Grimms' Fairy Tales
Walk Down Memory Lane
💥For this February's author birthday month challenge, I had several choices on my TBR. Here are the ones I narrowed it down to:
Jules Verne, February 8, 1828. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Toni Morrison, February 18, 1931. The Bluest Eye
Wilhelm Grimm, February 24, 1786. Grimms’ Fairy Tales
Anthony Burgess, February 25, 1917. Clockwork Orange.
In the end I chose Grimms' fairy tales by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. Wilhelm Grimm was born Feb. 24, 1786 and his brother Jacob was born Jan. 4, 1785. Although in this self-imposed challenge I wanted to try and read new books, I went a nostalgic route instead, choosing to read fairy tales that my mother read to me as a child. I still have the book with the colorful illustrations that bring back good memories.
Some of the stories I remember well, like the beloved Frog Prince (Frosch König). But others have been washed over with the Disney version, like Cinderella (Ashenputtel).
Below are some of the recaps. Some might surprise you.
...starting with Cinderella (Achenputtel), which has some surprising differences from the Disney version. Here are some of them, but SPOILER ALERT, I’m going all the way to the gruesome end!
💫Cinderella’s dad was not dead and was actually complicit in the abuse against her.
💫There was no fairy godmother, no pumpkin turning into a coach. Instead, Cinderella cried under the hazel tree on her mother’s grave asking to be showered in silver and gold. A bird then produced the beautiful gown and slippers for the ball—3 times, because it wasn’t just one ball, it was a multi-day festival. The last dress was the most beautiful as well as the slippers which were made of gold, not glass (much more practical).
💫On each of the nights, Cinderella ran away from the prince so he could not follow her home. The last evening, he got wise and had a pitchy resin poured onto the steps, which made one of her shoes stick.
💫When the prince came to have the girls try on the golden shoe, each one when into the bedroom to try it on—starting with the oldest. But her big old toes wouldn’t fit into the dainty shoe, so her mom said, “Guuuuuurl. How bad do you want this?” Then she handed her a knife and told her to CHOP OFF THOSE TOES! The shoe fit and the prince swept her away on his horse. But as they passed the mother’s grave, he heard the birds singing that there’s blood in the shoe—wrong girl.
💫So her turned around and tried the younger stepdaughter—same thing. Again the mom said, “Guuuuuurl. How bad do you want this?” Then she handed her a knife and told her to CHOP OFF THE HEEL! The birds gave her away again.
💫He returned and asked if they have another daughter, and dad says, not really—no one remarkable, anyway. But the prince had Cinderella try on the shoe anyway, and woohoo, it fit!! No amputations necessary!
💫At the wedding the stepsisters tried to get in her good graces again and flanked each side of her. Doves then came and PECKED THEIR EYES OUT!! Blindness is the punishment for being evil.
💫Lesson: Good wins over evil!
Rapunzel
🌿A woman saw a leafy rampion (Rapunzel plant) in a garden next door. She had a real hankering for it & asked her hubby to climb over the wall & steal some for her, which, like any good husband, he did. But witchy woman caught him & said it’s okay ONLY IF they give her their 1st child. Okay. No big deal. They’ve been trying everything but IVF to get pregnant & just couldn’t.
🌿Oh, oh. Wife got prego. They had a baby girl.
🌿When the girl was 12 y/o witchy woman locked her in a tower in the woods. It didn’t have stairs or a door. Just a window. When she wanted to go up to see the girl, she would call for Rapunzel to let her hair down.
🌿2 yrs later a prince rode by & heard her sweet singing voice, kinda like Beyonce. One day he saw the witch telling Rapunzel to let down her hair. So, he came back, said it too, climbed up, chatted with her a bit, & asked her to marry him. She said yes! But 1st he would have to return daily with some silk so she can braid a ladder.
🌿One day Rapunzel accidentally remarked to witchy woman how much heavier she was than the king’s son. Oh, oh! Now witchy woman knew Rapunzel betrayed her. She chopped off her hair & took her to a desert.
🌿The witch waited for the prince & let Rapunzel’s braid down. When he came up to find her instead of his love, she told him that she was gone. In despair he flung himself out of the window.
🌿Good news, bad news. He survived when he landed in the thorns. Yah! Unfortunately, those thorns made him blind. Sigh.
🌿So the sightless prince "blindly" wandered around for several years until he came to a desert. There he found her. They embraced & she shed loving tears of joy, which rolled down her sweet face right into his eyes & healed him. He could see again!
🌿He took her to his kingdom where they lived happily ever after.💕
One more thing about the Rapunzel plant. I was very excited & thought how cool would it be to have my own Rapunzel plant in my garden. But when I looked it up, (campanula rapunculus) to my horror it looked like that invasive bellflower that I’ve been fighting to eradicate for years. Needless to say, no Rapunzel for me!
Der Sterntaler (The Star Coins)
🌟A little poor orphan girl had nothing—no room, no bed, no parents. She only had the clothes on her back and a bit of bread. But she had a big old compassionate heart.
🌟One day she went out into the field and encountered a poor man who begged for food. She gave him her bread and said, “Bless you.”
🌟Next she ran into a child who said its head was freezing, so she gave it her cap. You can see where this is going.
🌟Next she came across another kid who had no undershirt, so she gave him hers.
🌟Then she gave a girl her skirt. (Not sure why the other girl had no skirt).
🌟Finally, at night she came to the woods and again a kid asked for her shirt. “Damn!” she DIDN’T say.
🌟Instead, she said ok, because it was dark and no one could see her. So she peeled off her shirt and handed it over.
🌟And just as she did that, the heavens opened and the stars fell from the sky turning into gold coins. And suddenly she had on a beautiful linen dress. She gathered up all the coins and was rich enough to live the rest of her life without worry. Pretty good return on her investments.
🌟Lesson: Compassion is golden.
Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten (The Bremen Street Musicians.)
🐃 A working donkey at a mill was losing his strength so the owner wanted to give him away. Oh, no! So donkey ran away and picked up other animals along the way to join his band, where they planned to be street musicians in Bremen. Donkey will play the lute in the band.
🐕 A hunting dog was aging, and the owner wanted to bludgeon him to death. I don’t think so! So he went with donkey to play the kettledrums.
🙀 A cat was too old to hunt mice, so the owner tried to drown her. Uh, heck no!! So she went with them. She’ll serenade with her meowing.
🐔 A Rooster was old and going to be killed for dinner. Oh, hell no, no!! Has a good voice, and went with the band.
🍔 They came upon a house of robbers at night and saw the table decked with good food, and they sure were hungry!
😱 Donkey propped himself on the windowsill to peek inside, then dog hopped on top of him, then the cat, then the rooster, and they all made a hell of a racket, so much so, that the robbers fled in terror. And boy, did the animals have a good feast from their table.
🕯 After they stuffed themselves, they turned out the lights and went nighty night.
🌘 The robbers saw from a distance that the house was dark, so they sent one guy back to check. Inside the darkness, he was going to add a log to the fire when he accidentally poked the cat, who jumped on his face and scratched him bloody. Serves him right. While the cat was attacking him, he fell backwards over the dog who bit his leg, and then the donkey gave him a good kick, and the rooster screamed his screechy lungs out.
😱 Needless to say, that freaked the guy out. He ran back to the robbers and told them a witch lived there and scratched his face. A man by the door stabbed him with a knife, then a monster struck him with a club. Then a judge shrieked at him from the rafters.
🏚 That did it. The robbers never returned and the four animals liked it so much there that they stayed and never made it to Bremen.
Lesson: Don’t get old and useless, but if you do, use your smarts to outwit the bad guys.
Frau Holle (Mother Holle)
💁♀️️🙇️ A widow had 2 daughters, one nice & industrious, the other ugly & lazy. She loved the ugly one b/c she was her own biological daughter.
💁♀️ The nice one had to do all the chores. One day she was spinning so much yarn, she spun her fingers bloody. When she tried to wash the blood off the spool, it fell in the well. With tears, she told her stepmom about it, but she had no mercy and said, “Well, then go get it.” So the nice daughter tried to reach it but fell in too. She lost consciousness & woke up in a beautiful meadow.
🏡 After doing some good deeds along the way, she came across a house where an old woman w/ big old teeth lived. The girl was afraid of those big choppers (she must have read about Little Red Riding Hood), but she pulled herself together & did the chores the woman asked of her. The old lady told her that she will be rewarded. Only she has to make sure to shake her feather blanket so that the feathers will fly out of it & produce snow around the world.
😭 After being there a long time, she actually got homesick, even knowing that she had it better 1000xs there.
💰 The old lady led her under a gate where the girl was showered in gold! That’s your reward she told the girl & also returned the spinning spool. When the old lady shut the gate, the girl found that she was close to home.
🦹️ The stepmom wanted the same for her biological daughter.
🥀 She told Lazy Lizzy to spin yarn by the well until her fingers bled, but she wasn’t about to do that much work. So she just pricked her finger on a thorn, tossed the spool in the well & jumped right after it.
👎🏻 She followed the same path where the same pleas were made to her, but she refused to help.
👵🏻 Frau Holle gave her the same chores & she followed her orders for the 1st day, thinking of all the gold she’ll get. But she got lazier each day until finally she didn’t get out of bed.
😡 Time to leave! Frau Holle led her to the gate, where Lazy Lizzy was expecting her golden shower (LOL), but instead got showered with a kettle of pitchy resin.
⚠️ The pitch remained on the girl for the rest of her life & could not be washed off.
Lesson: Pitch is a bitch. Don’t be lazy.
Frog Prince (Frosch König) - one of my favorites!
🐸A beautiful little princess was playing by a pond when she accidentally dropped her golden ball into it.
🐸She freaked out & cried & cried. She was very distraught b/c it was her favorite toy—irreplaceable. In the adult world it would kinda be like losing your grandmother’s beautiful heirloom green ring into a pond, gone forever. I’d freak too.
🐸A frog jumped up & told her that he would get it if she promised to be his friend, play with him, take him home, let him eat from her plate, drink from her cup & let him sleep in her bed. Well, she thought, he was just a little delusional frog, he can’t really mean it, so she agreed. He got the ball. She went home & put him out of her mind until…
🐸The next day as she was happily eating off her golden plate, there was an ominous knock at the door. The king asked who was at the door & she had to tell him the whole story of the frog retrieving her ball, now coming for his finder’s fee.
🐸The king said a promise is a promise & made her welcome him come in. The frog then splat, splat, splat his toady feet across the marble floor right toward her, insisted she help him up on the table & push her little golden plate toward him so they could share like Lady and the Tramp. At this point she was crying & gagging, but Daddy King wouldn’t excuse her. So the frog ate, he drank, & then he made her carry him up to her bedroom. After she laid down in her bed, the frog hopped next to it & told her to pick him up or he will tell Daddy. He's skipping that kiss and beelining right to 3rd base!
🐸Well, that was the last straw. She did pick him up, but instead of placing him in her bed, she slammed him against the wall with all her might like an Olympian javelin thrower. (Think of Miss Trunchbull in Matilda).
🐸When the frog hit the wall, it didn’t explode into a bloody, slimy mess, instead the toad had been released from a wicked spell & became a handsome prince.
Lesson: That which you have promised, you must perform.
🐻 One evening a bear knocks on the door of a widow & 2 daughters, named Snow White & Rose Red after beautiful rose bushes. They let him & become friends & he visits them all winter.
🐻But when spring comes, he tells them that he must leave to protect his treasures from evil dwarves who come up from the ground when it thaws.
🐻One day mom sends the girls to get some wood & they come across an angry little dwarf whose beard is caught in a fallen log. “What are you just standing there for?” the dwarf yells at the girls. Even though he is an insulting little twirp, they try very hard to yank his beard out of the log, but to no avail. Finally, one of the girls gets out a scissor and cuts him loose.
🐻Did he thank her? No! He berated her, wished them a load of bad luck, grabbed his sack of gold & took off. Nice guy!
🐻Two more incidents occur: one where they save him from being pulled into the water by a big fish & another time when an eagle tries to take off with him.
🐻Again and again instead of thanking them, he spouts vile things at them, snatches up his bags of gems, & leaves.
🐻But the 3rd time, he hears a growl, turns to see the bear. Uh, oh!
🐻Time to grovel. The dwarf begs & pleads for his life, tells the bear he’s too small to make a good meal—take the girls, they’re nice & tender & have some tasty pockets of fat, too.
🐻The bear had enough & gives the dwarf a good whack with his might paw silencing him for good.
🐻As the dwarf draws his last breath, the fur falls off the bear revealing a handsome man covered in gold!
🐻He is a prince who was bewitched by the evil dwarf, but released from the spell when the dwarf died.
🐻Double wedding! Snow White & the prince get hitched, and so do Rose Red & the prince’s brother. They all share the stolen treasures & have mom move into the kingdom with them where she transplants the 2 rose bushes—one with white blooms, one with red.
Lesson: Don’t be nasty or you’ll "bear" the consequences.
Happy reading, happy memories!
Annette
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