Stories by the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and the like, packed to the brim with mush and happy endings, set the foundation for many dreams of generations of countless young kids worldwide. But since life constantly pops our happy bubbles, we learnt - much to the dismay of the inner child in all of us - that the “reality” of these endings were a far cry from the fairytales we could recite word for word in our sleep.
To be fair, we have the edited books and Disney to thank for keeping our childhood innocence and optimism intact and switching up the morbid details for the more PG rated happily ever afters we've come to love and expect in real life. Especially considering these writers we’ve long regarded as architects of “happily ever afters” seemed to have had a penchant for gore, violence and theatrics in reality - something our grown up selves have more of an appreciation for, if truth be told. So amidst great news that the first edition of the Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales will be translated into English - with the original endings restored, here are the original plot lines of four of our favourite fairy tales from way back when it was not a good time to be evil, and weddings were not the place to be..
1. Snow White – "Revenge is a dish best served… HOT!"
PG Ending: A fight with the dwarves ensues (post poisoning Snow with the apple) and the Evil Queen is killed when she falls off a cliff. The prince kisses Snow, she wakes up and he carries her off to the castle. And they live “HEA”.
Original Ending: The whole bit about Snow and the prince is more or less the same, but the Evil Queen, suffers a more - painful - death. She was invited to the wedding - but wait for it - was made to wear a pair of hot iron shoes and dance to death for the wedding party.
2. Cinderella – "No pain. No gain."
PG Ending: Cinderella is one of those fairytales that has been made and remade and adapted a gazillion times, literally. But referencing the Disney version from way back in 1950, Cinderella and the Prince end up married, and as things are wont to happen in a fairytale, lived “HEA”.
Original Ending: Grimm's Cinderella was actually named Aschenputtel, and she lived HEA with her Prince in this version too. But, being a horrible person is apparently not the way to go, as was evidenced by the fate meted out to the evil stepsisters by the Grimm brothers. For starters, one stepsister actually cut off her toes in order to fit into the slipper while the other ended up slicing her heel. Ouch. But that's not all - during the wedding of Aschenputtel and her Prince, doves flew down from Heaven and pecked the sisters’ eyes out!!!
3. Sleeping Beauty – "Uninformed consent?"
PG Ending: Prince Philip defeats the dragon, kisses Aurora and awakens her from her sleep. Cue “HEA”.
Original Ending: This was based off “Sun, Moon, and Talia” by Giambattista Basile. Talia - now famously known as Aurora, aka sleeping beauty - was raped, not kissed, by the prince. He was, after all a king and could do whatever he wanted as and when he pleased. He was also possibly a closet necrophiliac, to be honest, considering the fact that Talia was pretty much dead to the world and all that. Poor Talia woke up months later with twin babies (Sun & Moon) - and with a plot line that will put even the most clichéd telenovela to shame - eventually reunited with the king who was already MARRIED!!! Not surprisingly, wife #1 tried to make the king eat his own babies, but because he's a king and wouldn't put up with vengeful first wives, he threw her in a fire and married Talia as punishment. Savage.
4. The Little Mermaid – "Ask and thou shalt receive… But at a price."
PG Ending: Our favourite Mermaid, Ariel, was turned into a human permanently by her awesome daddy and she lived “HEA” with Prince Eric.
Original Ending: So turns out Ariel had a pretty legit reason for wanting legs beside getting the guy. Apparently, Mermaids don't get to go to heaven, which is pretty messed up actually. So she wanted to be human. Hans Christian Anderson was a downright jerk to Ariel though - even though he gives her feet, he makes it so she felt like she was walking on sharp knives with every step she took! Ariel also failed to get the guy, and on the day of his wedding, she flung herself into the sea and died. There was a silver lining, if you could call it that (we sure as hell don't) - instead of ending up as sea foam, she became a “daughter of the air” who could eventually earn her way to a soul if she did enough good things. Yeah, screw that.
By Rihaab Mowlana
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