The Juniper Tree

As I learn about the darkness the Grimm brothers add to their stories, I came across a fairy tale called the Juniper Tree. The Juniper Tree isn’t any ordinary fairy tale in the least bit, but it does have excitement, cannibalism, and a religious twist.

This story all starts with a husband and wife not being able to conceive a child. As she stands under the Juniper tree she makes a wish to have a son and later dies after giving birth. Her husband remarries for the sake of their child and has a daughter with the new wife. The new wife is very jealous of this little boy and tries to find a way to kill him. She one day tricks him into getting an apple from her great chest and slams the cover which beheads him. The mother then tells her daughter that he is alive and when she goes to tell him something she thinks she accidentally knocks his head off. The mother later tells the father that their son had left to go to the uncle’s house and will be back in 6 weeks. Little does the father know, his son is being fed to him for dinner which is soup. As The bones where getting thrown on the floor, the young sister who thinks she still murdered her brother picks them up and puts them in a scarf under the Juniper Tree.

A bird which sings beautifully then sings….

My mother, she killed me,
My father, he ate me,
My sister Marlene,
Gathered all my bones,
Tied them in a silken scarf,
Laid them beneath the juniper tree,
Tweet, tweet, what a beautiful bird am I.

The bird then goes around and sings to people to collect items which are a gold chain, a red pair of shoes and a millstone. As the bird goes outside by the Juniper tree he gives the father the chain, the sister the shoes, and when the step mother walks outside he then drops the millstone on her head, killing her instantly. The bird transforms back into being the little boy and goes inside with his father and step sister.

From this story you can tell the Grimm brothers had no problem discussing cannibalism and maternal jealousy. The mother had greed and didn’t want to share an inheritance with her step-son. This is far form an ordinary Disney-like tale.

Little Red Hat

Every night as a child before I went to bed, I was always told a bed time story. In each story the prince always rescued the princess or the story was full of magic and enchantment and it always made me have a happy thought by the time the story had came to an end. One of the fairy tales I remember having a happy ending was Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood was told to bring her grandmother a pot of butter and some cookies to make her feel better, but by the end of her little journey she knew never to talk to strangers again. She encounters a wolf who swallows her grandmother whole and herself too. When the huntsman found the wolf she was left to be alive in the wolf’s stomach. This is the American story now when it comes to Italy and Austria they tell their story a little different.

Little Red “Hat” is told to bring her grandmother some soup to make her feel better. On her way to bringing her home some soup she encounters an ogre who befriends her. Little Red Hat tells the ogre all of her grandmother information and does not realize what he has in mind for her.

"Little Red Hat opened the door, went inside, and said, "Grandmother, I am hungry."

The ogre replied, "Go to the kitchen cupboard. There is still a little rice there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took the teeth out. "Grandmother, these things are very hard!"

"Eat and keep quiet. They are your grandmother's teeth!"

"What did you say?"

"Eat and keep quiet!"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm still hungry."

"Go back to the cupboard," said the ogre. "You will find two pieces of chopped meat there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took out the jaws. "Grandmother, this is very red!"

"Eat and keep quiet. They are your grandmother's jaws!"

"What did you say?"

"Eat and keep quiet!"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm thirsty."

"Just look in the cupboard," said the ogre. "There must be a little wine there."

Little Red Hat went to the cupboard and took out the blood. "Grandmother, this wine is very red!"

"Drink and keep quiet. It is your grandmother's blood!

"What did you say?"

A little while later Little Red Hat said, "Grandmother, I'm sleepy."

"Take off your clothes and get into bed with me!" replied the ogre.

"Grandmother, you have such a big mouth!"

"That comes from eating children!" said the ogre, and bam, he swallowed Little Red Hat with one gulp."

In this story Little Red Hat has no second chanced as in the American version. Its told much differently and would make a child never want to talk to a stranger because they would know that if something is done wrong they may not have the chance to fix their mistake. Not all fairy tales have happy endings.

Once upon a time..

As a child, I grew up reading fairy tales and remembering how magical they were. They always seemed to brighten up my day by just listening to the happy endings and how in every story there was some moral I had just learned. The fairy tales always sparked my imagination by picturing the impossible and the many different characters such as goblins, trolls, fairies, or talking animals.

Later I learned that the fairy tales I once knew to have happy endings were told much differently in other countries. Not only were they told differently, but the endings were no longer as happy as I remembered them to be in my childhood. As I researched fairy tales I learned about the Grimm brothers. The Grimm brothers are known for their great German literature and writing fairy tales through a scary perspective. I realized that America has a way of revising the stories for children, taking out sexual references that the story originally had. Not only has stories been revised but movies too. Walt Disney has altered movies such as The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.