The Brothers Grimm

And she changed the little girl into a log and threw it on the fire.

And when it was at full glow she sat down beside it, warmed herself, and said,

"There now, isn't that nice and bright!"

(Mrs. Gertrude)

The brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm have inspired so many artists, writers, and movies it's hard to know what to write. Their lives were much like the fairy tales they wrote about in that they experienced long periods of poverty and the death of loved ones. 

There in the basin lay her two dear sisters, miserably murdered and hacked to pieces.

(Fitchers' Feathered Bird)

What I find interesting is how the stories they collected have been sanitized and made beautiful over the years. Just take a look at the way artists have illustrated the fairy tales. The lack of blood of is amazing considering how often violence is acted out in the stories. It's like we can't face a life that can be cruel and unjust. We need a happy ending. Even the brothers themselves rewrote the stories in later editions of their book to make them more palatable for children. Originally, the Grimms collected the stories as a way to document their Germanic culture and they were meant to be read by adults. 

But they had already put iron slippers over a fire of coals, and they brought them in with tongs and set them before her. Then she had to put on the red-hot slippers and dance till she dropped down dead.

(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Today is Wilhelm Grimm's birthday. Read a story or two in the original version. They will make you cringe. This is no Disney, kids, and I like it.

My mother she butchered me,

My father he ate me,

My sister, little Ann Marie,

She gathered up the bones of me

And tied them in a silken cloth

To lay under the juniper.

(The Juniper Tree)