Posted on 11/13/2014 7:23:25 AM PST by Borges
Rapunzel is impregnated by her prince, the evil queen in Snow White is the princess’s biological mother, plotting to murder her own child, and a hungry mother in another story is so “unhinged and desperate” that she tells her daughters: “I’ve got to kill you so I can have something to eat.” Never before published in English, the first edition of the Brothers Grimms’ tales reveals an unsanitised version of the stories that have been told at bedtime for more than 200 years.
The Grimms – Jacob and Wilhelm – published their first take on the tales for which they would become known around the world in December 1812, a second volume following in 1815. They would go on to publish six more editions, polishing the stories, making them more child-friendly, adding in Christian references and removing mentions of fairies before releasing the seventh edition – the one best known today – in 1857.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
All the hunger themes were a reflection of the periodic famines that were common in Europe until relatively recently.
Hmmmmm. It sounds like obama’s America...
Looks interesting.
The modern analog is a would-be mother having an abortion because she 'just can't afford a baby' right now...
I never quite understood the logic of scaring the s#$% out of your children just before they went to sleep.
Maybe it was the only way they thought they could get their brats to ST%U.
Or maybe it was a German thing (ducking)
That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger...
About time...
I still remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade taking German when our teacher brought in some Grimms for us to translate. It was very shocking to find out just how much sanitizing had happened to them crossing the Atlantic, and even more so when Disney made them into movies. It’s why I’m enjoying the “new” dark fairy tale fad, getting back to the original material.
Lessons learned with fear stick better.
Comes to mind:
Fractured Fairy Tales from “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Show”
and
Once Upon a Time with its convoluted interrelationships of various characters from various fairy tales and folklore.
That was just a Fluke...
There was also a political motivation. The brothers were part of a movement to unite the German states into a republic. The tales were meant to give German people a sense of a shared culture.
Only later did the tales come to be thought of as bedtime stories.
It was a tougher world, and the stories helped teach kids what not to do, like run off into the woods, because bad things can happen. Pinocchio skipped school, and was kidnapped and sent to an island to be a slave. I kind of think we disneyfy children's stories too much these days. Our kids only learn to whine until they get the toys associated with the movies.
the article states that between 1812 and 1857 they re-released the fairy tales 7 times and in each version cleaned them up. that all occurred in germany, not “crossing the atlantic”. but yes, the disney versions do take them in even more drastic turns
I think it’s a “go to bed and stay in bed” thing, as well as a “don’t talk to strangers” thing. The last thing you want is the rugrats getting into everything in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep.
Baba Yaga is in a similar vein and she’s Russian.
Bull feathers!
What happens to Esmerelda in the original has got to be the cruelest twist imaginable.
/tangent
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