Speaking of fairy tales, I've been rereading
Grimms'. It's fun because you forget how much cruelty and violence they contain.
For instance, in "Rapunzel," when the Witch tells the Prince he'll never see his beloved again, he jumps from the tower and is blinded by thorns. In "Little Red Riding Hoods," the Hunstman cuts open the wolf, and not only do Red and Grandma escape, but they fill the body with stones and when the Wolf tries to run away he dies from the strain. In "Rumpelstiltskin," Rump, who's been a stand-up guy, saving the Daughter of the crazy Miller who makes promises he can't keep, and who's given the Queen (formerly Daughter) an extra chance to save her child when he didn't have to, gets so angry when she discovers his name that he literally tears himself in half.
In most versions today these stories are sanitized, but I wonder. As long as they're old enough to know it's not real, the blood and guts make it all the better for kids to love.
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In my grandmother's house, she somehow had a German illustrated version of Grimm's fairy tales (perhaps someone brought it home from WW2?)- There was lots and lots of blood. I particularly remember one about a kid who sucked his thumb and got it cut off.
What a coincidence. We bought the fancy Grimm's Fairy Tales tome from Barns & Noble for Christmas. My main impetus was to become familiar with the tales that might be referenced in "Grimm" on TV (and possibly "Once Upon a Time, though they don't stick to the stories much).
I was surprised how many there were! certainly enough to keep both shows going for 3 years or more.
Over Christmas, my sister and I were discussing the changes between Grimm and Disney, and we checked to see whether the Evil Queen really said "Mirror, mirror, on the wall" in the original. What we found is that it depends on the translation: some English translations before the Disney movie used that phrase and others did not. (Wikipedia says the German does contain this repitition: "Spieglein, Spieglein, an der Wand / Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?")
Then a couple weeks ago I rented the Disney movie from Netflix. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Queen never uses this phrase! In the movie she actually says "Magic mirror on the wall." Were all of you aware of this? Were my sister and I the only ones who thought that "mirror, mirror" was in the movie (perhaps deluded by Star Trek long ago)?
Or should this be listed alongside "play it again, Sam" as a phrase that most people wrongly believe to be in a movie?
I certainly wasn't aware, but there are many famous lines and moments that don't quite happen as claimed. That's why it's always worthwhile to check out the originals, even Disney originals.
By the way, a new Julia Roberts film based on Snow White is opening this month. The title is Mirror Mirror.
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