putting the poison in princess

The dark origins of classic fairy tales “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella” as told by the Brothers Grimm

-By Katerina Graziosi

Once upon a time in the early 1800s, fantastical tales of princesses and knights, quests, adventure and love were preserved from their centuries-long history as oral folklore by brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in their book “Children’s and Household Tales.”

These stories, including classics like “Little Red Cap” (better known as “Little Red Riding Hood”), “Rapunzel,” and “Hansel and Gretel,” have become enshrined in many of our childhoods and often conjure images of mystical lands ruled by royalty and magic with strange creatures and even stranger happenings.

But perhaps the real mysticism lies shrouded in just how dark the origins of these tales read today.

Originally published in 1812, the 1st volume of the Grimm’s collection contained 86 stories and went on to be revised and publ- ished seven more times. By its 7th edition, the Grimm’s collection of over 200 tales was unrecognizable from its first iteration and from the versions many of us know today.

Below are the darker details of the origins of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella.”

The Grimm sleeper

When Snow-White angers her stepmother queen by growing up to be more beautiful than the matriarch, the queen tries to kill Snow-White three times and succeeds in poisoning her until “she breathed no longer and was dead.”

As Snow-White lies in a glass coffin in her poisoned-apple induced slumber, a passing prince falls in love with her lifeless body.

The prince asks the seven nameless dwarfs watching over Snow-White to sell her body to him and when they refuse, the prince persists asking for Snow-White as a gift so that he may, “honor and prize her as my dearest possession.”

The dwarfs agree and the prince carries Snow-White’s body away with him into the forrest (!!!). Hitting a non-proverbial bump in the road, the prince’s entourage drop Snow-White’s coffin causing the piece of poisoned fruit to become dislodged from her mouth and upon regaining consciousness, she agrees to marry the insisting prince.

The evil queen was invited to the wedding but not to make amends; instead, the queen was made to wear iron “red-hot shoes, and dance until she dropped down dead.”

Small shoes to fill

If the shoe fits, wear it; and if it’s too small, cut off a toe. At least that is what Cinderella’s stepsister did in the original account of this surprisingly bloody tale.

After sneaking away from her sinister stepmother and stepsisters to attend a royal festival where the incumbent king might choose a wife, Cinderella leaves the festivities in a hurry to make it home before her competing siblings.

Leaving behind a small golden slipper — given to Cinderella by her bird friends — the prince who had fallen in love with Cinderella, ordered a search for his desired bride whose feet fit the slipper. Upon hearing this, Cinderella’s stepsisters arranged to try on the shoe and when the fit is less than perfect, their mother hands the sisters a knife so that one could cut off a toe and the other “a bit off your heel.”

Briefly tricked, the prince realizes neither of the stepsisters are a match for the slipper as “he looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking quite red.”

At Cinderella’s royal wedding, the stepsisters are blinded as her pigeon friends peck out their eyes. That’s the shoe on the other foot.