June 19, 2026
The Fairy Tales of the Past
To realize how much better our world is than that of the past, it is enough to consider the original versions of Snow White and Cinderella as recorded by the Brothers Grimm.
In Snow White, the mother (not the stepmother) devours what she believes to be Snow White’s liver, and is later condemned to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance in them until she dies. In Cinderella, the wicked stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by birds.
Who today would tell such stories to a child?
Now even the Disney versions, so gentle and sweet, seem somewhat unsuitable for children because of the stepmother’s fatal fall and the overly domestic role assigned to the two young women.