Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Everyone had teeth and claws.

–Alice Hoffman, 2006

In 1812 the Grimm brother’s published a collection of fairy tales intended for children. These stories were much darker compared to ones we’ve heard growing up. The disturbing and gruesome plots were regarded to be unsuitable for children. The original stories consisted of mental and physical abuse, violence and murder. For example in the original story of Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off their heel and toe to fit in the slipper, they also had their eyes pecked out by pigeons at the end of the story. In Hansel and Gretel, the abusive, cruel mother and a reluctant father leave the children in a forest during a plague, where they meet an old cannibalistic women who wants to eat them. To turn the frog back into a prince, the princess had to slam him into a wall. The evil queen in Snow White intended to eat her organs after abandoning her in a forest and the prince in Rapunzel is pushed off to his death. As none of these were ideal for young children and new editions were created. The dark aspects of the stories were removed and the new versions became a fantasy for children to live in.