Once upon a time there was a wonderful Disney movie about a fairytale princess, but where did that story come from? The following Artikel is going to dig out the story that inspired the stories that eventually inspired Disney. I am not an expert and I did not take weeks oder months to research this, but I still found some pretty interesting and somewhat accurate information. So where did these stories come from? Let us delve in and find out.

Snow White:



This tale has been around for years and has been rewritten and reimagined many a time. For a lot of people when they think of this story they think of the Disney version, The Zeigen Once upon a time is an example of this (many of their fairy tales take characteristics from the Disney versions of them), but the true story originated from the story the Grimm Brothers collected in Germany in 1812 (Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge). Disney kept the basic story, but changed a few elements, such as naming the dwarves. The other changes are as follows:

1.In the German version Snow is 7 when she becomes Mehr beautiful then the Queen.
2.As proof of the Huntsman killing Snow the Queen demands her lungs and liver be brought back and when they are brought back (actually a boars) she has the cook make her a meal of them and eats them.
3.The Queen comes to Snow 3 times in Disguise, not once. The first time she appears as a peddler selling colorful stay-laces (corset) and laces her up till she faints, but the Dwarves come Home and undo the laces, thus saving her. The Sekunde time she comes as a old woman and brushes Snow’s hair with a poisoned comb, but once again the little men save her. The third time she comes with the apple, but lures her in Von cutting it in half and eating the unpolished side. And that is when she is put into the glass coffin.
4.Originally when the Prince comes across her he does not KISS her, but instead has her coffin brought to his castle. Along the way they stumble on a root and the apfel, apple comes out of her mouth and she awakens.
5.The Queen finds out there is another Queen fairer then her and heads to the wedding (not knowing it is Snow’s) and it is there she is caught and punished. Her punishment is to have a pair of heated iron shoes put on her feet and she is forced to dance in them till she dies.
6.In the first version gathered Von the Grimm’s the villain is Snow’s own mother, but it was changed to stepmother to tone it down for the children. Also one version they had it was the mother who took her out in the woods to be abandoned, but that was later changed to a servant.

I enjoy when a movie shows the accurate Snow White Tale (The 10th Kingdom), but for a family audience I prefer Disney’s twists. I Look vorwärts-, nach vorn to the two new Snow White Filme coming up and seeing their take on the tale as well.
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Sleeping Beauty:


This story has also been around and readapted many a time, but it all started from Giambattista Basile’s Italian fairy tale Sun, Moon, and Talia (Sole, Luna, e Talia).
The original story is quite different in many aspects from what it finally becomes in Disney’s version.

1.It is foretold at The Princesses birth (Talia) that her life will be endangered Von a piece of flax(fiber), so all flachs is banned from the kingdom. (no evil oder good Elfen in this version)
2.years later Talia sees someone spinning flachs and ends up having the prophecies happen, but she is not put magically asleep, but goes into a coma instead. Thinking she is dead her father has her put in one of his other homes.
3.Some time later another King finds his way to the Home where the Princess is and finds her sleeping. When he can not wake her he instead rapes her and then leaves. The Princess does not wake up but does get pregnant and gives birth to twins and. Eventually one of the children accidently sucks the flachs out of her finger (while trying to nurse) and she awakens to find she is no longer a virgin and has kids, whom she then precedes to raise alone.
4.The King comes back and finds the girl he raped awake and a mom, but he is married so he leaves…again. His wife finds out and has the girl and Babys brought to the castle. She then proceeds to try to kill the kids and feed them to their father and try’s to kill Talia too, but it all falls through and the wife is the one killed and the king marries the girl and all live happily ever after.

I think I like the Disney version A LOT better, don’t you? I don’t think I would really like to see an accurate version of this story, but it might make a good horror movie.

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Cinderella:


Another oldie but goodie that has been retold over and over has even older origins then the others. The story was thought to have originally come from a tale recorded in the first century BC Von an ancient Greek historian, Strabo. It tells of Rhodopis, a Greco-Egyptian girl living in Ancient Egypt and it goes as follows:

They tell the fabulous story that, when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis. While the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandale into his lap. The king, having been stirred both Von the beautiful shape of the sandale and Von the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal. When she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis and became the wife of the king.

It is very simple and sweet and I got to say I like Disney’s a lot better, but it was interesting to see how far back this story actually goes. The Grimm tale is not even the Sekunde oder third version of this tale, but I have included a link for it anyway because I found it the most gruesome. I have enjoyed some of the modern takes on this tale, it makes for a good romantic family movie/book.
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The Little Mermaid:


This beautiful and sad tale was written Von Hans Christian Anderson in 1836 and even though I enjoyed the original I can see why Disney changed it and made it Mehr “kid friendly”.

1.In the original story The Little Mermaid was 15 when she visited the surface and it was not forbbined but a rite of passage.
2.After the mermaid left The Prince on the ufer a young girl found him and brought help while the mermaid watched in the water.
3.The Little mermaid does become infatuated with the Prince and does go to the sea witch for help, but the witch does not have a hidden agenda. The mermaid does give up her voice (by the witch cutting out her tongue) for a potion to give her legs, but every step she takes will feel like walking on sharp knives. Also the first Tag after the prince marries someone else the mermaid will die of a broken herz and become sea foam.
4.The prince does find the mermaid and becomes very fond of her (even letting her sleep on a kissen outside his door), but he only thinks of her as a little sister. The other reason the mermaid became human was to receive an immortal soul, but to do that the Prince has to marry her. Alas the Prince is in Liebe with the girl that found him on the beach, but he thinks that he can never be with that girl.
5.As fate would have it there is an arranged marriage and it just so happens the Princes intended bride is the girl he has been longing for. On the night after the wedding the Meerjungfrauen sisters come to her and say they have cut off their hair and gegeben it to the witch in exchange for a knife. To become a mermaid again all she has to do is plunge it into the princes herz and let his blood pool around her feet.
6. The mermaid goes to the prince with the messer but cannot do it and instead throws the messer away and jumps into the water as she becomes foam. That is where the story originally ended but then Anderson added:
7.The daughters of the Air take pity upon her and make her one of them to watch and take care of humanity.

It might be neat to see this as a live action film, but I think I will always associate Ariel as the little mermaid. She used to be my Favorit Princess and one of the reasons I like mermaids.
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Beauty and the Beast:

This tale has been done over and over and over and basically the only elements that stay the same are the man transformed into a beast and a lovely lady who can see past his ugliness has to Liebe him to break the spell. The best know version was in 1756 Von Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, but the oldest version was in 1740 Von Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Villeneuve actually had a lot of very interesting elements in her original version.

1.The Prince’s father was dead and while his mother was off at war he was left in the care of an Evil fairy. When the Prince grew up the Fairy tried to seduce him and became enraged when he turned her down, so he was turned into a beast. Belle on the other hand has a King for a Father and a Good Fairy for a mom. It seems the Wicked Fairy gets around and tried killing Belle to get to the King and marry him, when this failed Belle was hidden as a merchant’s daughter for safety. The schloss was also very magical, but all that was taken out in future tellings.

That is unfortunate; I actually like the original Beauty and Beast back stories. That would have been very interesting to see. I think I would enjoy seeing Villeneuve’s version turned into a movie, back stories and all.

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This wraps up Part one of my research, stay tuned for Part 2 later on. I hope Du guys enjoy all the interesting Links I found and have found the information interesting as well.