@Midnight Dreary wrote:
I love them all! I love how the Grimm fairytales in particular were actually grim! They were cautionary tales for children and they were presented in such a dark and horrific way. Those stories were the thing that taught me to never talk to strangers. Sorry mommy. 😆
Considering the Grimm Brothers mitigated the tales themselves (there are for example differences between the first published and later versions), it’s interesting, how dark and horrific we find even those tuned down version of the Grimm Brothers, now after having been influenced by the fluffy Disney versions. Grimm’s tales were more like horror tales, weren’t they – and we love angst, don’t we. Not always had the maybe wished for educational effect though. 🙄
my favorite fairy tales (yup, more than one, but there are plenty of tales to choose from)
Little Red Riding Hood – although somehow I always had a very different version of it in mind, one where Red was the hero, the wolf a nice guy on the run and the huntsman was the bad guy. So my happy ending was more like, Red and the wolf escaping with the help of some tough grandma into the woods and living there happily ever after. 😈
Of Grimm’s Fairy Tales besides Little Red Riding Hood (although my version of it) my favorites are the Town Musicians of Bremen (just imagine this unlikely band of a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, what a fun group) and Rumpelstiltskin (picturing Rumpelstiltskin getting all worked up and toring himself apart made me always giggle as kid, some weird humour)
Not a classical fairy tale, but what did I know about the difference as kid … Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. Had a great illustration of it (white on black, stunning) and loved to hear the music – somehow made me particular love oboes (the poor duck)and clarinets (had a thing for the cat being bit ambivalent character) as instruments. Yup, there is a certain pattern, having a thing for wolves. Thankfully the wolf wasn’t killed in this tale. But it’s not all about wolves.
Then I love the often not so happy ending tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Most notably The Little Match Girl (what a tragic story about loss and hope), The Little Mermaid (another tragic ending, different from what Disney made of it), The Snow Queen and The Ugly Duckling (both with happy endings, there you go). Not to forget The Emporer’s New Clothes – hilarious and so true.
And then there is the tale The Cold Heart by Wilhelm Hauff. (One part of the story is an evil guy offering wealth in exchange for the warm, living, feeling heart, giving a heart of stone instead. There is a scene, where he shows the protagonist of the story, Peter, his collections of hearts in glasses on shelves.) Creepy story, but with happy ending.
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