Märchen aus Deutschland

Going all the way back to the 1800s, the Grimm Brothers began collecting and distributing old German fairy tales. Some of the common stories being snow white, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel. Because they collected all of these stories in one book, it allowed many people to have access and read them instead of just hearing them from memory. Such stories as the ones listed above were changed and altered to fit more of the child audience. Sexual and violent references were taken out and made more child friendly. For example, in the Grimm or old German version of Cinderella, toes and heels are chopped off in order to fit the foot in the slipper, but one does not see that in the Disney version. Also in Cinderella, the step sisters' eyes are not pecked out at the wedding. In the American Little Red Riding Hood, the little girl and grandmother do not tear open the wolf's stomach. If one were to read a majority of the Grimm fairy tales and compare to the American version, one would see that Americans try to shelter the violence and other horrid details of these tales from children. They do not want to frighten them. Americans want to teach their children the moral that comes with the story, but without all the excess violence that would give them nightmares for weeks. I read a story called The Grateful Beast; it talked about a man who has hardly any money but gives it away to help these animals that are being hurt. Towards the end, all the people and animals saved in the story are stuck in a situation out at sea, but all are happy to help because this man helped them, so they all work hard to survive and are granted a magical stone where they may wish for anything. They are then granted the palace and stables they asked for and live happily. This somewhat reminds me of Cinderella because she is forced to clean and work hard and does not have much to give, but does anyways, and because of this giving, she is granted a fairy godmother, in the American story, and all her wishes come true as she ends up in a beautiful palace with the man of her dreams. So, the morals match up in a sense that if one does the right thing and is always kind to others, no matter the circumstance, one shall be rewarded. One of the definitions of fairy tale is a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (as fairies, wizards, and goblins) —called also fairy story...resulting in a happy ending. I like this definition because this is what I have always thought of when the word fairy tale came up. I love the movie Tangled because it involves silly creatures, like an emotional chameleon, a magical flower and tons of fun adventures, ending in true love and happiness. I know it sounds typical because it has wild creatures, a magical force, and a happy ending, but that is what fairy tales are in my mind. I like the happy, not the scary.

http://books.google.com/books?id=7OkDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm-engl.html
http://disneyvsgrimms.blogspot.com/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairy+tale