These Dark Fairy Tales Are NOT For Children

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25 Oct 2021

7 Min Read

Tiffany Chan (Guest Contributor)
IN THIS ARTICLE

Never judge a book by its cover. Tiffany shares a list of fairy tales with a more sinister origin.

 

Trigger warnings: These stories contain elements of murder, cannibalism, death, and graphic violence.

 

A fairy tale is often defined as a children’s story typically including magical beings and lands. While I agree with the magical part, many stories that we now call ‘fairy tales’ actually have extremely dark themes.

 

We may have heard of the darker, GRIMMer, versions of well-known tales like Cinderella and Rapunzel. But did you know that there are many more like them out there? And yes, these are identified as children’s stories!

 

Here’s a list of less popular, but equally disturbing, stories written by The Grimm Brothers and how their themes are shunned today.

 

Contains spoilers, consider yourselves warned.

 

The Seven Ravens

This is a story about a father who, out of anger, cursed his seven sons to be turned into ravens. His only daughter went to search for her brothers, who'd flown to the Glass Mountain. But to enter the Mountain, she'd to use the drumstick of a chicken as a key to open the door, which she didn’t have. The girl ended up cutting off her own little finger to use as a key.

 

Let’s not focus on the unsettling fact that the authors just casually wrote ‘she cut off her little finger’. The tale also mentions that the girl searched for her brothers out of guilt because the townspeople made her believe that her brothers’ curse was her fault. But clearly, it was her father who cursed his sons.

 

So why should the girl have to take this dangerous task upon herself? Funny how women are often the ones cleaning up after men’s messes.

A silhouette of a crow against a dark background

The Juniper Tree

Like most fairy tales, this story involves a jealous stepmother who wanted her husband’s riches to be inherited by her daughter instead of the man’s son.

 

Warning: this story is seriously disturbing, so proceed with caution.

 

One day, the stepmother killed her stepson and guilt-tripped her daughter into helping her cover up the crime. In order to hide the boy’s body, the woman cut him up into tiny pieces and used his meat to make black puddings. She then served the puddings to the father, who said they were delicious.

 

But in the end, justice was served, albeit in a gruesome way. The juniper tree, which stood outside the house, sent a bird to drop a millstone on the stepmother, killing her. After that, the murdered boy miraculously appeared. The ending was really disturbing because it happened in a ‘happily ever after’ way, even though the stepmother was literally crushed to death just seconds ago.

 

Cannibalism aside and not condoning the action of the stepmother, do you ever wonder why it’s always an evil stepmother? Like, I’d love to see an evil stepfather.

A large tree on a rocky cliff beneath the starry night sky

The Twelve Dancing Princess

12 princesses sneaked out to dance with 12 princes every night, although the girls’ room was locked by their father. The king, perplexed, enlisted the help of potential suitors to uncover this mystery — though said suitors were sentenced to death if they couldn’t solve it within three days.

 

In the end, an old soldier solved the mystery and was given the eldest princess’ hand in marriage. The twelve princes that danced with the girls were cursed for as many nights as they danced together.

 

Now, I’ve issues with this story, even though it’s my favourite fairy tale.

 

One, why should the princesses’ room be locked every night? Two, why must the suitors who failed to discover the girls’ midnight secret be sentenced to death? And why should the twelve princes be cursed in the end? They did nothing wrong.

 

One of the lessons in this story tells us that children grow up eventually and we can’t always control them. But, let’s be real, that lesson falls flat since the eldest princess ends up marrying whoever the king chooses. And an old soldier at that? Talk about the problems of child marriage…

A group of people dancing in a circle under dramatic lighting

The Frog King

I love Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, so you can imagine my disappointment when I read the original text, which wasn’t even half as romantic and much, much creepier.  

 

Basically, the frog coerced the princess to take him into her bedroom after helping her fetch a ball. He threatened to tell the king if she didn’t do as he asked. When the frog asked the princess to let him sleep on her bed, she threw him against the wall in anger (rightfully so, in my opinion) — and then he transformed into a handsome prince.

 

But my main issue with this story is what happens after.

 

The prince told the king that he was now the princess’ ‘dear companion’, and that they’d marry and live in the prince’s kingdom. However, there was no indication that the girl consented to this or that she even remotely liked the frog prince. 

 

This is definitely not a story I want any girl to hear.

A toad clinging to the side of a tree

Obviously, while these twisted stories have their own intended morals, they’re honestly outdated and problematic, and (hopefully) none of us plan to tell these versions to children.

 

However, it’s important to note, why they were written the way they were to truly appreciate the art — gore, twistedness, and all. The Brothers Grimm wrote these tales during a dark period in German history where they wanted to capture the Germans’ fear, hopes, and national identity as part of a larger political movement.

 

It’s interesting, though, to see how books and fairytales allows us to spread a wider message and awareness. Plus, having these books allows us to appreciate how our values have evolved and grown as a society, so much so that we now shun aspects of these ‘fairy’ tales. Perhaps one day our children will look back on the stories we tell today and think, "Huh. I can’t believe they wrote that!" 

 

In the meantime, why not start your spooky Halloween with one of the stories above or read these original stories written by our Malaysian secondary school students!

Tiffany Chan is an alumni of the Bachelor of Mass Communication (PR & Marketing) at Taylor's University. She is also an editor for Taylor’s Etc. Magazine and the Creative Director of TLMUN Herald.
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