What is your favourite fairy tale?

[mia]

And I don’t mean movie versions, but the actual stories, be it Grimm, Andersen, Beaumont, Wilde, 1001 nights, etc.

I haven’t yet read all existing, but I’m working on it. For now my two faves are both from the Grimm brother’s collection:
King Thrushbeard
The six swans

[obisgirl]

The Little Mermaid. I think I read the original story a long, long time ago. I remember small details that made it different from Disney, like the sea witch didn’t have a name and she wasn’t a squid, or an octopus. and I think the mermaid had to cut off her fins.

Actually, the witch might have been an octopus.

In Beauty and the Beast, her name wasn’t Belle and she had sisters who were spoiled and mean. and Belle got to marry the Beast after both of her nasty sisters were cruel to the Beast and she wasn’t mean to him.

[cruel_fortuna]

@ obisgirl ;; In the original telling of ‘The Little Mermaid’ – the mermaid doesn’t get her prince either. He falls in love with someone else & I’m pretty sure the mermaid in her grief plunges herself off a cliff into the ocean & drowns ( I’m not sure – point being, in her grief – she commits suicide. ) Not exactly a happily ever after.

// As for my own favorite fairy tale – it would probably have to be a tie between Beauty & the Beast & The Princess & the Pea.

Apparently the whole motif of seeing what lies beyond the outer appearance is something I find very appealing in fairy tales – which why I love Beauty & the Beast. Princess & the Pea on the other hand – is rather amusing in the way it’s written – which is why I love it. The double-meanings are rather hilarious; in my opinion.

( I also have a fond spot for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ , ‘The Wizard of Oz’ & ‘The Magic Flute’ – but those are all either well known children books; or in the case of ‘The Magic Flute’ – an opera. So it doesn’t really fit. )

[mia]

O, I loved The Princess and the Pea as a kid!! I actually never read it, but had a cassette …

The Magic Flute is a great story (and opera „Der Hölle Rache“ <3), but as you say no fairy tale, though the story could well be. The flute always reminds me of an actual fairy tale, "Pied Piper of Hamelin".

[cruel_fortuna]

I read it when I was around ten. I had asked for a book of Greek mythology for my birthday & my mom got me that – plus a book of World Folklore & Fairy Tales. I also saw the Faerie Tale Theater episode revolving around the story, as well as a 2002 film which I’ve never again seen on television. But I found the trailer for it. ( Looking back – I see why I watched it. I obviously thought the animation style was similar to ‘The Swan Princess; which I still love the original – why they needed to make sequels for it – I’ll never know. )

I’m torn between The Magic Flute & Swan Lake – both are such great stories. ( The Magic Flute has a more interesting plot though. ) Man – that fairy tale always creeps me out – just cause rats – the bubonic plague – just . . ick.

[mia]

Now that I think of it, the Evil Queen reminds me a bit of the Queen of the Night.

[obisgirl]

@cruel_fortuna wrote:

@ obisgirl ;; In the original telling of ‘The Little Mermaid’ – the mermaid doesn’t get her prince either. He falls in love with someone else & I’m pretty sure the mermaid in her grief plunges herself off a cliff into the ocean & drowns ( I’m not sure – point being, in her grief – she commits suicide. ) Not exactly a happily ever after.

// As for my own favorite fairy tale – it would probably have to be a tie between Beauty & the Beast & The Princess & the Pea.

Apparently the whole motif of seeing what lies beyond the outer appearance is something I find very appealing in fairy tales – which why I love Beauty & the Beast. Princess & the Pea on the other hand – is rather amusing in the way it’s written – which is why I love it. The double-meanings are rather hilarious; in my opinion.

yeah, that is definitely not Disney 😆

Beauty and the Beast was a featured blurb in my psychology book. I can’t remember what the chapter was on but it talked about appearances, or something simliar to what you said.

I was in a production of The Princess and the Pea when I was in elementary school, it wasn’t a very big part. I was the Princess’ handmaiden. I had one line and even when I go back and watch the tape, I don’t know what I said. and when I was on stage combing her hair in one scene, you could barely see me because I sat behind the dividers.

[midnight dreary]

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. 😆

[charming]

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are me favorites because every version is a different take on the story. Sometimes they are combined into one story and other times they are told individually. Every version was done very well.

[Myril]

@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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