Issue No.

25 Website Exclusive November 12, 2021

Mischellaneous&Company Presents...
The truth
about
fairy tales
By Logan Monnity
Introduction
Do you ever get tired of reading those boring fairy tales? I know I
get bored of reading the same, mind-numbingly boring, so cute
you wanna hurl stories every day. But, once upon a time, fairy
tales were horrible. Not ‘so cute you wanna jump out the
window,’ horrible. I’m talking horribly like they define it in the
dictionary.Horrible; Causing or Likely to cause horror. Now, you
might be thinking. Horrible?Dreadful? Shocking? I don’t think
so. And honestly, I can’t blame you for that. If you grew up
reading the books that pass as ‘fairy tales’ these days, I’d guess
that you can’t believe a word I'm saying. But, I’m not lying. You
see, in older days,(we’re talking at least 200 years ago) two
people lived. Two brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. More
formally known as The Brothers Grimm. Between the two of
them, they began to write the stories that are today called ‘fairy
tales’. To tell you the truth, the original ‘fairy tales’ were never
meant to be read by children. But of course, as the world has
been unfortunately corrupted to ‘child-friendly’ everything, the
reality is that these original, horrible, bloody stories were passed
down and changed, then censored for the ability to be read by
children. That brings us to our next question, What were the

The real fairy tales?

‘real’ fairy tales?

Now that I've gone and ranted about the world being corrupted for
children, another question comes to mind. What were the real fairy
tales? Now, the ‘real fairy tales’ were the Tales that were written to
be read by people who don’t gag at the word blood or run out of the
room screaming every time a story describes someone dying in
specific detail. But the real fairy tales were tales like Hansel and
Gretel, where they get their heads chopped off and sewn back on by
a piece of magical twine, then proceed to do the same thing to their
father to save him from being corrupted by a dragon. Or Faithful
Johannes, where a loyal servant, (most likely immortal,) serves
faithfully to the King’s father, and the King’s Father’s father, and the

This is a graph chart showing the population of people versus the King’s Father’s Father’s Father,and for so long, so dutifully, that he
gains the name of Faithful Johannes, but when the king meets his
amount of children in the population. future queen, in order to save her, Faithful Johannes must do three
things that could be called treason, to prevent them from dying or
mishap. He is then sentenced to death, only to reveal that it was fate
getting in the way, not him, and that he only did all of the things
that he did to save the King’s marriage. Stories like these get my
adrenaline rushing, but that makes me wonder; What was the First
fairy tale ever?

WWW.REALLYGREATSITE.COM
The first fairy tale?
The first fairy tale ever was called ‘The Smith And The
Devil,’
(smith meaning Blacksmith.) The Smith and The Devil is the
story of a Blacksmith who makes a deal with the Devil,
selling his soul for some power.(don’t try this at
home,kids!!)He then tricks the devil out of his own prize.In
one of the versions, the Blacksmith gains the power to wield
any materials,then uses this newfound power to trap the
Devil in an Immovable object, allowing the Smith to Renege
on the bargain he made with the Devil. The moral of the
story is NOT to do what this smith did, and in any case,
ALWAYS have a backup plan.Personally, I think what the
Smith did was a bit cruel, but smart, being as he was able to
renege on the bargain he made. BUT, IN ANY CASE, I’m just
being hypothetical. Fun Fact about the Devil,he’s not as
smart as you think he is. He likes to torture people in his
free time because he really needs to get an actual
Job.Now,moving on from this topic,How did fairy tales
come to be?
Fairy tales came to be..How exactly?
To be honest, I was wondering this too.So I did some
research. It turns out that the roots of the Fairy Tale genre
come from different oral stories that have passed down in
European Culture. The Genre was firstly marked out by
some writers of the Renaissance. Some examples of these
writers, you may have heard of, are Giovanni Francesco
Straparola,Giambattista Basil,Hans Christian Andersen,
and Charles Perrault. Now, of course, we’ve got the
brothers Grimm that helped pass down that legacy after
them,but,emphasis on the after, they came a bit later.If
you’re wondering like I am, what fairy tales started this, it
had to be the true stories of Little Red Riding Hood,
(Charles Perrault,1697), The Little Mermaid,(Hans
Christian Andersen,1836), Sleeping Beauty,(Giambattista
Basile,1634), Rapunzel,(Charlotte-Rose de Caumont De La
Force,1698), Bluebeard,Beauty and The Beast,and
Cinderella.But from The 1800’s forward, the Brothers
Grimm did most of the work.I’ve talked about the Brothers
Grimm so much without explanation, that brings us to the
This is a picture of the cover of the story The Smith and The next question. Who are the brothers Grimm?

Devil.

who are these guys,ayway? You’ve mentioned them a lot.

So, who exactly are these guys?Jacob and Willhelm Grimm grew up in Hanau, Germany,Jacob being a
year older than Willhelm.When Jacob was 11, and Willhelm was 10, their father died,causing great
poverty for the family and the brothers, even years later.Both of the brothers attended the University
of Marburg,where they developed a curiosity about German folklore, which grew into a lifelong
dedication to collecting German folktales, and writing some too!Wilhelm married Dorothea Wild from
Kassel,but Jacob never married, and instead continued to live in the house with Willhelm and
Dorothea.Willhelm had 4 children,(Jacob,Herman,Rudolf,and Auguste.)Unfortunately,Jacob died on
September 20,1863,and Wilhelm died December 16,1859.Although both brothers are dead, they are
very well known throughout the book community,and their stories continue to be shared and read.
lets wrap this show up,yes?
So,In conclusion,We all know we get tired of reading the same fairy tales over and over again.But what if I told you that there were some
fairy tales that weren’t so mind numbingly boring and more horrible, for your liking? Oh yes,yes, so hard to believe.But it’s true. The real
fairy tales are definitely not the ones that are just so cute you want to bang your head against the wall! Like take Rapunzel, for instance.
(I Love Pascal,but.. I’m not talking about Tangled. Sorry!) The true story of Rapunzel is a great example of the real fairy tales. If you’re
like me and your imagination is a winding road that just goes longer and longer, than you’re probably wondering what the first fairy tale
was.The first fairy tale was called ‘The Smith And The Devil,’ Where a Blacksmith makes a bargain with the Devil, selling his soul for
some powers.(don’t do that. It’s a very bad idea.)He then uses these newfound powers to trap the Devil in an Unmovable object, allowing
him to renege on the bargain he made.How fairy tales came to be is a VERY different story. Fairy tales come all the way from Ancient
Greece and date back to I-don’t-even-know-what BC. Not only did they come from countries, but authors and people too, Like
Giambattista Basile, Or Charles Perrault, or both, and many more. All of these Amazing people are part of the Renaissance.The Brothers
Grimm came a bit later, but still helped a LOT.The Brothers Grimm are these two really old, emphasis on really, brothers that lived at
least 200 years ago.Jacob, being the oldest, was born on January 4, 1785, and his brother Willhelm was born on Febuary 24, 1786.The
two brothers grew up in Hanau,Germany, and when the time came, went to the University of Marburg, where they piqued interest on the
topic of German fables,folklore, and fairy tales and eventually began to write their own.

Glossary

Renaissance The word Renaissance,it

refers to a period in
European civilization that
was marked by a revival of
Classical learning and
wisdom.

Hypothetical Hypothetically,
hypothetical is an
adjective, based on, or
serving as a hypothesis.

Renege Renege means to not do

what you previously
agreed to do; to fail to
keep a promise or
agreement.

Blacksmith Blacksmiths are really cool

people who forge metal
using tools like a hammer
and an anvil to repair and
make tools, ornamental
objects, hardware, and
more.