The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
I don’t know where we got it, probably from a garage sale or a thrift store or something, but when I was growing up we had this giant copy of Grimm’s Fairytales. It didn’t have pictures, but some of the letters were done in this fancy script. Mom read to me every night before bed and we ended up back on these all the time.
Maybe I was just a morbid kid, but I remember just loving the fact that all of these were so bloody and crazy. Cinderella’s sister cutting of her heel to fit it in the glass slipper is one of those images that made me squeal and has stuck with me my whole life. I also remember that in The Frog Prince, he turns into a prince after the crazy, lonely princess throws him into the wall. No kissing for her! I loved going through school knowing the “real” story behind these fairytales that we were reading. Let me reiterate: I was totally morbid.
There were also a ton of other stories in there that never quite made it big. I remember one about a little girl who was mean and nasty to her parents. She got sick and died. When they tried to bury her, her arm would not go below the dirt so someone hopped in and beat her until it stopped coming up again. Wha!? I had totally forgotten about that until I watched Carrie recently and noticed the parallel. So creepy and strange.
I also remember one where a fisherman catches a fish who grants wishes and his wife keeps getting greedier and greedier with her wishes until they are left with nothing. I don’t know why, but I requested this one over and over and over.
I wonder if parents still read these to kids?
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