This week I was a little ahead of the game having already read Rapunzel. We read it again, just because. My darling daughters are still more concerned with what happens to Rapunzel’s twin children than anything else. I’ll reiterate that Grimm’s Rapunzel is nothing like Disney’s Tangled. (This is the link if you want to read the original Rapunzel post.)

The other tales for week 3:

• Little Brother and Little Sister
• The 12 Brothers
• The Pack of Ragamuffins

Without further ado, let’s get started…

​The little sister and her deer brother grow up in the woods. One day a king is hunting and follows the deer brother home. The sister opens the door expecting her deer brother and finds the king who immediately decides he has to marry her. Of course she says yes. I mean who wouldn’t say yes to marriage to a king after years of scrapping by caring for a deer?

But that is not the end of the tale. Nope. The evil witch/step-mother hears that the girl has married a king. This is not acceptable. Off the evil witch goes with her one-eyed daughter (Grimm takes a lot of effort to describe how ugly she is) to kill the new queen and claim her happiness for that of her ugly daughter.

And they succeed! They kill the young queen just after she’s had a baby son.

​All is not lost. The fake-queen does her best to pretend but the ghost or spirit or something of the real queen comes every night to nurse her son. The nanny tells the king about the nightly visits. He decides to check things out for himself, realizes the “visitor” is his real wife, and suddenly she’s back in the flesh.

​True love concurs death!

​I’m sure that’s what the kingdom’s newspapers all reported. The evil witch and her ugly daughter die. The deer turns back into the brother and they live happily together. I want to say “what a sweet ending,” but I just can’t. This is a rather gruesome tale about the lengths people will go to be mean. Good returning from death is quite biblical and a bit too farfetched.

Or maybe I’m simply projecting….

At any rate, mommy dearest can’t keep a secret and tells the youngest son. All of the boys escape into the woods and an enchanted house where they promise to kill any maiden they meet.

Dwell on that for a minute anyone who questions their father’s logic now! Murderous band of boys rampages through the woods — pretty sure that’s the headline in this kingdom.

Years pass and their beautiful sister grows up to have a kind heart and a star on her forehead. She eventually learns about her brothers and goes in search of them. She finds the youngest, who protects her by obtaining a promise from the other brothers “not to kill the first maiden they see.”

Strike that earlier headline. Obviously maidens had a ton of common sense and stayed way far away from these woods. You know, except for their sister…

Well, it's now a grand old family reunion. Sister and youngest brother keep house and all is good until she cuts the flowers in the yard. Then, poof, her dear brothers are turned into ravens.

Remember the enchanted house? That’s the reason given. Perfect explanation.

Sister has to spend 7 years to the exact second she cut the flowers in silence. Not even laughter is allowed. And, of course, a king discovers her living in the woods and marries her. Her mother-in-law is evil and poisons her loving husband’s vision to the point that the poor, silent sister is tied to a stake to burn.

The seven years ends right as the flames are licking themselves up her dress. Her brothers transform from ravens into themselves and save her. FYI: there’s literally no mention of these raven-form brothers hanging around during those seven years. They just magically appear and transform when the seven years are up.

Oh, and they all live happily together for the rest of their lives but the mother-in-law dies a miserable death. Personally, I want to know what happened to dear old mom and dad. Did sister and her 12 brothers ever go confront them? Or were they simply content to hang out in someone else’s kingdom while their’s rotted away? Maybe there’s a reason those male inheritance laws came into existence…

Someone was tippling when they wrote this tale…

None of it makes sense. Animals talking to humans and inanimate objects. It’s extremely surreal. I can’t even begin to explain the looks on my kids’ faces. Even with their huge imaginations, this story did not make sense.

Next week I’ll be reading Three Little Men in the Woods, Three Spinning Women, Hansel and Gretel, and The Three Snake-Leaves. I’m sensing a theme with three of those (palm to face).

If you’d like to read previous posts, the direct links are below:
#GRIMMread2019 Week 1
#GRIMMread2019 Week 2

Week 2 of #GRIMMread2019 is in the bag! I’m not behind anymore. If anything I’m ahead because I read two stories last week that weren’t on the list. This week I read all of the tales listed below:

• Our Lady’s Child (aka Mary’s Child)
• The Youth Who Could Not Shiver and Shake
• The Wolf and the Seven Kids
• The Strange Musician
• The Good Bargain
• Faithful John

​Back to the story, the child lives in heaven and all is well until she disobeys Mary and opens the 13th door. When the girl lies about having opened the door, she is returned to earth without recourse. Years pass until a king finds her and takes her away to his kingdom. Each year she bares him a child and loses it within the first night because she will not confess her sin.

​As she is tied to a stake to burn, she finally feels the “ice of pride crack” and confesses. Her children are immediately returned to her and they all live happily ever after.

Wow. Just wow. This blew my mind.

I would give my life for my children. Confession seems minor in comparison. Even my pride would not stop me from confessing, heck lying, to save my kids.

​Outside of my strange reactions to the story, this is one of the more fully developed tales. Interestingly though, despite how developed it is, we are never told anyone’s name other than the Virgin Mary. How bizarre is that? An entire story where only one character has an actual name!

​Outside of that central issue that none of us could really get past, it was a cute story. Kind of.

Years pass. The king has two children. He willingly kills his kids one day while his wife attends church—which means, ladies, never leave your husbands at home with the kids while you go to church—to get Faithful John back.

Since this is a fairytale, of course it works and all is well. Faithful John is back and so are the kids. They all live happily ever after.

Or do they????

Other weeks are listed below.
#GRIMMread2019 Week 1
#GRIMMread2019 Week 3

Thanks for stopping by. Circle back around next week (Week 3) for an update on the next four Grimm’s tales:

• The Twelve Brothers
• The Pack of Ragamuffins
• Little Brother and Little Sister
• Rapunzel

And remember to check out everyone else who's participating in the #GRIMMread2019 Challenge by clicking a link below.

...is downright icky. I get fulfilling your promises, but that went to an extreme. In this story a father ordered his daughter to take someone into her bed—ok, it was a frog, but still, that’s just wrong. Then the frog turns into a prince, for literally no reason. He professes love to the girl, who’s done nothing but abuse him. That’s a recipe for an unhealthy future.

What was the message of The Frog Prince? It was not love conquers all. It came across as lie to get what you want. That’s not a message I want my kids internalizing.

What’s next?

Ah, yes, Rapunzel. It wasn’t on the list for the week, but EG picked it out herself. I’m sure she was expecting something like Tangled.

​Unlike Tangled where Rapunzel is kidnapped from her loving parents, in Grimm’s version she is willingly given to Gothel by her parents in exchange for produce. Produce as in lettuce.

Let that sink in.

Message: the cost of quickly made promises can be steep.

The story continues with Rapunzel stuck in a tower alone and bored. Of course a handsome prince finds her and sneaks in. Immediate love. The sneaking continues and then Rapunzel lets slip that she’s been seeing someone behind Gothel’s back.

Punishment ensues. Magic tears fix everything. All EG cared about were Rapunzel’s twins.

Wait. You didn’t know that part, did you?

Yes, in the Grimm version, Rapunzel has a teen pregnancy that results in twins.

Message: sneaking around will get you pregnant, but don’t worry because he’ll definitely stay with you and give you a kingdom.

Hold your breath and wait for that to happen in real life.

The cat continually stabs the mouse in the back—he’s cheeky about it too—then kills her for having the audacity to figure out what kind of person he really is. I’m guessing the message there is to stick to your own kind. Or was it trust a liar and end up dead? Either way, I was as pleased with the story as EG.

​Ultimately, reading Grimm is making me question my liking of fairytales. I definitely dislike unhappy stories already. That hasn’t changed. I prefer stories where the characters overcome their adversity with happy results. Stories where you just get dead for being a good person and rewarded for bad behavior (kingdom for being abusive or sneaking around, anyone) are not giving the messages I want my kids to have.

#GRIMMread2019