We’re all fond of listening to stories every day. Fairy tales and any kind of fictional stories has been part of our life. Stories that are known to have romantic scenes, and a ‘happy ending.’ Sometimes, because of our admiration to the popular tales we’ve known, we used to dream of something similar to those stories— the lady’s perfect beauty, the Prince Charming, and the love against in all odds.
Of course, there are different kinds of versions (like Disney) how those stories were told.. and unlikely, some of the stories we known are quite different from the original one. Yes, very different that you may wonder why and how did it happened. And I don’t think if you’ll like it.. curious?
Take a deep breath and read these original synopsis of the stories we used to know..
CINDERELLA
The Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella is really nothing like the Disney version, other than the fact that Cinderella loses her shoe. Their version of the tale is quite fitting to their last name.
Before I toss you into the really morbid stuff, the original version didn’t have a fairy godmother. Instead, she had a tree that she planted next to her mother’s grave where she prayed every day. One day she finds three dresses under the tree that she wears to different balls. She also doesn’t lose her slipper because she has to be home before midnight. In fact, the prince (creepily) covers the stairs in pitch to get her stuck to them, but she only ends up leaving her shoe behind.
Now for the grim stuff: The stepsisters wanted to fit in the glass slipper so badly, that one of them cut off her toes and the other cut off her heel. Doves notify the prince that there is blood on the slipper and he, somehow, ends up finding out that Cinderella is the true owner of this beautiful shoe. She becomes queen and on her wedding day her stepsisters attend…only to get their eyes pecked out by birds.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
The movie rendition of Beauty and the Beast is quite spot on in comparison to the original story.
However, there is an interesting detail that Disney left out. Belle isn’t a single child; she actually has two mean sisters. Belle also lives a luxurious life with the beast and got to go home in spurts that lasted only one week. Her jealous sisters attempt to persuade her to stay, hoping to anger the beast and have him eat her upon her (late) return. It’s always nice to see the love of sisters bloom.
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Whenever a story is really messed up, just assume it’s the handiwork of the Brothers Grimm. Seriously.
In their version, the stepmother of Snow White who is also an evil queen basically hires a hunter to kill Snow White in the forest, like in the movie, but the difference is, that in the story, she asks him to bring back her heart and liver.
The hunter fails to kill her and brings back the heart and liver of a boar, instead. The evil queen eats them thinking they’re the bodily possessions of Snow White. She ends up trying to kill Snow White twice and fails both times. The third time, the queen gives the poisoned apple to Snow White and she faints and doesn’t wake up. She ends up in a glass coffin and the prince finds her. He carries her away (while she’s still sleeping…Prince Charming? More like Prince Creepy) and the dwarfs who were watching her body allow it. The men carrying Snow White trip and the motion ends up dislodging the poison apple from her throat, bringing her back to life.
The prince and Snow White get married and they decide to invite the evil queen. Why, you may ask? So they can watch as she is forced to wear scalding-hot iron shoes and dance until she dies. What a pleasant wedding.
PINNOCHIO
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi in 1883 is where Disney’s nose-growing, wooden boy comes from.
If you thought Pinocchio was a little troublemaker in the movie, he was even worse in the book. As soon as he is able to walk, he runs away and the police catch him. Poor Geppetto gets imprisoned because they think Pinocchio was abused by him. Pinocchio goes back home and ends up killing a talking cricket because he warns him that the life he’s living is dangerous, that he should stop taking part in hedonistic pleasures and instead should be obedient (RIP Jiminy; maybe you shouldn’t have been so chatty).
Upon Geppetto’s release, however, he makes Pinocchio go to school but Pinocchio, being the little jerk he is, sells his books for a ticket to the Great Marionette Theatre where a fox and a cat steal his money and try to kill him. Though, Pinocchio saves Geppetto from getting eaten by a dogfish (a whale in the movie) and turns his life around, eventually allowing him to become a real boy.
THE FOX AND THE HOUND
The movie is based off of the novel written by Daniel P. Mannix in 1967. Real BFF? NO…that doesn’t happen in the novel.
In the novel, the fox is raised by the dog owner’s family and eventually leaves for the wild when he’s full grown. He makes visits back, not to hang out and do bestfriend things, but to taunt the dogs. Eventually, one of the dogs breaks loose and chases him, until the dog gets hit by a train. The hunter, saddened about the loss of his dog, vows to kill the fox and it becomes a wicked obsession. He ends up killing the fox’s mate and children, but never actually kills the fox. The fox, aka Tod, eventually dies due to exhaustion and Copper, the dog in the movie, is so ancient that he needs to get put down.
RAPUNZEL
The Brothers Grimm are back to ruin another one of your favorite fairy tales. In their tale, Rapunzel becomes pregnant with the prince’s baby before escaping and the evil sorceress finds out.
So, the logical thing to do for the sorceress is to cut off Rapunzel’s long, luscious hair and throw her into the wilderness.
When the prince comes to the tower to see Rapunzel, the sorceress uses the cut-off hair to lure him in. Once inside, she tells him he will never see his beloved Rapunzel again. So, he jumps out of the window, rolls into a bush of thorns and is blinded. He wanders blindly, until Rapunzel gives birth to twins, and he is guided back to her when he hears her voice.
She essentially cries into his eyes, and her tears give him back his sight (what?).
They end up going back to the prince’s castle, since he knows how to get there considering he’s no longer blind and live happily ever after.
THE LION KING
If you haven’t heard by now that The Lion King is an adaptation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, then you’ve been living under a rock. Either way, now you know. It’s about a jealous brother killing the king, only to have the son find out and plan to take revenge. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are essentially Timon and Pumba, distract the son, but in the end he ends up being successful in killing his evil uncle. Though in Shakespeare’s version…everyone dies. Sounds like Game of Thrones.
THE LITTLE MERMAID
The Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale isn’t too far off, except for a few minor and morbid details. Most of the story line stays the same; like how she sees the prince in his ship, saves him from drowning and falls madly in love with him. Like in the Disney movie, she pays a visit to the sea witch and trades her tongue (and beautiful voice) for legs.
Similar to the movie, she can stay a human being if she kisses her true love and marries him. Though this is where the two versions differ: in the movie, if Ariel fails, she just reverts back to being a mermaid, while in the actual tale, if she fails, she dies.
On top of that, in the tale, human beings have eternal souls while mermaids don’t and she had to pay for her legs with a lot more than just her tongue and her voice. In fact, each step she took sent a stabbing pain through her.
The tale goes on, like in the movie, to have Ariel believe that her plan is working and that the prince is falling in love with her, but he actually ends up marrying a girl he thinks is the girl who saved him. Now Ariel is faced with a difficult decision: she either has to kill the prince, which would allow her to revert back to her mermaid life, or, the alternative: die.
Loving the prince so much, she couldn’t get herself to do it and jumps into the ocean, essentially committing suicide. Quite depressing…
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
Disney got the idea for this movie from Giambattista Basile’s fairy tale. This is what happened in Basile’s version…I warn you, it’s nothing like the Disney version…at all.
A king knocks on Sleeping Beauty’s door and she doesn’t answer (because, duh, she’s sleeping), so he decides to go in anyway through her window. He finds her sleeping there and calls to her, but alas, she doesn’t wake up. So he carries her to the bed, no, not to tuck her in and make sure she’s comfortable, but to have non-consensual sex with her and leaves. Quality human being.
She gives birth to twins in her sleep (again, what?) and one of the twins sucks the flax out of her finger (does he not fall asleep then? SO MANY PLOT HOLES), anyway, the king ends up coming back and they end up falling in love.
Of course, the douchebro king is married to someone else, but that doesn’t matter because what are morals after you have non-consensual sex with an unconscious girl?
As always, the wife finds out and attempts to kill the twins, cook them and feed them to the king and tries to burn the princess. She isn’t successful and the king leaves his wife for Sleeping Beauty and they get married and live happily ever after.
So, what do you think? Is the original version much better than new ones? Share your thoughts and share these to your friends!