10/14/2025
Lost Boys : Original fairy tales were often not kid-friendly because they were originally told as cautionary tales for adults and children in a more brutal and less sheltered time. Over generations of oral tradition, they featured elements of violence, gore, and sexual themes that were later sanitized for modern children's audiences, most famously by Walt Disney.
The dark origins of classic fairy tales
The Grimm brothers themselves made edits to their stories over time, removing some of the more sexual references and swapping out evil mothers for evil stepmothers to preserve a sacred idea of motherhood. Despite the revisions, their original tales contained disturbingly gruesome details.
Here is how some classic fairy tales originally unfolded:
Cinderella
The bloody fit: In the Grimm version, the evil stepsisters are desperate to make the slipper fit. One is encouraged by her mother to cut off her toe, while the other lops off her heel. A prince is fooled by the fake fit until he is alerted to the blood dripping from the shoe.
The fitting end: At Cinderella's wedding, a pair of doves sent from heaven pluck out the stepsisters' eyes, leaving them blind for the rest of their lives.
Sleeping Beauty
A tale of assault and birth: An earlier Italian version of the story, titled The Sun, the Moon and Talia, was far from innocent. A king finds a sleeping maiden, rapes her, and leaves.
Awakening: The maiden later gives birth to twins in her sleep. One of them sucks on her finger, which dislodges a piece of flax that caused her to fall asleep. This awakens her to find she has given birth.
A taste of revenge: The king returns to the now-awake maiden and her children. When his queen finds out, she tries to have the children cooked and fed to him. The cook, however, serves lamb instead.
Snow White
Her own mother: In the very first Grimm edition, it was Snow White's biological mother, not her stepmother, who ordered the huntsman to kill her and bring back her lungs and liver to be eaten.
A forced dance: The queen is eventually invited to Snow White's wedding. As punishment for her cruelty, she is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she drops dead.
The Little Mermaid
A painful transformation: Hans Christian Andersen's version sees the sea witch cut out the mermaid's tongue, leaving her voiceless.
Torturous steps: The mermaid's new legs are in constant, agonizing pain. It feels like she is walking on sharp knives and glass.
No happy ending: The prince does not fall in love with her, but with another woman. The mermaid's sisters offer her a magical dagger to kill the prince and regain her mermaid form. She cannot bring herself to do it, and instead dissolves into sea foam.
Rapunzel
A secret revealed: The version published by the Grimm brothers in 1812 revealed the princess was in a sexual relationship with the prince. Rapunzel innocently mentions to Mother Gothel that her clothes are getting tight around the belly, revealing her pregnancy and the prince's visits.
Grief and blindness: In his grief, the prince jumps from the tower and lands in a thorny bush that blinds him. He wanders the woods for years until he finally reunites with Rapunzel and his children. Her tears of joy restore his eyesight.
The purpose behind the darkness
Before the modern concept of a sheltered childhood, fairy tales were not strictly for children but for a general audience that understood the harsh realities of life. The dark and violent elements served several purposes:
Studio Burbank / CulverCity/ MGM / WB
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