History NightmareFuel / FairyTalesInGeneral

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poucet_4735.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250: "... and all the little kids lived scarred for ever after!" ]]

** PeterAndTheWolf: The music itself makes a lot of scenes in the story frightening, especially a JumpScare moment when the cat tries to catch the bird and misses and later the gruesome scene where the wolf swallows the duck alive!

** "The Story Of The Boy Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Is": Need to explain this one?

** TheThreeLittlePigs: In the original story the first two pigs are eaten by the wolf. Imagine feeling safe inside your house of straw and/or wood until everything is blown away by a hungry wolf who then devours you!
** JackAndTheBeanstalk: The giant smelling Jack and then yelling: "Fee Fi Fo Fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman."
** GoldilocksAndTheThreeBears: Goldilocks waking up and discovering she's surrounded by a bunch of bears.

*** Gustave Doré 's illustration to this scene is equally terrifying.

** There's a second half to "Literature/SleepingBeauty"'s story. Her mother-in-law is a cannibal who wants to eat Aurora's kids. She gives absurdly {{Frasier}}-like directions for how she wants them cooked. This was probably meant to be funny or satirical, but may have scared the pee out of some.

** "Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl": The poor girl freezes in the snow, lights her final match and then freezes to death.

** The Red Shoes, in which the protagonist is punished for paying more attention to the title objects than to her family or church sermons by being forced to dance in the shoes, which keep dancing even after her feet have been cut off!

** "Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves": Whenever one of the thieves fails in his mission the headman of the thieves has him murdered in cold blood.

* "Literature/{{Aladdin}}": In the original story the djinn is portrayed as a gruesome looking ghost who works as a slave for the caliph.
* "Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves": Whenever one of the thieves fails in his mission the headman of the thieves has him murdered in cold blood.
* "Literature/SinbadTheSailor": Most of the monsters Sinbad encounters during his stories.

** Literature/ThePiedPiperofHamelin: A strange man arrivés in rat infested medieval town, drives all rats away, isn't paid for this and then as a retribution takes all the town's children with him. What he does with them afterwards remains a creepy mystery in some versions of the story...

** "Literature/{{Donkeyskin}}": A.K.A. "The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter". The queen died, and said that the king could only marry a woman as beautiful as her/more beautiful than her/who fit her ring/etc. (depending on the version). The king went mad, and began lusting after his daughter. What's worse is that this is ''based on a true story'', that of St. Dymphna - only without the Cinderella ending. It went FromBadToWorse: Eventually King Damon tracked her down in Gheel, Belgium, and when she refused to return to Ireland and marry him, he pulled his sword from its scabbard and beheaded her.

*** Said story has the WickedStepmother kill the heroine's brother by chopping his head off with the lid of a heavy chest. She then arranges him as if sitting down with a handkerchief around his neck to hide the neck wound. The heroine comes by, asks him for a bite of the apple is holding, then slaps him when he doesn't respond and his head falls off. And then the stepmother proceeds to turn the poor boy's body into a nice stew (or in some versions of the tale, black sausages) which she then serves to their unknowing father!

*** Said story has the WickedStepmother kill the heroine's brother by chopping his head off with the lid of a heavy chest. She then arranges him as if sitting down with a handkerchief around his neck to hide the neck wound. The heroine comes by, asks him for a bite of the apple is holding, then slaps him when he doesn't respond and his head falls off. And then the stepmother proceeds to turn the poor boy's body into a nice stew (or in some versions of the tale, black sausages) which she then serves to the heroine's unknowing father!

*** Said story has the WickedStepmother kill the heroine's brother by chopping his head off with the lid of a heavy chest. She then arranges him as if sitting down with a handkerchief around his neck to hide the neck wound. The heroine comes by, asks him for a bite of the apple is holding, then slaps him when he doesn't respond and his head falls off. And then the stepmother proceeds to cook the poor boy's body into a nice stew which she then serves to the heroine's unknowing father!

The problem is: fairy tales were never exclusively meant for children. In the centuries before the 19th century adults didn't see children as beings that were that different from adults. This meant that grownups would tell stories to each other without being troubled that their kids would hear things not meant for their innocent ears. Gruesome scenes or sexual innuendo were prominent in many of these ancient tales. Despite attempts to make these tales more child friendly by {{Grimmification}} many fairy tales still have disturbing content. But as always, the chilling parts are always the parts children love to hear again and again...

*** Said story has the EvilStepmother kill the heroine's brother by chopping his head off with the lid of a heavy chest. She then arranges him as if sitting down with a handkerchief around his neck to hide the neck wound. The heroine comes by, asks him for a bite of the apple is holding, then slaps him when he doesn't respond and his head falls off.

*** GustaveDoré's illustration to this scene is equally terrifying.

* Creator/HansChristianAndersen

** "Literature/{{Donkeyskin}}": A.K.A. "The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter". The queen died, and said that the king could only marry a woman as beautiful as her/more beautiful than her/who fit her ring/etc. (depending on the version). The king went mad, and began lusting after his daughter. What's worse is that this is ''based on a true story'', that of St. Dymphna - only without the Cinderella ending. ItGotWorse: Eventually King Damon tracked her down in Gheel, Belgium, and when she refused to return to Ireland and marry him, he pulled his sword from its scabbard and beheaded her.

*** Said story has the EvilStepmother kill the heroine's brother by chopping his head off with the lid of a heavy chest. She then arranges him as if sitting down with a handkerchief around his neck to hide the neck wound. The heroine comes by, asks him for a bite of the apple is holding, then slaps him when he doesn't respond and his head falls off. [[ItGetsWorse It's that kind of story.]]

** ''Literature/{{Donkeyskin}}'': A.K.A. ''The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter''. The queen died, and said that the king could only marry a woman as beautiful as her/more beautiful than her/who fit her ring/etc. (depending on the version). The king went mad, and began lusting after his daughter. What's worse is that this is ''based on a true story'', that of St. Dymphna - only without the Cinderella ending. ItGotWorse: Eventually King Damon tracked her down in Gheel, Belgium, and when she refused to return to Ireland and marry him, he pulled his sword from its scabbard and beheaded her.

** [[Literature/{{Donkeyskin}} All-Kinds of Fur]]: See Donkeyskin up in the Charles Perrault section.

** "Literature/LittleRedRidingHood": In Perrault's original tale the wolf eats the grandmother and the girl and the story simply ends there!! It wasn't until the Grimm version that the hunter and the rescue scenre were added to the plot! Still, being SwallowedWhole and being inside a living being is enough to make you cringe.

** "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}": When Rumpelstiltskin discovers that the queen knows his name he stamps his right foot into the floor. Then when trying to free himself he accidentally rips himself in two!!

** "TheLittleMermaid": In contrast to the {{Disneyfication}} the Mermaid dies at the end of the story.

* CharlesPerrault
** {{Bluebeard}}: the girl discovering that Bluebeard killed all his previous partners and that their bodies are kept inside a room in his house!
** LittleRedRidingHood: In Perrault's original tale the wolf eats the grandmother and the girl and the story simply ends there!! It wasn't until the Grimm version that the hunter and the rescue scenre were added to the plot! Still, being SwallowedWhole and being inside a living being is enough to make you cringe.
** Literature/HopOMyThumb: The scene where the man-eating giant wants to cut Hop-o'-My-Thumb and his seven brothers' necks and goes to their bed. Because of the darkness and Hop's clever plan to change their hats the giant accidentally slits his daughters' throats... while they are sleeping!!

** SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs: The Queen asks the hunter to kill Snow White and bring her her heart.
** LittleRedRidingHood and TheWolfAndTheSevenYoungKids: the image of a Big Bad Wolf eating you is a scary thought to most children. In LittleRedRidingHood the wolf disguises himself as your grandmother and then eats you. In TheWolfAndTheSevenYoungKids the little goats are home alone when the wolf tricks them into believing he is their mother. Then they let him in and are eaten. The very thought of being gubbled up by a wolf but being alive in its stomach is chilling.
** {{Cinderella}}, in which the evil step-sisters first cut off pieces of their feet to fit the golden slipper, and later had their eyes pecked out by birds who were avenging Cinderella.
** HanselAndGretel: A brother and sister are abandoned in the woods by their parents, in some accounts on behalf of the step mother. This is already disturbing in itself, because it was actually founded in actual historical events-the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315%E2%80%931317 Great Famine of 1315-1317]]. Children ''were'' abandoned in the wilderness by their parents, and cannibalism is well-documented.

** The tone and taste level of the whole genre is neatly summarised by the jingle that runs through ''The Juniper Tree'', apparently just another adorable bedtime story making the rounds in 19th century Germany:

** There's a second half to SleepingBeauty's story. Her mother-in-law is a cannibal who wants to eat Aurora's kids. She gives absurdly {{Frasier}}-like directions for how she wants them cooked. This was probably meant to be funny or satirical, but may have scared the pee out of some.
** {{Rumpelstiltskin}}: When Rumpelstiltskin discovers that the queen knows his name he stamps his right foot into the floor. Then when trying to free himself he accidentally rips himself in two!!
** The Story Of The Boy Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Is: Need to explain this one?

* HansChristianAndersen

** TheLittleMatchGirl: The poor girl freezes in the snow, lights her final match and then freezes to death.
** TheLittleMermaid: In contrast to the {{Disneyfication}} the Mermaid dies at the end of the story.

Fairy tales are considered to be the most typical example of children's stories. They are respected as being part of traditional world culture and have been retold over centuries and centuries. Even today parents don't have any problem telling these tales to their offspring.

** {{Bluebeard}}: the girl discovering that Bluebeard killed all his previous partners and that their bodies are kept inside a room in his house!
** LittleRedRidingHood: In Perrault's original tale the wolf eats the grandmother and the girl and the story simply ends there!! It wasn't until the Grimm version that the hunter and the rescue scenre were added to the plot! Still, being SwallowedWhole and being inside a living being is enough to make you cringe.

*** GustaveDoré's illustration to this scene is equally terrifying.

* TheBrothersGrimm

** LittleRedRidingHood and TheWolfAndTheSevenYoungKids: the image of a Big Bad Wolf eating you is a scary thought to most children. In LittleRedRidingHood the wolf disguises himself as your grandmother and then eats you. In TheWolfAndTheSevenYoungKids the little goats are home alone when the wolf tricks them into believing he is their mother. Then they let him in and are eaten. The very thought of being gubbled up by a wolf but being alive in its stomach is chilling.
** {{Cinderella}}, in which the evil step-sisters first cut off pieces of their feet to fit the golden slipper, and later had their eyes pecked out by birds who were avenging Cinderella.

** TheLittleMatchGirl: The poor girl freezes in the snow, lights her final match and then freezes to death.

** SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwards: The Queen asks the hunter to kill Snow White and bring her her heart.

** Literature:HopOMyThumb: The scene where the man-eating giant wants to cut Hop-o'-My-Thumb and his seven brothers' necks and goes to their bed. Because of the darkness and Hop's clever plan to change their hats the giant accidentally slits his daughters' throats... while they are sleeping!!

The problem is: fairy tales were never exclusively meant for children. In the years before the 19th century most adults didn't see children as people that different from adults. This meant that grownups would tell stories to each other, without being troubled that their kids would hear things not meant for their innocent ears. Gruesome scenes or sexual innuendo were prominent in many of these ancient tales. Despite attempts to make these tales more child friendly by {{Grimmification}} many fairy tales still have disturbing content. But as always, the chilling parts are always the parts children love to hear again and again...

** HopOMyThumb: The scene where the man-eating giant wants to cut Hop-o'-My-Thumb and his seven brothers' necks and goes to their bed. Because of the darkness and Hop's clever plan to change their hats the giant accidentally slits his daughters' throats... while they are sleeping!!

** Cinderella, in which the evil step-sisters first cut off pieces of their feet to fit the golden slipper, and later had their eyes pecked out by birds who were avenging Cinderella.

** {{Rumpelstiltskin}}: When Rumpelstiltskin discovers he stamps his right foot into the floor and accidentally rips himself in two!!