Fairy Tale Blog

   The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, were born in Germany in 1785 and 1786 respectively.  They both attended the University of Marburg and there they took an interest in folklore.  It was about this time that they began collecting and writing down folk stories.  There first publication in 1812 contained 86 tales and over the course of 46 years it grew to hold 211.  Some of the most famous tales they published include "Snow White", "Rapunzel", "Hansel and Gretel", "Cinderella", and "sleeping Beauty", just to name a few.  When the stories were originally published they were not meant for children.  Rather, they were scholarly collections of literature meant for study.  However, because the first edition was titled "Children's and Household Tales", parents were reading them to their children.  They received much criticism for being too dark and harsh.  Over the years, the tales have changed noteably, especially as they made their way overseas and into the hands of Disney.  The most glaring change is a reduction in violence or less garphic terminology.  For example, in the original "Rapunzel", she is visited in secret by a prince.  Repunzel blows the secret by asking the evil witch why her dress doesn't fit anymore around her belly. This was because she was pregnant.  This aspect of the story dissapeared in later version.  A big reason for these changes was the stories weren't "christian" enough.  In later versions of "Little Red Riding Hood", she has a Bible on her bedside that did not exist in earlier editions.  Also, in "Snow White", the original ending in which the Evil Queen is invited to Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding and is forced to step into hot iron shoes and dance until she dies, is left out.  I think this shows us that American culture is a lot more sensitive than German culture especially when it comes too childrens' entertainment.
   The story i read was "The Six Swans".  In the story, a King is lost in the woods.  A witch shows him the way out after the King promises to marry her daughter.  Something about her makes the King uneasy so he hides his 6 sons and 1 daughter that came from his first wife in castle that is impossible to find.  The Queen grows suspicious and discovers the secret ball of yarn that leads the King to the castle.  When the Quenn find the castle, she turns the 6 sons into swans.  The daughter escapes and searches for her brothers.  They are human for 15 minutes a day and they tell her that she must remain silent for 6 years and her brothers will be turned back to humans.  During this time, she is taken as wife by a King, but she refuses to speak.  The King's evil mother accuses here of eating the King's children and he orders his wife to be burnt at the stake.  The day of her death was 6 years of her not speaking and her brothers fly in as swans to rescue her and are changed back to humans and the evil mother is burnt at the stake.  The moral of the story is that siblings' love is very strong and they should always be there for each other.  This fairy tale does not seem to have any that are similar to it in America.
   Acording to Merriam-Webster, a fairy tale is a children's story taht involves fantastic forces and beings.  I think this is accurate but i would add that most fairy tales have a moral to the story or a point they are trying to teach.  Numbers are also very important, as things tend to happen in threes.  Most fairy tales involve some sort of evil force that is combated by good.  Good usually wins out and evil is usually punished and most of Grimm's fairy tales make it very clear that all punishments are just and deserved.
 

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech-Culture/2012/1220/Brothers-Grimm-saved-classic-fairy-tales-by-changing-them-forever

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm

http://the-artifice.com/fairy-tales-how-they-have-changed-over-time/

http://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/the_six_swans

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fairy+tale