By: Melissa Clarkson
When you think of fairy tales, Disney’s princess stories are often the first that come to mind. What doesn’t come to mind is that these movies are Disney’s adaptations of old fairy tales and stories with darker elements that Disney left out. Here are a few sweet childhood memories shattered by their dark origins.
Cinderella: In the Brothers Grimm story Cinderella, Cinderella’s mother dies and her father remarries the evil stepmother who has two evil daughters, as seen in Disney’s adaptation. Unlike the Disney version, in the Brothers Grimm story, Cinderella’s father never dies; instead, he allows the evil stepmother’s and -sisters’ mistreatment of Cinderella. As the story progresses, Cinderella’s father begins to treat her poorly as well, favoring his new family. The most disturbing element of the original story is probably what happens to Cinderella’s evil stepsisters. When the prince brings the shoe to Cinderella’s house, the first sister cuts off her toe in order to make the shoe fit, while the other sister later cuts off a portion of her heel. The prince does realize Cinderella is his fair maiden and the evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by pigeons at the royal wedding.
Sleeping Beauty: The Disney adaptation with the darkest origin is probably Sleeping Beauty. Giambattisa Basile’s Sun, Moon, and Talia was published in 1634, before the Brothers Grimm’s “Briar-Rose.” In Basile’s story, Talia (Rose), falls dead, rather than asleep, after getting a splinter of flax stuck in her finger. Her father then abandons her dead body in their house. A king, who happens to be married, follows one of his falcons into the now abandoned house. After discovering Talia, he moves her to a bed and rapes her. She only wakes when her twins, Sun and Moon, are born and suck the splinter out of her finger, bringing her back to life.
Snow White: The heroine of the Brothers Grimm story is seven years old when her stepmother sends her into the woods to be killed by the huntsman. When the huntsman lets Snow White run off into the woods, he kills a boar, whose lungs and liver are brought back to the Queen. She eats them believing they belonged to Snow White. Later, when Snow White dies from the queen’s poisonous apple, the dwarfs place her in a glass coffin on a hill. A prince sees her and asks the dwarfs if he can take the dead, seven-year-old home with him. The prince’s servants drop Snow White’s coffin on the way to his castle, causing the apple lodged in her throat to fly out, bringing her back to life. She ends up marrying the prince, who forces her stepmother to dance in burning iron shoes until she dies.
Beauty and the Beast: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is fairly accurate in comparison to the original by Gabriella Suzanne Berbot de Villeneuve. The only notable change is that Belle had two sisters in the original and was allowed to visit her family for a week during her imprisonment in the Beast’s castle. The sisters become jealous of Belle and try to convince her to stay longer in hopes that the Beast will become angry and eat her when she returns to his castle.
The Little Mermaid: Hans Christian Anderson’s original story is far more dramatic and severe than Disney’s adaptation. In Anderson’s tale, if the mermaid (Ariel) does not find true love’s kiss she will die, rather than return to the sea las in Disney’s version. Anderson writes that the price of a mermaid having legs is that she will feel as if she is walking on shards of glass. The prince also ends up marrying a different woman. The only way for the Little Mermaid to survive is to kill the prince, which would turn her back into a mermaid. As she is about to kill the prince, the Little Mermaid finds that she can not bring herself to kill him because she still loves him. She throws herself into the sea instead and dies.
Rapunzel: Disney’s Tangled is very loosely based on the Brothers Grimm story “Rapunzel.” In the original, Rapunzel and the prince have night time meetings and she eventually ends up pregnant. When the evil sorceress finds out, she cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and leaves her in the middle of a desert. The sorceress then lures the prince into the tower with Rapunzel’s hair to tell him Rapunzel is gone forever. Upon hearing this news, the prince throws himself out of the tower and is blinded by thorns during his fall. He then walks around blind for a few years until he hears Rapunzel’s voice. Once they reunite, Rapunzel restores the prince’s eyesight by crying on him.
Disney has created a widespread idea that fairytales are perfect fantasies, when in reality, the original fairy tales are not a guaranteed happily ever after.
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