July 25, 2024 | Samantha Henman

The Twisted Origins Of Beloved Fairy Tales


Once Upon A Time…

Whether we learned them from a book or from Disney movies, many of us experienced classic fairy tales through rose-colored glasses. Whether it’s Pinocchio’s torturous ordeal or the dark truth about Snow White, many of the fairy tales we loved were actually far more sinister than we remember.

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Rumpelstiltskin

What with all the baby-peddling, Rumpelstiltskin is pretty disturbing on its own. But few remember that in the original version, after the imp is fooled by his one-time victim, he gets so angry that he tears himself in two. That’ll teach ‘em!

RumpelstiltskinSofi, Flickr

Cinderella

Cinderella is one of the more vividly-depicted adaptations of a fairy tale for Walt Disney. Who could forget the sight of the evil stepsisters jamming their big feet into the glass slipper? Well, in the original version, it’s so much more gruesome.

Image of Cinderella in white dressWalt Disney, Cinderella (1950)

The Real Cinderella

In the original version of the story, the stepsisters began to hack away at their feet to make them fit the glass slipper, even drawing and filling the thing with blood. But somehow, that’s not even their worst punishment.

Cinderella Glass SlipperTSTS Sheng, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

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Don’t Mess With Her Man

As if losing their chance at the prince isn’t bad enough, when the stepsisters attend Cinderella’s wedding, doves fly down from the sky and peck their eyes out.

Cinderella and Prince Charmaing.Walt Disney, Cinderella (1950)

Snow White And The Seven Dwarves

The first big Disney adaptation of a fairy tale, the 1937 film set the stage for decades of Disney movies that came after it. It also, then, was among the first films to completely defang and sanitize the original story it was based on—a 19th century German fairy tale.

Image of Snow White taking waterWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

The Real Snow White

In this version, when the queen/her stepmother decides to go after Snow White, she tells the huntsman to not only track her down, but also take her life. Even more twisted? She demands that he cut out Snow White’s liver and lungs and bring them back so she can eat them. Yikes.

Image of Snow White killerWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Snow White’s Temporary End

In one version, when the queen finally gets to Snow White, despite the dwarves’ attempts to protect her, she takes her life. Then, a prince falls in love with her after stumbling upon her corpse in the forest—but it gets worse

Image of Snow White and princeWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Snow White’s Obsessed Stalker

The prince—who has never met Snow White, lest we forget--then carries Snow White’s body around with him for weeks. Eventually, one of his servants gets sick of it and hits her, dislodging the poison apple in her throat.

Image of Snow White thiefWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Snow White’s Revenge

Well, at least she finally gets back at her stepmother in the original version—even if it gets gruesome. The stepmother attempts to attend Snow White’s wedding, but her groom, the prince, comes up with a punishment.

Image of Snow White and princeWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

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Snow White’s Overkill

The prince punishes Snow White’s stepmother by putting her feet in a pair of red-hit iron slippers. He then makes her dance until she collapses and dies. What a way to make your wedding memorable!

Image of Snow WhiteWalt Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Little Red Riding Hood

The tale of Little Red Riding Hood is pretty dark on its own. In fact, it’s dark enough that one could assume Walt Disney avoided adapting it for a reason. But when you really get into the nitty gritty details of the European fairy tale, the whole thing is really quite gruesome.

Little Red Riding HoodHalloween HJB, Flickr

The Real Little Red Riding Hood

In early versions of the tale, the wolf dismembers and skins Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. Later, when she arrives, he serves her grandmother’s flesh. It’s no wonder various adaptations have turned the wolf character into a serial killer.

Little Red Riding HoodSpecial Collections Toronto Public Library, Flickr

Mulan

There’s real emotional drive in the film version of Mulan. If you don’t cry at the song “Reflection,” you’ve gotta be made of stone. But in the real version of the story, there’s a twisted element to her family dynamics that is…disturbing, to say the least.

Screenshot from the animated musical coming-of-age action-adventure film Mulan (1998)Walt Disney, Mulan (1998)

The Real Mulan

In the original version of the story, Mulan comes home from battle, only to find that her beloved father has passed on and that her mother has remarried—but that’s not the worst part.

Screenshot from the animated musical coming-of-age action-adventure film Mulan (1998)Walt Disney, Mulan (1998)

Mulan’s Indecent Proposal

Her mother has married a nobleman—but it’s no happily ever after. The new husband wants Mulan to become his concubine. Surprisingly, it still gets worse from here.

Screenshot from the animated musical coming-of-age action-adventure film Mulan (1998)Walt Disney, Mulan (1998)

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Mulan’s Dark End

Faced with the prospect of becoming her stepfather’s lover, Mulan takes her own life out of despair. A bit of a different ending from the one you remembered from the Disney movie…

Screenshot from the animated musical coming-of-age action-adventure film Mulan (1998)Walt Disney, Mulan (1998)

The Frog Prince

“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this…”

In the original version of this fairy tale, all it takes to turn the frog back into a prince is a kiss—spawning thousands of iterations of the phrase “You’ve gotta kiss a few frogs to find your prince”. Well, as it turns out, it was actually much more difficult for the princess in this tale.

Frog Prince - Jack Zipes Historic Fairy TaleMCAD Library, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Real Frog Prince

In the original version of the fairy tale, the princess has to go above and beyond to turn the frog back into a prince. She is supposed to cut off his head for it to happen—here’s hoping she paid attention during the dissection section of high school biology.

Eventually, she settles for throwing him against a wall to break the spell.

View of a page from 'Once Upon A Time, A Book Of Old-Time Fairy Tales,'Buyenlarge, Getty Images

Alice In Wonderland

Unlike other entries on this list, this bizarre fairy tale has more interpretations than it does different versions. While many associate it—mostly anachronistically—with substance use, there’s a creepier edge to it that comes from Lewis Carroll’s real life.

first edition of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis CarrollJonathan Brady - PA Images, Getty Images

The Truth About Alice In Wonderland

Some believe that Alice in Wonderland is a roman a clef, and that all the characters represent real people in Carroll’s life. Alice may have been based on Alice Liddell, a real girl that Caroll knew—but their relationship has caused controversy.

Illustration by John Tenn iel for Alice's Adventures in WonderlandUniversalImagesGroup, Getty Images

The Real Alice

Carroll was close friends with Liddell and her family until they suddenly cut ties with him—some believe, because he’d told her parents he wanted to marry the 11-year-old. Carroll would’ve been 31 at the time.

Alice Liddell (1852 - 1934) that was taken by Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll.Robbin Atwell, Flickr

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Sleeping Beauty

Even in modern versions of this story, like the Disney film adaptation, the whole “kissing an unconsenting sleeping woman” was pretty problematic—not to mention how terrifying they made Maleficent. But the original was so much worse.

Scenes from the Sleeping BeautyCarlos, Flickr

The Real Sleeping Beauty

In the earliest version of the story, a medieval courtly romance called Perceforest, the princess falls into an enchanted sleep while her love interest goes off into the forest. When he finds her, asleep, he does the deed with her—did I mention she’s asleep?—and she gets pregnant. Eventually, she gives birth, and eventually, sometime after that, her baby wakes her up.

What a…happy ending? Oh wait, that’s not the ending.

Sleeping Beauty 1959Walt Disney, Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Sleeping Beauty, The Child-Rearing Years

Some versions of the story have a part two, where a woman from the prince’s past tries to have the princess’s children cooked and served for dinner. Weird they didn’t include that in the movie…

image of Sleeping BeautyWalt Disney, Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Puss In Boots

No, it’s not just a Shrek spinoff about a smooth-talking cat. Sure, he is certainly smooth-talking in the original European fairy tale, which was first published in Italy in the 16th century. In fact, he’s probably too smooth—to the point of being a grifter.

Scene From Puss In Boots By Charles PerraultUniversal History Archive, Getty Images

The Real Puss In Boots

In the original fairy tale, Puss in Boots is a scammer—but hey, at least he also seeks to better the life of his master, who is impoverished. One of the ways he does this is by stripping the man naked and convincing him to pretend to be a Marquis. Not so bad…but it’s the way this anecdote ends that’s disturbing.

Puss in BootsDreamWorks, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

That’s One Way To Fix Someone Up

The cat convinces the unclothed man to get into the king’s carriage. The king’s reaction is truly bizarre. Upon seeing this naked imposter, he offers the man his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Puss in BootsDreamWorks, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

The Little Mermaid

Disney took some real liberties when it came to adapting fairy tales in the 1980s and 1990s—and for those of us who grew up loving The Little Mermaid, the real version is pretty horrifying.

Screenshot from the animated movie The Little Mermaid (1989)Walt Disney, The Little Mermaid (1989)

The Real Little Mermaid

In the original Hans Christian Andersen story, the Little Mermaid’s transformation is pretty terrifying. Though she’s beautiful, she constantly feels the pain of her lost tail and her feet feel like she’s walking on knives. They also bleed.

Close Up Photo of The Little Mermaid dvdRuss, Flickr

The Little Mermaid’s Life On The Surface

After they meet, the prince asks the Little Mermaid to dance for him, which she does, even though it causes her intense pain. He also makes her sleep on the floor outside his bedroom. And then, things get even weirder.

Screenshot from the animated movie The Little Mermaid (1989).Walt Disney, The Little Mermaid (1989)

The Plot Thickens

When the prince marries someone else, the mermaid’s sisters make a deal with the sea witch, giving her their hair in exchange for a dagger the mermaid can use to get rid of the prince and return to the sea. However, she can’t bring herself to do it, so she turns into seafoam.

The Little Mermaid (1989)Walt Disney, The Little Mermaid (1989)

Rapunzel

Another classic fairy tale about jealousy over looks/physical features. What exactly are we trying to teach our kids with these? Well, in the original version, things end pretty badly…and not for the villain.

image from RapunzelWalt Disney, Tangled (2010)

The Real Rapunzel

First, there’s the fact that, like in Rumpelstiltskin, a man tries to bargain by giving away his first-born baby. Then, years later, that baby becomes Rapunzel—and the prince first gains access to her tower by pretending to be the sorceress who’s raised her. Intruder alert! Oh yeah—she gets pregnant from one of these encounters as well.

Stamps of GermanyNightflyer, Wikimedia Commons

The Prince’s End

After the sorceress kicks Rapunzel out for being an unwed mother, she fools the prince into climbing up Rapunzel’s hair, which she’s sheared off. She then blinds the prince. Talk about adding insult to injury…

image from RapunzelWalt Disney, Tangled (2010)

Pinocchio

A puppet come to life. A kindly woodcarver named Geppetto. Some delightful, if harrowing, adventures. Well, the real story of Pinocchio is really nothing like the Disney film of the same name.

Pinocchio from the trailer for the film PinocchioUnknown Author, Picryl

The Real Pinocchio

In the original story, which was first published in 1883, the puppet runs away from Geppetto and is picked up by the cops. They assume that the puppet-boy has been abused and arrest Geppetto—and it gets worse from there

Pinocchio MuralATIS547, FlickrThe Original Pinocchio

After a talking cricket—the basis for Jiminy Cricket, of course—lectures him, Pinocchio tosses a hammer at him and accidentally kills him. He then accidentally burns off his own feet, bites off a cat’s paw, and is hung from a tree at one point. It’s all quite a nightmare.

Pinocchio (1940)Insomnia Cured Here, Flickr

Aladdin

We know the character of Aladdin from the compendium One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales—often called Arabian Nights, part of the title of its first English edition. The book produced a number of notable stories, including “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp”. However, most of us know it from the 1992 film.

image from AladinThe Wrightwood Group, The Making of Aladdin: A Whole New World (1992)

The Real Aladdin

The original Aladdin is set in China, and there’s not one, but two genies—and they have to fight each other. When Aladdin has to face down the story’s antagonist, a sorcerer, he recruits his wife, the Sultan’s daughter, to use her, ahem, “woman’s wiles” to trick him.

On top of that, he kills two people—the sorcerer, and the sorcerer’s brother. A little more bloody than the Disney version!

image from AladinThe Wrightwood Group, The Making of Aladdin: A Whole New World (1992)

The Goose Girl

This old fairy tale starts out with a familiar formula—a maid falls in love with a prince. But that’s where it gets weird.

The Goose Girl, from the 1920s children's bookclotho98, Flickr

The Real Goose Girl

In order to get close to him, she swaps places with a princess—but to cover her lie, she kills a talking horse. For her hubris, she ends up meeting a dark twist of fate.

1920s - The Goose GirlSofi, Flickr

The Goose Girl’s Punishment

Once her ruse is discovered, she’s punished by being stripped and thrown into a spike-filled barrel, and then rolled around for good measure. Unsurprisingly, she perishes from this whole process.

The Goosegirl from The Fairy TalesHeritage Images, Getty Images

The Ugly Duckling

Speaking of fairy tales featuring anatidae (that’s the biological family that makes up duck, geese, and swans), the tale of the Ugly Duckling reads like an anti-bullying manifesto. Well, in the OG version…there’s just even more bullying. And all his geese and duck friends end up slaughtered.

The Ugly DucklingLMPC, Getty Images

Bluebeard

Fairy tale—or horror story? In this story, the namesake character’s wives keep disappearing. His newest wife gets a little too curious about the corridors in her new home while he’s gone, and discovers he’s killed them all. Sorry, who is this so-called fairy tale for? Children?

BluebeardPhoto 12, Getty Images

The Three Little Piggies

In the end we know, the three pigs defeat the wolf—but in the original version, not everyone makes it out alive.

Three Little Pigs wolf blowing houseWalt Disney, Three Little Pigs (1933)

The Real Three Little Piggies

When the wolf does blow their house down, the first two piggies don’t actually make it, and it’s only the third that survives the wolf’s attack.

Three Little PigsWalt Disney, Three Little Pigs (1933)


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