The iconic Disney Princess stories are something that everyone of us can relate to however, what if I told you that these stories were not exactly what you thought they were?
Now we all know the original story of Cinderella, the hard working and under appreciated sister whose fairy godmother transforms Cinderella to go to the ball where she meets a handsome prince. Then in the haste of attempting to get home before midnight, she looses her shoe. The prince then makes it his mission to find the owner of the shoe and, eventually, him and Cinderella live happily ever after. However, the real story is a little more gruesome. In the Brothers Grimm version, Cinderella’s step sisters are so desperate to fit their toes in the glass slipper that one of the cuts off her toes and the other, her heel. Cinderella’s doves inform the prince of the blood on the shoe, because apparently he cannot see it for himself, and realizes the true owner is Cinderella. Then, at Cinderella’s wedding the sisters attempt to make up with Cinderella and she sends her doves to peck their eyes out. Well, I guess not everyone got their happily ever after!
Moving on to the story of Sleeping Beauty, or the story of a princess trapped in a castle that is awoken from true love’s kiss. In Giambattista Basile’s tale (which is the actual origin of the Sleeping Beauty story), a king happens to walk by Sleeping Beauty’s castle and knock on the door. When no one answers, he climbs up a ladder through a window. He finds the princess and finds her unconscious. So what does prince charming do? He carries her to bed and rapes her. And instead of true love’s kiss? She is woken up to her own twin kids. So Sleeping Beauty? More like sleeping and then woken up to the pain of childbirth.
Finally, the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the story of a princess who lives with her vain queen stepmother who asks her magic mirror every day, “Who is the fairest of them all?”. One day, the mirror answers Snow White instead of the queen and she hires a huntsman to kill Snow White. Snow White runs into the forest and lives with seven dwarfs in a tiny cottage. The queen then tricks her into eating a poisoned apple that can only be broken by true love’s kiss. The dwarfs fight the stepmother away as she attempts to kill Snow White, again, and cheer when the prince breaks the spell. However, the real story isn’t as simple as this. Since the huntsman cannot bring himself to kill Snow White, he kills a boar and brings the liver and lungs of the animal to the Queen, who eats them. Then, when Snow White and the prince get married, the Queen is forced to dance in burning hot iron shoes until she drops dead in them. Not the happiest way to celebrate a wedding.
So since your childhood has been effectively ruined, I hope you aren’t too scarred. What I think the most important lesson to learn from this is to understand when something is a fantasy and simply unrealistic. And more importantly, to not strive to obtain an unrealistic expectation. We shouldn’t listen to some fantasy about how our lives should turn out and instead live our lives exactly how we deem fit.
References:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/the-real-story-behind-eve_n_4239730.html