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Grimm Tales: The Dark Themes of Classic Fairytales.

By November 22, 2016January 3rd, 2018Children's Literature, Literature

Fairytales and folk tales are known for their dark undertones in their stories; many stories involve peril of some kind, and evil to overcome. The stories we see today, however, are a diluted version of the more sinister tales, often written by the Brothers Grimm, they were originally based upon. Sure, we are used to our princesses being poisoned, imprisoned, or enslaved, but perhaps self-mutilation, infanticide, and horrific torture were too much for us. Over the years the stories were edited to suit the social climate; mothers were changed to step-mothers to save the respectability of motherhood, and much of the sex was removed to save everyone’s blushes.




Credit: cbrundage.net

Artist: cbrundage.net

J.R.R. Tolkien had spoken out against fairytales being pigeon-holed as ‘children’s books’ as if this would limit their appeal. Social perceptions of children can be patronising at times, and at this attitude spills on to ‘childish  things’ like fantasy, magic, and fairytales. This gives writers a sensitivity towards having their work described as ‘for children’ when the writer merely wrote a story to be read. Tolkien gave a lecture on fairytales and a strong theme in his talk was that there was ‘no such thing as writing for children.’ Maurice Sendak, author of Where The Wild Things Are, vehemently agrees, saying: “I do not believe that I have ever written a children’s book… I don’t write for children. I write and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!'”

This quote is from Tolkien’s lecture on Fairy Stories in 1939, and included in the appendix of Tales From The Perilous Realm (buy it here: UK or US):

“It is usually assumed that children are the natural or the specially appropriate audience for fairy-stories… Is there any essential connexion between children and fairy-stories? Is there any call for comment, if an adult reads them for himself? The common opinion seems to be that there is a natural connexion between the minds of children and fairy-stories, of the same order as the connexion between children’s bodies and milk. They tend to think of children as a special kind of creature, almost a different race, rather than as normal, if immature, members of a particular family, and of the human family at large.”

Like Tolkien, many modern writers believe we shouldn’t underestimate the appeal of fairytales, and their tantalising dark fantasy and magical elements are often quite appealing to both adults and children.

Jack Zipes of the University of Minnesota gave himself the task of translating all 156 original Grimm stories which are now compiled into ‘The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition‘, (buy it here: UK or US). The stories have shown us exactly how dark the tales used to be!

Shaun Tan was inspired by fairy tales and folk art and turned his inspiration into The Singing Bones, a gathering of Tan’s intriguing sculptures and a well-chosen snippet of each tale. Tan took his literary inspiration from the Phillip Pullman edition of the Grimm Brothers’ tales with less gore and horror but all the disturbing intrigue. Tan manages to create each story through his sculptures, encapsulating fear, love, or betrayal with fine clay figures, giving an eerie sweetness to the stories.

Buy The Singing Bones here:

UK

US

The Singing Bone inspired Tan’s book title and was taken from the horrific story about two brothers, a murder, and musical bones. Brotherly rivalry causes the older brother to murder his younger sibling and bury him under a bridge so he was free to marry the king’s daughter himself. The young boy’s bones were discovered by a shepherd and one carved into a flute. The older brother murderous nature was soon discovered as the shepherd played the flute to the king and it confessed the fratricide. A simple tale of jealousy, murder, and gruesome magic!

Hansel and Gretel is a well-known dark tale of child abandonment and cannibalism so it is surprising to find out that the tale had been previously edited to make it more palatable for the people. The brothers Grimm had originally written the tale as having the children’s birth mother- not their stepmother- demanding they leave. Many tales were edited to protect the image of the mother; similarly Snow White didn’t have a wicked step mother, as it was originally written as her biological mother who orders her death, but that was soon changed.

Snow White was my grandmother’s favourite Disney movie as she adored the sweet Snow White and the merry animals who helped her tidy and clean… Thankfully my grandmother never learned of Snow’s dark past. As we now know it turns out Snow White did not have a wicked stepmother, but in fact had a wicked mother. Snow White’s own mother ordered her death, and demanded her heart and liver as proof of her death, and to eat for dinner the next day. If that wasn’t horrifying enough, Snow White had obviously picked up on some of her mother’s psychotic behaviour, as she forced her mother to wear red hot iron shoes and dance at Snow’s royal wedding. Torturing her evil mother to death for revenge, a sort of epic wedding gift to herself I suppose.

Rapunzel is a classic tale of child imprisonment but did you know it was also a scandalous romp resulting in twin children born out of wedlock?

In Grimm’s original story of Rapunzel, she becomes pregnant during one of the prince’s ‘romantic’ visits, gets a bad case of baby brain, gives her secret away to the wicked witch, and all hell breaks loose. When Rapunzel accidentally let slip that the prince is far easier to haul up the tower, the witch cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and banishes her. The prince arrives for another romantic night in with his lady but finds an evil witch waiting, she pushes him into the thorns where he is left blind. The happy ever after comes when the prince blindly stumbles upon Rapunzel and his children, and his happy tears restore his sight.

Cinderella was one of my favourite Disney tales, however the original version is SO much better. If you have seen Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim you will know some of the gorier happenings in the classic tale. The tale dates back to 9th century China but the Grimm’s version from the 18th century is what we focus on here. Cinderella’s stepmother is as evil as they come, not just to Cinders but to her own daughters too. In order to fit into the slipper offered by the prince the stepmother orders her daughters to cut off their own toes and slice off parts of their feet. As punishment, Cinderella’s songbird friends peck out the eyes of her stepsisters and stepmother. Fun times!

We hope you have enjoyed our look into the darker side of fairytales, and have inspired you to delve into some of the books we recommended!

Happy reading!




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