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When you were a kid, you’ve probably read fairy tale books or watched movies with cute princesses and handsome princes… and you probably wanted to be in them too.
But actually, some of these fairy tales weren’t meant to be all fluffy and happy. Read on and be prepared to be mind-blown (and a little bit disturbed) by the truth behind these legendary fairy tales:
#1 Hansel and Gretel
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In the popular, child-friendly version of Hansel and Gretel, the two siblings get lost in the forest after their bread crumb trail get eaten by birds. They find a gingerbread house where a wicked witch lives. She traps and enslaves them, but they manage to escape when Gretel tricks her. It ends with the children reunited with their family.
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In an earlier version, the siblings are abandoned in the forest because their parents couldn’t afford to feed them. Instead of a witch, they meet the devil, who doesn’t even use the oven. He makes a sawhorse to put the children on so that they bleed to death. So gory. The siblings managed to escape when they tricked the devil, though! Phew.
Now that you’re all grown up, are you ready to be properly spooked by this fairy tale?
Image via Oneworld Alliance Film
The movie Gretel & Hansel is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel with a horror twist. A girl (played by Sophia Lillis—you’ve seen her as Beverly Marsh in It) and her younger brother stumble upon the house of an evil witch in the dark woods and things take a horrifying turn. Your younger self isn’t going to be able to sleep well when you watch it for sure.
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Check out the trailer:
Catch the movie at your nearest cinema this 6 February. There are also early screenings this 31 January – 5 February!
#2 Cinderella
What kid didn’t grow up with Cinderella? You’ve heard/watched the popular Disney version: Cinderella lives with her evil stepsisters and stepmother, who order her around. Thanks to her fairy godmother, she gets to go to a ball in a beautiful dress and a fancy carriage… plus a dance with the prince.
She runs off at midnight, but accidentally leaves her glass slipper behind. The prince searches for her, and even though her stepsisters and stepmother try to stop him, he ends up finding her. Cinderella leaves her stepfamily behind, and lives happily ever after with her prince.
In an earlier version, the fairy godmother doesn’t exist. Cinderella makes a wish, which is granted by a tree growing on her mother’s grave.
It’s almost the same as the well-loved Disney version (she ends up going to the ball, meets the prince but has to leave by midnight). But when the prince gets the stepsisters to try on the slipper, one of them cuts off her toes to make the shoe fit.
And when the stepsisters serve as bridesmaids at Cinderella’s wedding, doves peck their eyes out during the ceremony.
#3 The Red Riding Hood
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Okay, get ready ‘cause this is going to be a weird (and scary one).
So, the popular version of the story is about a little girl in a red cloak who’s on her way to visit her sick grandmother. She meets a wolf, and naively tells him where’s going. He reaches grandmother’s house first and swallows the old woman whole before putting on her clothes to disguise himself as her. Then, when the girl arrives, he does the same to her.
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Full from his meals, the wolf falls asleep and doesn’t notice a woodcutter arriving. He cuts him open and releases the grandmother and little girl (umm, what???). They put stones in his body so that he’s unable to run away and dies.
In an earlier version, the girl and her grandmother don’t escape. The wolf wins, and it’s a lesson for kids to not talk to strangers.
#4 The Pied Piper of Hamelin
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Whether it’s an older or newer version, The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a scary story for children. The popular version you’ve heard of is where the piper, dressed in bright clothes, arrives in the town of Hamelin to help get rid of rats—for a price. He successfully lures the rats away with his music, but the adults refuse to pay him.
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So, he returned to lure all the children in the town away with his music into a cave 😱. Only three of them were left behind—one who couldn’t keep up, another who was deaf, and a blind child. In the end, the adults apologised for their mistake and got him to release the kids.
In an earlier version, the children never came back.
How do you feel now that you know how scary these fairy tales are? We hope we didn’t ruin your childhood memories!