Fairy Tales Dark Endings

[Edilma Howard]

Fairytales of the past were often full of macabre and gruesome twists and endings. These days, companies like Disney have sanitized them for a modern audience that is clearly deemed unable to cope, so we see happy endings everywhere.

Traditional fairy tales may also be much older than previously assumed. A 2016 study led by Jamshid Tehrani found common roots of popular fairy tales dating back 6,000 years around the world. It may be impossible to pinpoint exactly how old folk tales are, but they have long oral traditions and share common themes.

Fairytales are the progeny of Biblical and mythological narratives, magnified and distorted by generations of storytellers. Trade, libraries of antiquity, and eventually the printing press facilitated the rapid spread of historical chronicles and fueled the emergence of new tales.

The Disney version of Snow White emerged after a world war and economic depression. Audiences desired passive entertainment and Disney delivered. Carefully omitting the iron hot shoes, Disney dazzled spectators in the first American full-length animated musical feature.

The fairytale Rapunzel also mirrors this historical path. This tale expands upon an early Christian story. In the third century A.D. in Asia Minor, a wealthy pagan merchant loved his daughter deeply and selfishly forbade her to have any suitors. He locked her in a tower when he went on his travels. On one of his journeys, the young girl converted to Christianity and prayed so passionately that her words could be heard throughout the entire town.

Upon arriving home, the merchant was horrified and presented his daughter before the Roman pro-consul. The consul stated that the father must either behead his daughter or relinquish his fortune if she refused to give up her religion. Favoring gold over familial love, the father executed his daughter and was killed by a lightning strike shortly after. This maiden became Saint Barbara, a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

This evolution largely reflects the changing purpose of fairytales. Initially, a tale like Hansel and Gretel warned children of the dangers of wandering into the woods and Little Red Riding Hood taught girls the importance of avoiding strangers who could be predators. It was the grim and gory side of these stories that bred caution in the young.

Disney vs. the original stories: the fairytales and fables that inspired Disney's family-friendly films are often far more sinister than their animated adaptations. Here, we share the dark original tales behind your favourite Disney films.

After the mysterious death of their best friend, Ella, Yuki, and Rory are the talk of their elite school, Grimrose Acadmie. The police ruled it a suicide, but the trio are determined to find out what really happened.

The Grimrose Girls drew my attention with its compelling premise, taking inspiration from the dark origins of fairy tales. From the subtle inspiration in the depictions of the main characters to the allusions to the dark endings of those stories that begin to come to pass and unfurl over the course of the story, Laura Pohl has crafted a masterful story that drew me in almost instantly. And the setting in a somewhat creepy boarding school, with somewhat dark-academia vibes? Perfection!

Laura Pohl is the New York Times best-selling author of The Grimrose Girls. Her debut novel, The Last 8, won the International Latino Book Awards. She likes writing messages in caps lock, never using autocorrect, and obsessing about Star Wars. When not taking pictures of her dog, she can be found curled up with a fantasy or science-fiction book or replaying Dragon Age. Her favorite Disney princess is Cinderella, and her favorite Disney prince is Kylo Ren. A Brazilian at heart and soul, she makes her home in So Paulo.

Laura Pohl is a Brazilian New York Times bestselling author. She likes writing messages in caps lock, quoting Hamilton and obsessing about Star Wars. When not taking pictures of her dog, she can be found curled up with a fantasy or science-fiction book. She makes her home in So Paulo.

She is the author of THE LAST 8, THE FIRST 7 and THE GRIMROSE GIRLS. When not writing, she likes reading science fiction and fantasy books and playing video games. Learn more about her on her website, and make sure to follow her on twitter, instagram, and pinterest.

Everyone knows the famous story of Snow White, but the original German fairy tale has many more dark twists and turns than the version we know and love today. This tale tells the story of a powerless young beauty and the trials and tribulations she goes through after escaping from her evil stepmother. After MANY close shaves with death, including a poisoned comb and the classic poisoned apple, Snow White eventually finds her prince and they are to be married (a happy ending for them, yes). As for the stepmother, when she hears of one more beautiful than her, she arrives at the wedding of Snow White and the prince, where they are already waiting for her.

One story in this mode is The Little Mermaid. What is striking about it is not the sense of wonder that magic imbues, but the sense of irony at the exchanges she must make to achieve her end. There is a mythic quality to the story of the sea princess more in accord with Greek tragedy than is comfortable for many modern fairy tales; and in The Little Mermaid, this sense of tragic irony is unrelenting.

My mother read this story to me when I was a child, and I loved it, because Elsie made me laugh. As time went on, I kept her in my heart, the way many people do with a fairy tale hero or heroine. She reminds me of my past, although the story scares me a little because she slipped so easily into the dark world of craziness.

For easy touring of the area around Steinau, where the Grimm family lived from 1791 to 1798 and where there is a museum devoted to them, I stayed for two nights at a family-run hotel with a half-timbered facade, brown woodwork balconies and overflowing flower boxes in the town of Gelnhausen, just off the A66 autobahn, about 12 miles northeast of Hanau. The Hotel Burg-Muhle, which occupies the site of a 13th century mill, has an inviting restaurant, where I had a dinner of pork loin with creamy Dauphine potatoes. The guest rooms were tidy and comfortable, with, alas, little character, like so many others I stayed in during this trip.

At a butcher shop on a steeply pitched lane, where there were sausages of all shapes and sizes--marbled, mottled and checkerboarded--a clerk helped me choose a tasty but not-too-adventurous ham and cheese sandwich on which I picnicked in the square.

I reached Kassel after dark. The city where the Grimms lived in the early part of the 19th century is now sprawling and modern; most of its historic sections were leveled during World War II. But there I found the little Hotel Garni Ko 78, with a cheerful single overlooking a garden.

Beyond the museum, little remains of the Grimms in Kassel. But I was glad I spent part of the day at Schloss Wilhemshohe, a magnificent 18th century royal palace museum just west of town, surrounded by cafes, gardens, lakes and fountains, architectural curios such as an ersatz medieval castle, forests with well-maintained paths and sweeping lawns where lovers picnic and children tussle.

To reach my room, I had to walk up a flight of stone steps, down a carpeted hall and around a spiral staircase decorated with hunting prints and an antique spinning wheel. My room was small but pretty, with matching yellow curtains and bedspread and a bay window where I watched the sun set over the fairy-tale forest.

GETTING THERE: From LAX, nonstop service is available on Lufthansa, direct service is offered on Delta, and connecting service is available on United, American, Continental, Delta, USAirways, Swissair, KLM, Air France, British, Northwest, and Air Canada.

Perhaps the most noteworthy difference is the fate of the step-sisters. Clearly, the Brothers Grimm felt their exploits should see them suffer more, and suffer they did. In their desperate attempts to fit into the shoe for the prince, they resort to cutting off some of their toes and heels. This results in the slipper filling with blood.

And at the end, the sisters are so desperate to taste some of the spotlight at Cinderella's royal wedding that they accompany her up and down the aisle, something which Cinderalla's loyal flock of birds (IKR) take umbrage with, and punish them by pecking their eyes out...

There are many dark predecessors to the brother's Grimm version of this creepy tale, and some of them have no such happy ending as the one we're aware of. One of the most disturbing is a Romanian story called The Little Boy and the Wicked Stepmother.

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