Struwwelpeter. We had an English copy handed down by my grandfather. It's insane.
Example: "Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug ("The Very Sad Tale with the Matches"): A girl plays with matches, accidentally ignites herself and burns to death. Only her cats mourn her."
("The Story of the Wild Huntsman") is the only story not primarily focused on children. In it, a hare steals a hunter's musket and eyeglasses and begins to hunt the hunter. In the ensuing chaos, the hare's child is burned by hot coffee and the hunter jumps into a well.
A quote from Neil Gaiman about his editor's daughter, who served as the book's first audience
I told her, "You know, we kind of have you to thank for all this, because you weren’t scared by it." And she said, "Actually, I was terrified. But I wanted to know what happened next. I knew if I let anybody know I was scared, I wouldn’t find out."
A lot of the original versions of the brothers Grimm stories. For example Cinderella, one of the sisters chops off bits of her feet so that she can try and get into the shoe Cinderella dropped. I think the Prince only figured it out because she's dripping in blood.
But it doesn't pay off for the stepsister at all. She's just bleeding, the story is about the triumph of The Grind- Cinderella stuck to virtue, hard work, etc.
the Brothers Grimm versions were not the original versions of any of those fairytales! they were edgy remakes! idk why or how that thinking became so common or why I care so much!
Yup, story goes that the publisher thought it was too scary for children, so Neil Gaiman, the author, told the publisher to read it to her daughter. The daughter said it wasn't scary, and so it was published as a children's book. Years later, the daughter said that she was actually scared but lied about it because she wanted to know the ending
I don't remember which book it was in, but the story about the person calling every single hour only to find out he was in the house the whole time scared me back in the day so much I absolutely dreaded going back to my room in the basement at night. Especially since my room was the furthest from the stairs.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if they didn’t burn everything at the end. I mean, I get that sanitation in that situation was pretty darn important, but it was the author’s choice to choose something that required that outcome. That ending made me sad for a long time. Definitely didn’t know how to handle it. Not sure I can even now.
I was probably a child when I last read it, so I might have some details wrong, but here's how I remember it:
A child is given a toy rabbit. A fairy visits the toy rabbit and gives it the gift of awareness. The child and the toy bond with each other and grow to love each other. Unfortunately, the child becomes dangerously ill, and after the sickness their possessions must be incinerated to prevent contamination. This includes the toy rabbit. However, the fairy arrives at the last minute, declaring that because the rabbit learned to love it was therefore a real rabbit, and with a wave of her wand transforms the toy into a living being and whisks it off to the woods were it lives happily ever after with the other rabbits.
So I guess my question is this - Do you think the velveteen rabbit and the fairy are real? Or is the fairy's magic an invention of the child's mind?
I think the narrative required the velveteen rabbit to be burned because it was so horrible. To the grown ups it's just velveteen, but to the child it's a dear friend. Even as children we know that being burned is horrible. So the child invents a solution where their toy can live happily ever after even after it's thrown in the fire.
I think there's definitely some Heaven and Hell symbolism to be had too. The velveteen rabbit was damned to hellfire unless it accepted love into its heart during its life. Then it is granted into the afterlife. In fact, you could say it was reincarnated into a higher spiritual form.
The story explores coping with loss as seen from the point of view of a child. Even though the velveteen rabbit was just a toy, the child has given it a soul. If you have a soul, when you die you go to the afterlife and live happily ever after. It's a comforting story to a child, and one that many people around the world have believed throughout the ages.
I hadn't thought about it being a coping mechanism for the child, the 'fairy' 'rescuing' the rabbit when it was just everything got burned anyways. I like the interpretation! Now I'm sad!
A series of unfortunate events was pretty bad for me.
My grandpa kept buying them, and i read them because I didn't know how to not reqd a book given to me, but they definitely taught me how to say no to a gift.
Man, I loved that series growing up. ...I... Probably have some issues; and a positively arcane internal dictionary. Also, a photographic recollection of what dramatic irony is.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark sure the fuck isn't a cuddly-looking bait-and-switch, but it is plainly aimed at a younger audience. Basically a collection of standard campfire stories and spooky e-mail forwards... with nightmare-fuel watercolor illustrations.