Fairytales have been around for thousands of years, initially passed down by word of mouth then published in books and make into plays, ballets and movies – fairytales usually have supernatural elements and moral lessons. Disney famously made many of these well known stories into animated films, starting with Snow White in 1937. But did you know many of these fairytales have super dark moments which were not translated for modern children? Let’s delve into some truly horrible unknown facts about your most beloved tales now, using our V&A collection of fairytale related objects. We bet you’ll be surprised!
The Blue Fairy was horrid!
In Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy has often been depicted as a kind, caring person who helps Pinocchio in his time of need. In the original fairytale, she is known as The Girl with the Azure Hair and is very manipulative and unkind to Pinocchio. Sometimes lying and putting him in danger, unlike the Disney version where she acts motherly toward him. This Blue Fairy puppet shown here is from a 1960s play – she does not look particularly friendly here either! You can view this at V&A South Kensington in London.
Mind the children!
In the original Sleeping Beauty story, Princess Aurora has twin babies with the Prince. A woman from the Prince’s life disapproves of his new family so attempts to kill the twins by cooking them! Thankfully the children are saved and Aurora and her family live happily ever after. Eeeesh!
When the shoe MUST fit!
In the original story of Cinderella, the Ugly Stepsisters are so determined to fit into the glass slipper to marry the Prince, they… get ready for it… CUT OFF THEIR TOES! Owwwieee! The Prince doesn’t even notice at first, it takes a dove to point out the blood dripping from the slipper. He of course ends up marrying the original shoe-wearer, Cinderella, and the step-sisters get their eyes pecked out by birds during the wedding. OKAY THEN.
My, what big teeth you have!
As if Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t gruesome enough, the Charles Perrault version, the wolf simply falls asleep after eating Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother THE END. Yikes! The other plot point of the wolf having stones sewn into his stomach to replace the rescued Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother is also similar to another fairytale called The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids in which a wolf terrorises a goat and her children. Look it up!
Rejection and heartbreak
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is quite different from the Disney version. In the Disney film, Ariel has three days to convince Prince Eric she is the girl who saved him from drowning, despite having no voice and nearly losing it all due to the manipulative sea witch Ursula. She succeeds and they both live happily ever after. In Hans Christian Andersen’s version, the Prince marries another girl instead of Ariel, who is then so distraught she returns to the ocean and literally dissolves into sea foam. How sad!
Dance till you die!
Snow White is a pretty grimm (get it?) fairytale as it is, but the ending of the original was truly grimmmm. In the 1812 story by the famous Brothers Grimm, Snow White marries the Prince (yay) but in an act of revenge against the Evil Queen for trying to kill her on multiple occasions, invites the Queen to the wedding and forces her to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she perishes. Nothing celebrates the joining of two people in love than a Queen dancing in agony in front of guests. Maybe a band or magician might have been nicer?
