Scary Tales

The Original Dark Side of Famous Fairy Tales

Fairy tales - those enchanting narratives that have captivated the hearts and minds of generations - often seem like whimsical stories designed to entertain children and impart moral lessons. They are usually family friendly and can be easily digested by children as bedtime stories. However, lurking beneath the surface of some of these seemingly innocent tales are dark and disturbing subtexts that reveal a much grittier reality. Many of these tales have several variations, which may be much more adult in nature than the ones we are familiar with. Let us delve into the unsettling side of some of the world's most famous fairy tales, shedding light on the morbid and macabre aspects of the tales that are scrubbed from the sanitised versions we know today.

CINDERELLA

The story of Cinderella is a timeless tale of rags to riches, love and the triumph of goodness over adversity. However, the original version of Cinderella, first told as the story of Rhodopis by Greek philosopher Strabo, and later more famously and popularly recounted by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century as Aschenputtel, takes a much darker turn.

In the Grimm Brothers' version, which is more violent than other versions of the tale, Cinderella's stepsisters are not merely vain and unpleasant. They are willing to go to extreme lengths to fit into the glass slipper. In an attempt to make the slipper fit, one sister cuts off her toes, and the other severs her heel, in a gruesome bid to deceive the prince.

However, the mutilations are exposed when the prince is alerted by two talking doves to the blood oozing from the illfitting shoe. In a later edition of the story with a supplementary coda, the doves blind the evil sisters by plucking out their eyes.

The sanitised fairy tale we see today scrubs away the blood and pain of the mutilations and the retributions, leaving behind a more palatable story for younger audiences to savour.