Do your kids know the little mermaid committed suicide?

[OnlyParentsAreReal]

I had I discussion with another mother about a new book I had got my son that had the little mermaid in. It says she "chose to ascend" which I thought was a lovely age appropriate way of putting across the original story. She was horrified and said she would never let her son know any of the true non Disney endings to stories. I think that's awful as the Disney endings send bad messages. What are peoples views on this?

@YesItsMeIDontCare that one's The Goose Girl. Was always my favourite!

I remember the little mermaid walking as if on knives too.

Doesn't the frog prince get smashed against the wall rather than kissed?

I didn't see the little mermaid movie until I was an adult. I thought the book was beautiful and sad. I survived!

Rapunzel got pregnant when she was in the tower and gave birth to twins after she was cast out

@olafisking Thank you!

I had it in a book of original fairy stories and lost it (probably left it behind) when I split up from XH.

I remember reading Hans Christian Andersen the Red Shoes when I must have been about 8, really stuck with me

Ooh, I really fancy buying a copy of the ‘original’ fairy tales now!
What’s better, the Phillip Pullman’s Grimms, or just Grimms?
Or Hans Christian Anderson? Or is there a book with all of them together maybe?

I’ve literally just had a flashback about story from when I was little, about a girl having to dive under water for keys or something?
God knows.

Ive literally had my mind blown about disney films i watched growing up... im 25 and i didnt see the "real" meanings 🙈

I had a set of Grimm fairy tale books as a child. They were A4 size and some of the illustrations were pretty graphic.

The little mermaid had to kill the prince to return to mermaid form but she couldn't do it so slit her own throat and threw herself into the see to join the other poor souls.

The old stories were warnings to children and had real consequences. Don't talk to strangers, don't lie etc.

The little match gorl froze to death in my book.

*girl

3EyedRaven That rings a bell with me too.

I had a collection of weird and gruesome books as a child. Mostly second, third or fourth hand. Hard backs with scary illustrations. I recall one story that had pictures of three women hung up by their hair. The book was dated 1895.

The Grimms stories are free on kindle for anyone wanting to read them.

I have a book somewhere with the original stories from 30 years ago, will have to see if I can find it. The original Thumberlina was a bit sad from memory. And it has the original little mermaid too

Did anyone have Aesop's Fables when young. I remember reading them over and over.

Prince charming in Rapunzel gets his eyes popped out of his head by the witch, or at least the version I read suggested it.

Thenightsky - we had them. We had to take it in turns to read them every day outloud at Brownie camp!

Being pregnant helps the mother repair and giving birth causes most to wake from a coma Erm, that sounds quite untrue actually.

Anyway... in one cheery version of Sleeping beauty, her baby twins are eaten by the king's jealous wife. This angers the king, so he burns her to death.

Roo my version had him losing his eyes on brambles as he fell from the tower!

at this thread! (And title!) I knew none of this! Childhood ruined! What sort of wicked parents did you all have that allowed you to know the original stories?

Actually, eyes were a theme, weren't they? My Cinderella had the doves (?) who told the prince that the slippers didn't fit the ugly sisters, then pecking out their eyes.

I seem to remember the ugly sisters cutting off their toes to try and fit their feet into the glass slipper.

In the original cinderella, one of the ugly sisters cuts off their toes, and to fit the shoes.

It is as they are riding away that the prince noticed blood running out of the shoe and realised she had cheated.

Then the other sister cuts off her heel.

The original Grimmsare actually really boring to read.

They collected the tales as they travelled round Europe. But they wrote them down very simply, without any description, so the whole of cinderella is one paragraph. They are surprisingly hard to follow without all the literary padding.