Strangest Mysteries of the World and Beyond !

Fairy tales or Gory Tales

The Little Mermaid

When one hears the words "Fairy Tale", what images pop into one's mind? A cheery and singing Cinderella, a beautiful and brave mermaid with her happy sea-companions, maybe a little girl in a red cape that fights off an attacking and sly wolf? Such wonderful, positive images usually flood children's imaginations when the words "Fairy Tale" are uttered. Disturbingly though, Fairy Tales in their original form, were in all actuality quite morbid and frightening stories.

The 1989 version of the Little Mermaid might be better known as “The big whopper!” In the Disney version, the film ends with Ariel the mermaid being changed into a human so she can marry Eric. They marry in a wonderful wedding attended by humans and merpeople. But, in the very first version by Hans Christian Andersen, the mermaid sees the Prince marry a princess and she despairs. She is offered a knife with which to stab the prince to death, but rather than do that she jumps into the sea and dies by turning to froth. Hans Christian Andersen modified the ending slightly to make it more pleasant. In his new ending, instead of dying when turned to froth, she becomes a “daughter of the air” waiting to go to heaven – so, frankly, she is still dead for all intents and purposes.

The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her father the sea king, her grandmother and her five older sisters. When a mermaid turns fifteen they are allowed to visit the surface, and as she hears her sisters' stories of the world above she longs to be able to go there herself.

Here is the original version in my words-

On her fifteenth birthday she, sees a ship carrying a handsome prince and immediately falls in love with him. When a storm hits, she saves him from drowning and delivers him safely to a temple, waiting unseen until a girl from the temple finds him. He never sees her though.

The Little Mermaid's grandmother explains to her that humans have a much shorter lifespan than mermaids, but when they die they go to heaven as they have an eternal soul. Mermaids, who don't have souls, turn into sea foam and cease to exist.

Longing both for the prince and an eternal soul, the Little Mermaid visits the Sea Witch, who gives her legs in exchange for her tongue (as the Little Mermaid has an incredibly intoxicating voice). She gets her legs, however she cannot walk without feeling stabbing pains in the soles of her feet, as though she is walking on swords. Furthermore, she'll only get a soul if the prince falls in love with her and marries her. If he marries anybody else, she'll dissolve into seafoam and die soulless.

The prince is initially attracted to her, and loves to watch her dance (presumably not knowing how much pain it causes her to do so). Unfortunately, he's betrothed to another princess. But he says he'll refuse to marry her, because he does not love her - indeed, he cannot love anybody except the girl who rescued him from drowning.

But what do you know, his betrothed turns out to be that very girl from the temple who found him on the shore - the girl he thinks saved his life.

The prince and princess marry and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. However, her sisters have made another deal with the Sea Witch - they've sold their hair to her in exchange for a knife. If the Little Mermaid kills the prince with the knife and lets the blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid again and will live out a full life.

But she can't do it. She can't bring herself to kill the man she loves. Instead, she throws herself into the sea and dissolves into seafoam - but instead of ceasing to exist, she becomes a spirit, a daughter of the air, because she strove so hard to gain an eternal soul. By doing good deeds, she now has the chance to attain that soul and eventually rise to heaven

I definitely prefer the altered version. Aren’t fairy tales supposed to be cute with happy endings!

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Cinderella

In the sweet popular version of the story; Cinderella is a poor girl, who after the death of his father is treated as maid by her step mother and sisters, eventually managed to get to the Prince’s ball by the help of his fairy Godmother. At the ball, the Prince fall in love with her, but alas, the magic must end at midnight. As she darts out, she left one of her glass slipper behind. The prince then searches for any girl whose foot fits the slipper. It fits Cinderella’s foot perfectly. Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily ever after.

Cinderella theme has been around since antiquity. The earliest version can be traced back to 1st Century BC, when a Greek historian, Strabo recorded a story of a heroine called Rhodopis (rosy-cheeked). Rhodopis is a servant. When Pharaoh Amasis throws a party, all Rhodopis’s fellow servants force Rhodopis to do all the washing in the River. While she is washing, an eagle takes her sandal and drops it on the feet of Pharaoh. The Pharaoh asks all girls in the kingdom to try on the sandal. It fits Rhodopis’ feet and she marries the Pharaoh.

The theme continues to reappear in different countries and cultures. In Korea there is a story of a girl who goes to a royal ball with the help of a talking fish that is a reincarnation of her deceased mother and left her slipper there, at the ball. There are wide variations in all these versions, but all usually involving jealous siblings, wicked stepmother and helping spirit either it be a fairy Godmother, the wishing tree or the spirit of the deceased mother.

The two most popular classic versions of Cinderella story are the one written by Charles Perrault in 17th century and the other collected by Brother Grimm in 19th century. Perrault’s version is quite similar with the now popular version. In Perrault’s version the fate of Cinderella’s stepsisters is told. They are forgiven by Cinderella and each of them marries respectable lord. This is the most agreeable version for children and the one followed by Disney.

The version recorded by Grimm Brother, however, has a gruesome ending. One of the stepsisters cut off her toes so her foot can fit into the slipper, but some pigeons tell the prince about the blood dripping from the shoes. The other stepsister saw off her heel, but again her wicked trick is known by the prince. In the end, the stepsister’s eyes are pecked and eaten by ravenous pigeons. Being blind is not their only misery. The stepsisters also thrown out of their mansion and have to spend the rest of their lives as beggars.

The moral message is clear, that evil people must be punished by all means. However, in the Grimm’s version the message is so brutally communicated and is definitely not suitable for children.