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.