The Gruesome Brothers Grimm

The Gruesome Brothers Grimm

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I don’t want to bash the brothers too hard, but when I realized that the stories that I was really fond of as a kid were in fact a not as “G rated” as I thought, I was a bit shocked.  To say the least.

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It’s a little disturbing to realize that while Cinderella didn’t have mice, she did have birds that helped her and eventually plucked the eyes out of her step-sisters after her wedding to the prince.  Or that Snow White’s mother, not evil step-mother, is the one who originally was jealous of her.

Granted, the brothers collected these tales before putting their own spin on them, but it’s disturbing to realize that the history behind these famous stories are a little darker than we thought.  Now I realize that the original stories probably didn’t have happy-go-lucky characters always skipping through fields of flowers while singing catchy songs, but I was a little bummed that some of these stories really weren’t originally written with a happily-ever-after; something that I look for in a good story.

Something that I have in common with them though is that we all love stories.  The brothers were fascinated by folk tales.  I can understand this, having been a bookworm almost all my life.  If I’m not surrounded by books, I’m on my laptop immersed in the next story I’m creating.  So, I can relate to the brothers in this respect.

What about you?  Did you love stories like this when you were young?  Which was your favorite and why?

11 thoughts on “The Gruesome Brothers Grimm

  1. I always absolutely loved Hansel and Gretel, which was never G-rated- even in the mainstream version! I was always drawn to creepy sorts of stories. 😉

  2. My mom had a HUGE book of the brothers Grimm tales that she would read to my brother and I when we were little. I remember asking my mom, when I was a bit older, “did you tell me that the stepsisters in Cinderella cut off their heels?” And she said “well, technically yes, but don’t repeat that at school” lol!!

    1. Every time I think about missing toes, I think about that movie, “Witches.” Have you seen it? You knew they were witches if they didn’t have toes and their shoes were funny shaped. 🙂

  3. I don’t remember when I first found out that the original Grimm tales had been greatly sanitized by Disney and modern publishers. The first I remember hearing about was Cinderella, and the fact the step sisters mutilated their feet to make them fit the glass slipper. I’ve been meaning to read some of these originals sometime, as I’m sure they’re all online now. Rumpelstiltskin was one of my favorite stories.

    1. I’m glad you’re enjoying them. I don’t think it’s crazy to like the originals better, I’m finding that I am too. 🙂

  4. The adult, uncensored Grimms’ Fairytales was the very first book I ever read, at age three, when I had hyperlexia (full-blown, advanced reading at a young age). As a result, I’ve always been drawn to darker periods of history, less than happy worlds, and characters who aren’t always so sympathetic or sweet. I believe it had a huge subconscious influence in how I look at the world and the kinds of stories I naturally gravitate towards, since I knew early on real life isn’t all flowers, puppies, rainbows, and kittens.

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