eyes. Arguably the most famous collection of fairy tales ever produced was Grimm's Fairy Tales, which was published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 (originally under the German title of Kinder und Hausmrchen, or 'Children's and Household Tales'). The Disturbing Truth Behind The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. The tale of Hansel and Gretel remains to this day one of the most twisted stories crafted by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Most notably, Jiminy the Talking Cricket, a key character in the movie, is killed in one of the opening chapters. Something to do with the vanity of aging women I guess but regardless of the moral, that is one damn bizarre fairy tale. Here are the original twists you never knew existed in your Disney favorites. Before long, the servant refuses to obey orders, and so the princess is forced to fetch her own water from a river. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales.The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.. Ignoring her pleas, they force the maiden to drink three different colored wines, after which her heart bursts in two. Penguin, 2012. She tricks her daughter, who ends up thinking she killed the boy. His wife, the queen, ends up hearing about his illegitimate twins and wants them not only killed but also tries to devise a way of making her unfaithful husband eat the dead babies. An imp appears and offers to help. He invites Chicken Little and his buddies back to his home for a rest. This way, she learns his name is Rumpelstiltskin. This one may be rather long, but believe me: its a story worth reading. This gentleman invites his bride-to-be for a visit. This tale starts with the stranger who offers a deal, too good to be true. But it probably wouldnt have been so popular had Uncle Walt kept in some of the more disturbing elements of the story. Far from being a sweet romance, the original version of this classic makes for horrific reading and would definitely fall foul of the censors if it were published today. Isnt that one of the scariest and cruellest fathers you have met? Indeed, the modern-day telling, as made famous by the Brothers Grimm and then the poet Robert Browning, sticks close to the twisted original version of the legend child abduction and all. -(Giambattista Basile. You can see the blood-red fire in its eyes. Occasionally, I send out an email with new writings on storytelling and fairy tales. In a sick twist, the brother and sister pretend not to know how they can get on the sawhorse, so the devils wife offers to demonstrate. Birds gather to strike the food supplies. Tired of his moralising and advice, an angry Pinocchio hurls a hammer at Jiminy, killing him outright. Jealous of Snow Whites beauty, an evil queen orders a huntsman to bring back Snows heart, which is already rather gruesome in the first place. Indeed, its widely-heralded as a masterpiece and made Disney a household name and a fortune. 26-06-2023 - Grimms' Fairy Tales - The complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm: Rumpelstiltskin. Her arm reaches up out of the grave to the world of the living. Indeed, historians of folk takes believe this one goes back more than 2,500 years and has been used in a wide range of different cultures to warn of the dangers of mass hysteria. The wonderful musician. Meanwhile, the farmers favourite dog gets old and needs to be shot to be put out of his misery. At the river, she loses a special charm necklace her mother gave her. Walt Disney chose the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for his first animated feature film and the movie-going audiences loved it! Unable to get an answer from her big brother, Marlene smacks him in the face and his head falls off. The first known reference to Little Jack Horner dates way back to 1725. The prince finds her, all is happy, lots of music is played, the end. He comes back the next day, when shell be good and dirty again, but he still cant grab her: shes cried so hard, its washed her hands clean. A German fairy tale, the Goose Girl was popularized by the Brothers Grimm when they included it in their 1815 anthology of children's stories. Then the robbers return with her future husband leading them. Little Red Riding Hood. Many people try to a find a moral lesson hidden behind the brutalities depicted in these disturbing fairy tales: Little Red Riding Hood is a metaphor for the dangers of puberty; Bluebeard is a symbol of sexual curiosity. In fact, not many of the original authors of our favorite fairy tales did. So when the Prince is away on business, they sneak into his bedchambers and discover his fairy lover. Talia wakes up, and is overjoyed to find herself the mother of twins, which she names Sun and Moon. Far from being a sweet romance, the original version of this classic makes for horrific reading and would definitely fall foul of the censors if it were published today. Once in the royal girls clothes, the commoner starts to pose as the princess, and it works. In some modern versions, the people of Hamelin give in, pay him the money they owe and their children are returned to them. A young, beautiful mermaid falls in love with a dashingly handsome human prince, after saving him from drowning. The Disney film Chicken Little was inspired by much darker versions from years past. The King of the Golden Mountain. He captures the children as they try to escape and then builds a sawhorse to execute them on. The new mother refuses. Our Lady's Child. Disney wisely ignored some of the more horrible parts of the original Cinderella story. In his version of Cinderella, a poor girl worked to the bone by her evil step sisters, finds a fairy godmother who transforms her from her sooty present just in time to attend a glamorous ball. The elf climbs into the girls ear, tells her of her lovers murder, and informs her where the body lies. But he returns to the farm sometimes, coming back to mock the dogs. According to historians, the origins of Little Red Riding Hood can be traced back as far as the 10th century. The young woman visits her groom for supper, but finds his house empty. The Frog Prince, or Iron Heinrich. University of Pittsburgh. Sure enough, his house turns out to be a den of cannibals, where his kindly (but, you know, cannibalism-enabling) housekeeper conceals the bride behind a barrel. As with many European folk tales, there were a number of different versions told in different countries. The robber bridegroom. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German academics in the early 19th century who really popularised fairy tales. The Goose Girl. The next morning, the prince finds the mermaid washed up on the shore, naked, with her beautiful new human legs. The little key becomes covered in unremovable blood, tipping Bluebeard off to her transgression. However, while Pinocchio might be mischievous in the Disney movie, in the original stories, he is downright villainous. Unsurprisingly, it's been translated many times into a number of different languages. And then, when their first child is born, the imp demands to take it away. Of course, then the Blessed Virgin restores all. The girl eventually dies a quiet death. Here I present you the scariest Grimm fairy tales. Melita is a 24-year-old 100% authentic home-grown Kiwi. In classic stepmother tradition, shes violently jealous of the boy, finally chopping his head off in a moment of madness. The sea witch warns her she will die if she fails to get a kiss from her true love. He ties a bit if woolen yarn around her ankle so she cannot escape, but she ties the yarn around a tree and runs home naked. The old lady then quickly hides the young woman behind a barrel. Eventually, people got pretty curious about the baby's habits. In the Disney version, Snow White is spared, finds seven dwarves, sings several musical numbers, bites a poisoned apple, falls into a deep sleep, is woken by a kiss from her true love and they live happily ever after. Again, the general premise of the modern version is the same as that of the original: Gepetto makes a puppet who slowly transforms into a real boy. For sure, a fairy tale with the title The Dog and the Sparrow cant be scary, yes? Its creepy. We know the classics by heart, but our beloved Disney-diluted iterations couldnt be further from their true, markedly more sinister origins. Read the entire fairy taleBrothers and sisters take care of each other. The old sister believes the lie, and goes to a barber to be flayed. Instead of meeting a witch, Hansel and Gretel meet the devil himself in early versions of the tale. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. The children follow him out of town and they are never seen again. The Juniper Tree The Juniper Tree is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Children's and Household Tales. Sony DSC. The remaining old woman presumably not wanting to be left out takes herself quick-smart to the nearest barber shop, and requests that she also be skinned alive. The chest ends up being sold to a king, who catches Doralice sneaking out of it and rather spontaneously makes her his wife. The wolf, growing impatient, calls out Are you taking a dump child? Not hearing any answer, he leaps out of bed and runs after the girl, but his plans are foiled when she makes it home before he catches her. When he looks in the water at his reflection, the reason is clear: he has become a beautiful swan himself. The Pied Piper then takes out his magic pipe and starts to play. According to this fairy tale, God does not like them. But in some earlier tellings, the endings are much darker. As the brother was burying the corpse, a dry leaf settled in his hair. This angers the dogs and one day, one of the pack breaks free from his chains. When the third daughter of the family gets caught, she needs all her wits and powers to beat the wizard and attempt to bring her sisters bones and flesh back to life. The distraught mother hangs herself, and when her husband comes home to find everyone dead, he dies from grief. Grimms' Fairy Tales, originally known as the Children's and Household Tales (German: Kinder- und Hausmrchen, pronounced [knd nt hasmn], commonly abbreviated as KHM), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812.Vol. The basic premise is the same: The young and beautiful Cinderella is kept as a virtual slave by her jealous evil stepsisters. But far from being the home of a kindly soul, the gingerbread house belongs to an evil witch who enjoys nothing more than killing and eating children. Most peoplehave read some of Grimm's Fairy Tales during theirlives, or at least have seen Disney adaptations of the most popular stories. The child screamsand cries all day,and refusesto eat. Her voice is so beautiful that the king assumesshe is young and fair, and fallsfor her instantly. These days, readers and movie audiences want happy endings, and so classic tales have been changed to deliver this. For much of its history, the story upon which Chicken Little was based was passed down orally. A miller marries his only daughter to a man who seems to be very respectable and well-off. In return for her necklace, he will make the gold. And even worse, her greatest possession a beautiful mermaid voice will forever be silenced. Soon after their wedding he goes away, leaving her with a ring of keys and instructions to use all but the littlest of them, which locks the door to a room she must not enter (Freuds spectacles just fell into his soup). Features: Filicide (parent/child murder), dismemberment, parent/child cannibalism pretty horrific content all round. In the film, she gives Snow White a poisoned apple. In the well-known Grimm version, the hapless Hansel and Gretel are abandoned by their parents in the forest, where they stumble across the gingerbread cottage of a cannibalistic witch. It just so happens that the transit resuscitates her, as a bump in the road dislodges the fatal apple bit from her throat. The boy chooses the apple, and isn't punished for committing murder. The end result was a tale missing some of the darker details of the original version unsurprisingly since Disney were out to make a sweet morality tale for children rather than scare their young viewers. The story of Rapunzel is one of the best-known fairy tales of all time. She is accompanied on the long journey by her magic talking horse and a single servant girl. When their sister goes in search of them something happens. Ancient Origins. You can also forget Disneys beautiful glass coffin tucked away in the woodlands and true loves kiss. He invites her to visit his house, deep, deep in the forest. * Thus spake a father in the process of eating his son. While some stories might go out of fashion, a select group of classic tales are enduringly popular. Instead, she sends the handless girl back into the wilderness. A king mistakenly believes that two hideous, smelly, deformed old women are actually the most delicate, beautiful and scrumptious of young tender maidens. The Juniper Tree A woman decides to eliminate her stepson so her daughter can inherit all of her father's riches. Despite the many challenges they face, not least their animals instincts and the pressures of society to be enemies, their friendship endures. They include stories of princes and princesses, of witches and magic both good and evil. As most people know, Henry VIII tried to shut down all the countrys monasteries. Deep in the forest, things happen that are unfit for daylight. Apr 14, 2020 She is to be fed and watered to prevent her dying of starvation, so her body can be slowly eaten alive by worms. Sadly the Prince being entirely satisfied by the fairy seven of his former prostitutes now find themselves out of work.
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