echo By: Tan Li Ying (Merissa)
If you are a fan of Disney’s works of classic fairy tales, I’m sure you can easily name a handful of their timeless masterpieces. Have you ever wondered though, why they all seem to have perfectly simple and favourable solutions to diabolical schemes plotted by the evil antagonists? That’s because Disney tales all end in lies! What you may not know, is that Disney has altered these fairy tales into family friendly versions with happy endings, which is probably a good thing, because unbeknown to most people, a majority of the original versions of these fairy tales actually have some really, REALLY disturbing contents.
Warning: This article might potentially ruin your childhood, because we are about to reveal some horrifying truths behind these glamorised classic tales!
- The Little Mermaid
The Disney Version:
Ariel, with the help of the prince, defeats the evil sea witch Ursula. They marry and live happily ever after.
The Truth:
In the original story penned by Hans Christian Andersen, Ursula grants Ariel legs, but curses her to walk with excruciating pain with every step. There’s another teeny tiny hitch: If the prince marries someone else, Ariel will die. Spoiler alert: He did. In an attempt to save their kin, Ariel’s sisters made a deal with the sea witch. In exchange of their hair, she fashioned a dagger. If Ariel kills the prince with the dagger and drips his blood onto her legs, she will become a mermaid again. Ariel snuck into the newlyweds’ room on their honeymoon sailing trip, but couldn’t bring herself to kill the prince for she loved him too much. In the end, she took her own life by jumping into the waters and dissolving into sea foam.
- Cinderella
The Disney Version:
The stepsisters tried but failed to fit the glass slipper. The Prince found Cinderella whose foot fits the glass slipper perfectly; they marry and live happily ever after.
The Truth:
In the Brothers Grimm version, Cinderella’s stepsisters took extreme measures to deceive the prince so that he might marry one of them. Trying to fit their foot into the glass slipper, one of them chopped off her toes while the other chopped off her heels. However, in both cases, two doves were sent by Cinderella’s deceased mother to alert the prince of the sisters’ blood in the slippers. Eventually, Cinderella was found to be the true owner of the slipper, but during her wedding to the prince, the doves returned and poked her stepsisters’ eyes out. That’s a lesson on karma, people!
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
The Disney Version:
Snow White fell into a coma induced by a poisonous apple, and was awoken by a kiss from the prince. They marry and live..of course, happily ever after. What happened to the Queen afterwards was not addressed.
The Truth:
The story is a rather dark one according to the Brothers Grimm. The hunter was ordered by the evil queen not only to kill her and return with her heart, but also to bring back her liver and kidneys for her to feast on. Later in the story, the prince and Snow White get married, and all royalty in the land were invited. The Queen attended the wedding, not knowing that it was Snow White’s wedding. When she arrived, she was punished for her sins. The punishment however, was rather inhumane for a fairy tale. She was forced to dance non-stop in burning, red-hot iron shoes brought from the fireplace until she dropped dead.
So much for happy endings, right? From now on, whenever you watch one of Disney’s greatest films, remember that it’s not always happily ever after…
