Fairytales of Famous Authors Compared to Disney Cartoons with proper respect etc

Story 50: Darling Roland Brothers' Grimm Original Details Part 2(1812)

Triggering warning: There is no inappropriate sexual scenes but what is present is quite graphic, gruesome and there is blood. But if you have a little kid reading this be sure to remind them it is only a story by Brothers' Grimm. Read at your own risk if you dare for this may bring on nightmares. To me this is the most graphic story out of all Brothers' Grimm story because deaths normally happen to villains inside of something in this story that is not the case.

Darling Roland
There was once a woman who was a genuine witch and she had two daughters, an ugly, wicked one whom she loved because she was her own, and a beautiful, good one, whom she hated because she was her stepdaughter. At one time the stepdaughter had a pretty apron. The other daughter liked it so much that she grew envious snd said to her mother: "I must and will have that apron." "Hush, my child," said the old woman. "Have it you will. Your stepsister deserved to die long ago. Tonight when she's asleep I'll go and chop her head off, Just take care to lie on the inside of the bed and push her to the outside." The poor girl would have been lost if she hadn't been standing in the corner and heard every word they said. They did't let her out of the house all day, and when it came time to go to bed the witch's daughter got in first so as to be on the inside. But when she had fallen asleep, her stepsister pushed her gently to the outer edge and took her place by the wall. In the dead of night the old woman came creeping in. In her right hand she held an ax and with her left hand she groped to make sure someone was lying on the outside. Then she gripped the ax in both hands and chopped her own child's head off.
When she had gone away, the girl got up and went to the house of her sweetheart, whose name was Roland, and knocked at the door.
When he came out, she said: "Darling Roland, we must run away; my stepmother tried to kill me, but she killed her own daughter in-stead. When the sun comes up and she sees what she's done, we'll be lost." "All right," said Roland, "but you'd better take her magic wand first. Wichout it we'll never get away if she follows us." After taking the magic wand, she picked up her stepsister's head and let three drops of blood fall to the floor, one by the bed, one in the kitchen, and one on the stairs. Then she hurried away with her darling.
In the morning when the old witch got up, she wanted to give her daughter the apron and called her, but she didn't come. "Where are you?" the old woman called. "Here on the stairs. I'm sweeping," said the first drop of blood. The old woman went out, saw no one on the stairs, and called again: "Where are you?" "Here in the kitchen. I'm warming myself,"
' said the second drop of blood. She went into the
kitchen, but found no one and called once more: "Where are you?"
"Here in bed. I'm sleeping," cried the third drop of blood. She went to the room and approached the bed. What did she see? Her own child bathed in blood; and she herself had cut her head off!
The witch flew into a rage and leaped to the window. She had the gift of seeing far into the distance and she saw her stepdaughter hur-ring away with her darling Roland. "A lot of good that will do you!" she cried out. "You've gone a long way, but I'll catch you." She put on her seven-league boots that covered an hour's journey at each step, and overtook them in no time. But when the girl saw the old woman striding up, she took the magic wand and turned her darling Roland into a lake and herself into a duck swimming in the mid-de of the lake. The witch stood on the bank, tossed in crusts of bread, and did everything she could think of to lure the duck. But the duck didn't let herself be lured, and at nightfall the old woman had to give up and go home.
The girl and her darling Roland took back their natural forms and walked all night until daybreak. Then the girl turned herself into a beautiful fower growing in the middle of a bramblebush, and turned her darling Roland into a fiddler. In a little while the witch came striding up and said to the fiddler: "Dear fiddler, may I pick that lovely fower?" "Yes, of course," he replied. "And while you're doing it I'll play for you." She knew perfectly well who the flower was, and as she hurried into the bush in her eagerness to pick the flower, he began to play. Like it or not, she had to dance, for it was a magic tune. The faster he played the more she had to jump. The brambles ripped her clothes off, and cut and scratched her till she was all covered with blood. But she kept right on playing and she had to dance till she fell to the ground dead.
Once they were saved, Roland said: "Now I'll go home to my father and arrange for our wedding." "I'll stay here and wait for you," said the girl. "And to keep from being recognized I'll turn myself into a red stone." So Roland went away and the girl, who had turned herself into a red stone, stood in the field, waiting for her darling.
When Roland got home, he fell into the clutches of another woman and forgot his sweetheart. The poor girl stood there for a long, long time, but when he didn't come back, she grew sad, turned herself into a flower, and said to herself, "If only someone would come along and trample me to death."
But it so happened that a shepherd who was minding his sheep in the field saw the flower. He thought it was so beautiful that he plucked it and took it home and put it in his cupboard. Then weird things started happening in the shepherd's hut. By the time he got up in the morning, all the housework had been done; the floor had been swept, the tables and benches dusted, a fire made in the hearth, and the water brought in; and when he came home at midday the table was set and a good meal was ready. All this puzzled him, for he never saw a living soul, and the hut was too small for anyone to hide in. Of course he was glad to be so well served, but after a while he began to feel frightened and went to a Wise Woman for advice. The Wise Woman said: "There's magic at the bottom of this. Look sharp when you wake up in the morning. If you see anything moving, no matter what, throw a white cloth over it. That will break the magic." The shepherd did as she had said, and the next morning, just as day was breaking, he saw the cupboard open and the flower come out. Quick as a flash he jumped out of the bed and threw a white cloth over it. That broke the magic, and there stood a beautiful girl, who confessed she had been the flower and kept house for him. Then she told him her story, and as he liked her he asked her to marry him, but she said no, but she said no, because even if her darling Roland had forsaken her she meant to be faithful to him. But she promised to stay with the shepherd and go on keeping house for him.
The time came for Roland to be married, and in that country it was the custom that all the girls for miles around should attend the wedding and sing in honor of the bridal couple. When the faithful girl heard the news, she was so sad she thought her heart would break, She didn't want to go, but the others came and took her along.
Every time she was supposed to sing, she kept stepping back, but in the end she was the only one left and she couldn't help herself. When she started her song and Roland heard her, he jumped up and said: "I know that voice. That's my true bride, I don't want the other." Everything he had forgotten, everything he had lost sight of, suddenly fowed back into his heart. The faithful girl was wedded to her darling Roland, her sorrow was ended, and her joy began.

✅ Points for the correct demonstration of envy is the first good thing and two not having a damsel in distress for once who just gets lucky but is actually smart, wise, helpful, and dutiful. Third great thing the main character is extremely faithful despite all that happened between her and lover boy. She also keeps on going and doesn't let life get her down.