Book Description

You may think you know the bedtime stories from the Grimms, but the tales are usually shortened or edited for modern audiences. Yet even when you find a collection of unedited fairy tales, these are actually translations of the 7th edition put out by the Grimms. There has never been a translation in English of the original source material the Grimms recorded when they collected their tales... until now. For the first time ever, read what the stories originally said, before the Grimms started changing the narratives to suit their own purposes. The messages are radically different in these original tales. Your childhood memories may be forever changed!You'll learn who Snow White's original savior was, and why there was no stepmother in the story originally. You'll trace the history of the Sleeping Beauty story to a narrative way more sexual and rife with messages about survival. You'll finally learn why Cinderella's prince doesn't just recognize her face and has to rely on slippers. You'll discover that Rumplestilskin is a more complicated story than you thought. You'll find out what a frog really symbolizes in the Princess and the Frog story, and you'll think twice before telling the original Hansel and Gretel story to your own children... lest they become scared of YOU! All this plus analysis of a few other beloved fairy tales, such as Red Riding Hood, Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. There's nothing like peering at the original narratives to uncover just how much was changed to create the versions of these stories we know today!