These days, most of our fairy tales are appropriate for children and have happy endings – they’re meant to be “escapism,” after all. But the stories you read today might be a little more whitewashed than you previously thought. Many original versions of fairy tales aren’t exactly “Disney appropriate.” Might not want to share this info with your kids or grandkids...read on for more...
- “Cinderella” was originally called “Cinderwench.”
- In the original “Beauty and the Beast,” Belle’s sisters are jealous and plan to have her eaten alive by the Beast. A little dark for the modern version – don’t you think? Although, honestly, the modern version is pretty dark itself (a woman imprisoned by a monster develops Stockholm syndrome and starts to love him.)
- The Princess didn’t always kiss the frog to turn him into a prince. In one early version of the tale, she beats him mercilessly until he changes form. In another, she burns and decapitates the poor amphibian. Ahh, the romance. Wait…WHAT!?
- Did you ever wonder why Hansel and Gretel wandered off into the forest in the first place? In the original version, their mother decided there wasn’t enough food to go around and left the children in the middle of the woods to starve.
- In the 1837 version of “The Little Mermaid,” Ariel lets Ursula chop off her tongue.
- The original Rumpelstiltskin killed himself by ripping off his own legs. A little different from the more modern “disappearing into thin air.”
- Italy and Australia boast old versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” in which the heroine is tricked into eating the dead body of her grandmother. Tastes like chicken?
- The original Sleeping Beauty doesn’t wake up with a kiss from Prince Charming. A King finds her sleeping and impregnates her with twins, and Sleeping Beauty wakes up nine months later as a mother of two. What a creep!!
- In the original “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the bears tear Goldilocks apart and eat her. The story is meant to be a cautionary tale about breaking and entering.