P.S. The Grimm Brothers' Most Shocking Edits

"Then with both hands he took hold of his left foot and ripped himself up the middle in two."

Growing up, my version of Snow White and Cinderella came from Walt Disney Studio’s Americana factory. I also grew up with German nursery rhymes sung by my immigrant grandparents. Not knowing German, I thought their songs were sweet and innocent. Later, when I learned enough of the language to understand the words, I realized that what I had thought were quaint little nursery rhymes were actually rather horrific.

These are the lines I remember:

Kniereitvers

And here is a charming animation that, as you’ll see, is considerably nicer for the little rider than the tale I grew up with:

Much like this children’s song, the Grimms’ tales are remarkably violent. If, like me, you grew up with Disney’s version, you experienced a very sanitized revision of the tales.

Even the Grimm brothers sanitized the tales considerably once they decided to market them to children—or rather, they erased a lot of the sex and intensified the violence. After their scholarly first edition got negative reviews, they decided to alter the texts for a family-friendly market.

So, in honor of this spooky season, in what follows, I cover six of the most shocking edits to the Grimms’ tales.¹ Be warned: they are grotesque. Happy Halloween!

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