6 ms·

To be clear, this is not a joke or something. Fairy tales in their original forms were very gruesome, and many of them still are. (This is the first time I've h

To be clear, this is not a joke or something. Fairy tales in their original forms were very gruesome, and many of them still are. (This is the first time I've heard of the "bad" ending to snow white though.) While not a fairy tale, the "Max and Moritz" [0] story by Wilhelm Busch is much in the same vein and to this day a common bed time story for children in German-speaking countries. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Moritz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_and_Moritz

croes 6y ago
Because the stories where used to teach the children a lesson, for instance if you talk to or go with strangers you die.
- zxcvbn4038 6y ago
  I think that might work better for adults, I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. I think the ones where the kids are eaten, or taken away from their parents, sent away without dinner, or kept in a cage are more relatable. Even if the idea of being eaten doesn't really conjure the gory image of being torn apart by teeth, the idea of being stuck inside a bear or a witch's stomach, or not having a body part might be unpleasant enough. I know when my son was young we told him that people smoking were poisoning their bodies, and after that he would get upset and teary eyed when people were smoking because they were hurting themselves.
  - oaiey 6y ago
    They are 100s of years old. Kids off any age were aware of death. It is our modern kids who do not get it. I read my kids the originals and it works as fine as the disney versions.
  - saiya-jin 6y ago
    Back home in Slovakia we have our own set or tales/stories, composed together by Pavol Dobsinsky in 19th century from various folk sources. They are pretty brutal too, murders even within families, treachery in all forms, even cannibalism. Killing bad guys pleading for mercy. They don't go to gory details, no point in that, but they don't avoid it either. Times were different - half of kids before age 5 died, everybody could easily die from flu, inflamed appendix or a tooth problem. There were public execution held in bigger villages and towns. Wars, skirmishes and murderous bandits ravaged countries. Killing of domestic animals was (and in many places still is) a fiesta for whole family, including the smallest, ie butchering of a pig or sheep. Not done somewhere hidden, but in plain sight of everybody. I don't think we get how exposed to brutality in many forms the kids were back then. Also, I have modern print of original texts and see no issue with reading them, many parents still read them to their kids. I was exposed to them as a kid and didn't find them shocking.
  - mseepgood 6y ago
    > I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. When my parents read the story of Paulinchen to me as a kid I immediately understood that she was gone for good. The picture of the pile of ashes and the two cats crying rivers did a good job at conveying what death means.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. Deaths in the family used to be pretty common. Lots of children didn't make it to adulthood. It's a pretty modern idea that we are supposed to survive childhood and live to be like 80 years old and dying sooner than that is all shocking.
croes 6y ago
BTW to you mean the "bad" ending to snow white or in snow white? Because it's the evil stepmothers forced into the red-hot iron shoes.
- MauranKilom 6y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out, I misread it as snow white being the one subjected to that.
drcode 6y ago
The most disturbing work by Wilhelm Busch is "Flipps der Affe": http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Busch,+Wilhelm/Bildergeschichten/Fipps,+der+Affe/Erstes+Kapitel http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Busch,+Wilhelm/Bildergeschic...
- posterboy 6y ago
  people love gore and horror, see Saw, Hostel, Texas Chainsaw Massace, etc. certain snuff pages that show e.g. a case of cutting of hands and feet in a third world country, presumably as a matter of punishment for thieving. Or take the scene of ape brain eating in Indiana Jones. So called Bush Meat is not uncommon. It's a jungle out there. These tales do have an element of truth. But they are understood as from a different time (nearly the same thing). It's brutal realism. What is disturbing about this? Showing somebody into an oven pales in comparison to sending them to the salt mines
itisit 6y ago
The Germans (historical) excel at the macabre. I can only imagine to what extent this lingered into mid-20th C. culture...
- goto11 6y ago
  Are you suggesting German literature is particularly macabre compared to other cultures?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
goto11 6y ago
> To be clear, this is not a joke or something. You just have to take a look at the crying cats extinguishing the ashes of burned-out girl with floods of tears, to realize that this is indeed (very dark) humor. And it has nothing to do with the Grimm fairy tales, except both were published in German. Its like lumping together Beowulf with Charlie and the Chocolate factory because both are in English.

croes 6y ago

Because the stories where used to teach the children a lesson, for instance if you talk to or go with strangers you die.

zxcvbn4038 6y ago
I think that might work better for adults, I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. I think the ones where the kids are eaten, or taken away from their parents, sent away without dinner, or kept in a cage are more relatable. Even if the idea of being eaten doesn't really conjure the gory image of being torn apart by teeth, the idea of being stuck inside a bear or a witch's stomach, or not having a body part might be unpleasant enough. I know when my son was young we told him that people smoking were poisoning their bodies, and after that he would get upset and teary eyed when people were smoking because they were hurting themselves.
- oaiey 6y ago
  They are 100s of years old. Kids off any age were aware of death. It is our modern kids who do not get it. I read my kids the originals and it works as fine as the disney versions.
- saiya-jin 6y ago
  Back home in Slovakia we have our own set or tales/stories, composed together by Pavol Dobsinsky in 19th century from various folk sources. They are pretty brutal too, murders even within families, treachery in all forms, even cannibalism. Killing bad guys pleading for mercy. They don't go to gory details, no point in that, but they don't avoid it either. Times were different - half of kids before age 5 died, everybody could easily die from flu, inflamed appendix or a tooth problem. There were public execution held in bigger villages and towns. Wars, skirmishes and murderous bandits ravaged countries. Killing of domestic animals was (and in many places still is) a fiesta for whole family, including the smallest, ie butchering of a pig or sheep. Not done somewhere hidden, but in plain sight of everybody. I don't think we get how exposed to brutality in many forms the kids were back then. Also, I have modern print of original texts and see no issue with reading them, many parents still read them to their kids. I was exposed to them as a kid and didn't find them shocking.
- mseepgood 6y ago
  > I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. When my parents read the story of Paulinchen to me as a kid I immediately understood that she was gone for good. The picture of the pile of ashes and the two cats crying rivers did a good job at conveying what death means.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  I'm not sure that the age group these are intended for really comprehends death. Deaths in the family used to be pretty common. Lots of children didn't make it to adulthood. It's a pretty modern idea that we are supposed to survive childhood and live to be like 80 years old and dying sooner than that is all shocking.

croes 6y ago

BTW to you mean the "bad" ending to snow white or in snow white? Because it's the evil stepmothers forced into the red-hot iron shoes.

MauranKilom 6y ago
Thanks for pointing that out, I misread it as snow white being the one subjected to that.

drcode 6y ago

The most disturbing work by Wilhelm Busch is "Flipps der Affe": http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Busch,+Wilhelm/Bildergeschichten/Fipps,+der+Affe/Erstes+Kapitel http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Busch,+Wilhelm/Bildergeschic...

posterboy 6y ago
people love gore and horror, see Saw, Hostel, Texas Chainsaw Massace, etc. certain snuff pages that show e.g. a case of cutting of hands and feet in a third world country, presumably as a matter of punishment for thieving. Or take the scene of ape brain eating in Indiana Jones. So called Bush Meat is not uncommon. It's a jungle out there. These tales do have an element of truth. But they are understood as from a different time (nearly the same thing). It's brutal realism. What is disturbing about this? Showing somebody into an oven pales in comparison to sending them to the salt mines

itisit 6y ago

The Germans (historical) excel at the macabre. I can only imagine to what extent this lingered into mid-20th C. culture...

goto11 6y ago
Are you suggesting German literature is particularly macabre compared to other cultures?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

goto11 6y ago

> To be clear, this is not a joke or something. You just have to take a look at the crying cats extinguishing the ashes of burned-out girl with floods of tears, to realize that this is indeed (very dark) humor. And it has nothing to do with the Grimm fairy tales, except both were published in German. Its like lumping together Beowulf with Charlie and the Chocolate factory because both are in English.