Once Upon A Time....

Image from Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories, by Various

How many of you loved fairy tales when you were younger?  Reading them seems to be a childhood rite of passage. Do you find yourselves reading them to your kids now?  Personally, I don’t have a real recollection of reading them, although I’m sure I did. I’m just a little fuzzy on the details.

So, when Anna brought me her giant book of bedtime stories and asked me to read her Little Red Riding Hood, I thought, sure, why not?  We snuggled closely together and I began the story.

Having very little memory of what happened, I found myself pretty disturbed when the wily wolf reached Little Red Riding Hood’s granny’s cottage ahead of her, and threw granny into a closet so that he could take her place and try to eat Little Red Riding Hood!

Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure this was what I wanted Anna to be hearing right before bed.  Getting her to sleep is hard enough as it is.

But Anna was eager to finish the story, so we did, and I was relieved that a friendly woodcutter frightened the evil wolf away, saving Little Red Riding Hood from a horrible fate.  Then, after this harrowing ordeal, they all sat down to have cake together and lived happily ever after.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d be contentedly sitting down for a snack after a frightening experience like that.

I remarked to Kelsey the next day that I had remembered there was a wolf but not what happened at the end.  She then informed me that I’d read the sanitized version – in the real story by the Brothers Grimm, granny was – gasp! – devoured by the wolf!   And so was Little Red Riding Hood, although she was called Little Red-Cap. 

The carnage would’ve ended there if not for a friendly huntsman who came in to check on granny, found the wolf sleeping, and then slit its stomach open, releasing granny and Little Red-Cap.  The wolf subsequently died. Granny ate her cake before Little Red-Cap went home.

This is how we’re supposed to convey the message that you shouldn’t talk to strangers?

Apparently, the version I’ve read Anna is tame by comparison.  I don’t know why I hadn’t remembered that the story was more sinister than the one in our book.  Most of the Grimm fairy tales are similarly disconcerting….such as the story of Hansel & Gretel, who were almost baked in an oven and eaten by a witch.

Which begs the question:  why in the world are we reading this stuff to kids?

It’s funny, I often think that the world is a scarier place for today’s children than it was back when I was a kid.  I mean, in 2011, would Little Red Riding Hood’s mother seriously send her all the way through the woods near sunset ALONE, just to deliver a cake?

Hell no.

Even if Little Red Riding Hood disobeyed mom and went on her own, she would probably have a switchblade and challenge the wolf, and they’d make a rap song about it, or a TV miniseries, not a regular old story.  Perhaps her mother would’ve simply arranged a pizza delivery for granny so none of this would be necessary.

But I suppose the world of the Brothers Grimm was a scary place too, hence these twisted tales.  That they are actually more demented than modern kids’ books is pretty ironic if you ask me!  And it could be even worse for all I know – the Grimm version wasn’t the original.  Supposedly the version told to them was adapted from French folklore.

Maybe it’s not the world that changes; maybe it’s just the way we see it.

I can’t believe I hadn’t really thought about any of this before. Perhaps I should more carefully scrutinize what I read to and sing to Anna.  After all, in “Rock-A-Bye Baby,” the baby falls, and “Ring Around the Rosy” is about the plague.  Why didn’t this occur to me when I was younger?

Clearly, I was more sheltered than I thought!

Oh well, Anna already enjoys those songs and stories, and since I was blissfully ignorant, I suppose she should be too. Then we can all live happily ever after.

If you’re interested, check out some of the creepy Grimm fairy tales, follow this link to National Geographic.

[Note from "Uncle Keith":  Those of you looking for a laugh should check out Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times, and Once Upon a More Enlightened Time: More Politically Correct Bedtime Stories for some "safe" and humorous versions of your favorite fairy tales.]