Happily ever after maybe possibly sometimes I guess not

We've all seen (or at least heard about) the Disney cartoon versions of fairy tales. But Disney decided that their fairy tales would be child friendly and then took some liberties with the endings of them. The very movies we grew up with are quite different from the good ol' Grimm Brothers stories and Hans Christian Anderson tales that they were inspired by. 

1.  First we have the Little Mermaid. This one is probably the one most people know about in terms of its "real" or original ending. Whereas the Disney version had "Ariel" (she was called "the Little Mermaid" in the fairy tale) marry Eric ("the prince") and ride off into the sunset, the actual fairy tale had a much sadder ending. The Little Mermaid was given human legs, like in the Disney movie, but things don't go quite as swimmingly for the Little Mermaid as they did for Ariel. In the classic fairy tale, it turns out that the prince is in love with a girl he mistakenly though rescued him. (It was actually the Little Mermaid who did and the other girl just found him after he had been saved.) Then he gets married to that girl, who happens to be the princess of a neighboring country. The Little Mermaid, however, only had until that morning to find true love or she would die and turn to sea foam. Her kindhearted sisters traded their hair for a knife that would turn her back to a mermaid if she killed the prince with it. But instead, she chooses to not kill the prince and throws herself into the sea and turns to foam. However, it doesn't end there as most think. This tale turns into a lesson to the little children, saying that since the Little Mermaid did a good deed, she gets to earn her way to heaven by finding good children. If she finds 300 good children she gets to go to heaven, but for each bad child she finds, another day is added. For some reason, Disney decided this wouldn't be a good lesson for kids.
2. Another well known fairy tale is Snow White. The beginning of both the Disney movie and the Grimm Brother's tale is the same: Snow White was born and surpassed her stepmother as the fairest in the land. Her stepmother then orders a huntsman to take Snow White to the woods and kill her. In the fairy tale, there is where the differences start. The queen wants proof that Snow White is dead, and in the story asks for her lungs and liver, which she goes on to eat (not knowing that they are actually from a boar.) Then, after finding out that Snow White is still alive and more fair, she tries three times to kill Snow White off, whereas in the movie, she only tries once. Each time she disguises herself and uses a different method. The first is to offer Snow White beautiful laces for her corset and then tie them too tight. The dwarves return and save Snow White, thus thwarting the queen for the first time. Her second attempt is with a poison comb. I know, weird. But Snow White again falls for it and faints, only to be revived (again) by the dwarves. What would she do without them? Lastly, the queen gives Snow White a poison apple. She "dies," and the dwarves build a glass coffin for her, same as the movie. A prince shows up, sees her, and convinces the dwarves to let him have her. Remember, they think she's dead. A little weird on his part. Anyway, when they're moving her coffin, they almost drop it and the piece of poison apple dislodges and she awakens to find her prince charming and they get married. At their wedding then, the queen shows up (knowing that this "new queen" is more fair than her, but not knowing that it is Snow White.) They then force the queen to dance in heated iron shoes until she dies. That escalated quickly, didn't it? Not quite a kid friendly ending especially.
3. One last fairy tale that I'll mention is Rapunzel. It has recently been made into a movie called Tangled by Disney. But not really. They're so drastically different in the plot that the only real similarity is that the main character's name is Rapunzel and she has a lot of hair. I won't go into the Disney version, as I haven't seen the movie and stuff. But the fairy tale, Rapunzel was born and named after the plant her mother craved during her pregnancy. Her father stole the plant from their neighbor and was eventually caught. Their neighbor, an enchantress named Dame Gothel, lets Rapunzel's father off as long as he gives her Rapunzel once she's born. Rapunzel is then locked in a tower with the only entrance being up her long flowing hair, rope climbing style. A wandering prince overhears Rapunzel singing, falls in love (obviously) and figures out how to get up the tower. They agree to marry and work on a plan of escape, consisting of Rapunzel building a ladder. However Rapunzel accidentally gives them away, originally by stating that her dress was getting tight around the waist (OMGPREGNANCY), but in later versions, she just comments that it's harder to bring up the (presumably) fatter Dame Gothel. Dame Gothel then cuts off Rapunzel's hair and sends her to the wilderness to survive on her own. She tricks the prince and brings him up using Rapunzel's hair. Some versions say the prince jumps and others say he is pushed from the balcony and thus loses his sight after falling into thorns. The prince wanders then for a while until he hears Rapunzel singing with the twins she gave birth to. There's a happy reunion and magically, Rapunzel's tears heal the prince's eyes. So while the real fairy tale did have a happy ending, it's easy to see why Disney decided not to go with that version.

So while not all of the real fairy tales had happy endings or were really child friendly, I encourage you to read them. They're entertaining, amusing, and pretty decent literature. Just keep an open mind and uh, don't actually read them to kids as a bedtime story. I don't think that would be a good parenting decision.