TORONTO - British researchers have found some parents are abandoning classic fairy tales at bedtime, as the stories are too frightening or politically incorrect.
A survey commissioned by UKTV found a quarter of parents are refusing to read traditional tales to children under five years old so they don’t absorb sexist stereotypes or fears of kidnapping and gruesome executions.
While modern-day North Americans are largely familiar with the Disney version of events, some of the original storylines may come as a surprise.
TOP 5 FAIRY TALES NO LONGER BEING READ TO CHILDREN
Little Red Riding Hood – British parents cited the abduction theme, as well as Grandma getting eaten by the wolf as reasons not to read. What would they think of Charles Perrault’s original version? Little Red is a well-bred young woman given false directions to her grandmother’s house by the wolf. There’s no grandma and no heroic woodsman, and the wolf eats Little Red whole.
THEMES: Abduction, asking for directions will get you killed
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – The UK research suggests this tale is politically incorrect, as “dwarfs” was considered an inappropriate term. If you want to get inappropriate, consider original versions in which Snow White wakes up not with a kiss, but when banged around the prince’s carriage as he transports what he believes to be her corpse back to his castle. What exactly was he going to do with her dead body? Furthermore, the Brothers Grimm version has the Queen forced to dance to death in heated iron shoes after requesting Snow White’s liver and lungs to be served as dinner.
THEMES: Cannibalism, torture, potential for necrophilia
Cinderella – British mothers and fathers thought this tale was outdated and sexist in its portrayal of a woman doing all the housework. The Grimm version treats women a lot worse with the stepsisters cutting off parts of their own feet in an attempt to jam them into the famous glass slipper. Luckily (?) birds peck out the stepsisters eyes and they are left as blind beggars, while Cinderella lives happily ever after.
THEMES: Domestic slavery, self-mutilation, hazardous birds
Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Parents had a problem with this tale in so far as Goldilocks sends the wrong message about stealing when she eats the bears’ food. Two variations published in the 19th century punish Goldilocks for this theft. One ends with the bears finding Goldilocks then mauling and eating her. The second casts Goldilocks as an old hag who jumps out of the window when the bears wake her, but either breaks her neck in the fall or is arrested for vagrancy and sent to the “House of Correction.”
THEMES: Trespassing, theft, fatal bear attack
Rumpelstiltskin – The UK research suggested parents disapproved of the fact the King locked a girl in a tower and threatened to execute her if she couldn’t spin straw into gold. Apparently the Brothers Grimm didn’t think this was scary enough. In their original edition, Rumpelstiltskin runs away when the girl guesses his name. Years later, they revised the story to end with the imp becoming so enraged, he drives his right foot into the ground up to his waist. Rumpelstiltskin then takes his left foot and rips himself into two pieces.
THEMES: Execution, unlawful confinement, extortion, suicide
Global News