My Favorite Fairy Tales

Hi guys ^^ Today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite fairy tales of all time. Fairy tales, as we know them now, can be very different from the stories our parents used to tell us as children. And more often than not, the original stories are very different from the more popular versions we know from books, movies and Disney. What sets the original stories apart from the more popular versions is often the darker, more tragic nature of those stories. Here are some of my favorite of those stories, beginning with my favorite fairy tale of all time and possibly the saddest too...

The little mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

Source: Left & Right

First published in 1837, this story is about a young mermaid who one day wanders to the surface of her father's undersea kingdom, where she meets and falls in love with a human prince. To be with him, she decides to sacrifice her mermaid tail to earn human legs and to do so, she seeks the help of the sea witch who demands her beautiful voice as payment for the spell. What follows is a story as beautiful as it is heartbreaking, as we see the now mute little mermaid reunited with her prince, but not quite in the way she wanted. The original ending is very different, and way more tragic than the Disney one and I highly recommend you check it out for yourself. Read the full story for free here. 

Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (Ballet)

Source

The day of Prince Siegfried's birthday, his mother the queen tells him that he is now expected to soon choose a bride. Upset that he cannot marry for love, he cannot participate in the revelry around him. To cheer him up, his friends suggests they go for a hunt. There, chasing a flock of swans, Siegfried is separated from his friends. He finally manages to get an aim at the swans, only to freeze when one of them transforms into a beautiful young woman. This woman presents herself as Odette, the Swan Queen and reveals that she, along with her companions, were cursed to take the form of swans by the evil sorcerer Rothbart. Only true love can now save her. This is a ballet rather than a classic fairy tale, but it is no less beautiful with either a happy ending or a tragic one depending on the performance you are watching.

Rapunzel

Source: Left & Right

When a desperate man steals greens from the garden of a witch to bring to his pregnant wife, the witch catches him and agrees to let him take back as much greens as he wants to his wife on the condition that once their baby is born, she will be hers. Indeed, after the girl is born, the witch takes her away and names her Rapunzel, after the plant her father had stolen. The girl is locked away in a tower and over the years, she grows to be a beautiful young woman with impossibly long hair. With no way to enter or leave the tower, it is only by calling to Rapunzel to let down her long hair that the witch can climb to her. One day, as Rapunzel is singing at her window, a prince who was passing by hears her and comes to find her. The prince comes again many times, until he sees the witch using the girl's hair to climb up. The prince, who has begun to fall in love with Rapunzel, then decides to climb to her and help her escape. The ending to this story, which I won't spoil, is a rather bittersweet one. But this was one of the earliest stories my mom used to tell me, which is why it's one of my favorites.

So those were a few of my favorite fairy tales of all time. There are a few more that I love and I might do another post featuring those stories at some point.

Comment down below and let me know what your favorite fairy tale is!

Until next time, take care and read on 💛