Episode 33: Fairy Tales part 2

Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel and, the zombie herself, Snow White! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey everybody, I'm Shannon, and welcome to the They Hid What Podcast. On this podcast, I explore parts of history that have been kept hidden or swept under the rug. In this week's episode, I will be discussing fairy tales part two. Let's get into it. Okay, so last time we talked about Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Today we're gonna cover three other fairy tales. We're gonna start with Hansel and Gretel. So the story that we know is Hansel and Gretel are abandoned in the woods. They meet a witch living in a candy house who tries to fatten them up so that she can eat them. Gretel tricks the witch, and the siblings are able to escape and find their way home. To be honest, I barely remembered what the story was even about. I just remember there being a house made of food in the woods, and that's it. So, reading the original version was very enlightening. Alright, the Grimm's version. A poor man and his wife are laying in bed at night worried about life and money. The wife suggests we will take the children early in the morning into the forest where it is the thickest. We will make them a fire and we will give each of them a piece of bread. Then we will go on our work and leave them alone. They will never find the way home again, and we shall be quit of them. The man didn't want to do this to his children, but the woman, who was their stepmother, pushed and pushed and said if they didn't get rid of the kids, then they would all die. The kids overheard this conversation because kids hear everything, and Gretel began to cry, fearing their deaths. Hansel told her to pipe it down because he had an idea. He went outside and filled his pockets with white rocks. Morning came and the stepmother woke up the two kids, telling them they were going to go into the forest to chop trees. She gave them each a piece of bread for dinner, which Gretel carried. Hansel's pockets were full of the rocks. On the way to the forest, Hansel was dropping pieces of the white stones from his pockets. After a while, the group stopped and the stepmother told the kids to make a fire. She then told them to lay down and rest a while while she and their father went to chop wood. They would be back for the kids when they were ready. The two kids sat by the fire and at noon decided to eat their bread. A while after that, they got tired and fell asleep. When they woke up, it was night and Gretel became scared that they wouldn't be able to find their way out. Once the moon had risen, the white stones Hansel left lit up and they followed the path until morning, arriving at their father's home. They knocked on the door and their stepmother scolded them for falling asleep, which is kind of a weird argument, seeing as she told them they would get the kids when they were done, but okay. Time moves on and life gets even harder. The stepmother again tells the husband that they have to dump the kids or the adults won't survive. Dad doesn't want to do it, but again is pressured into it. Hansel and Gretel overhear the conversation, and Hansel went to collect the white stones again. This time, however, the door was locked. Why he couldn't just unlock it, let himself out, then lock it again when he returned, I don't know. Come morning, the stepmother woke them up, gave them each a piece of bread. Hansel crumbled up his bread and every now and again would drop a crumb on their way into the woods. They make it deep into the woods where the kids had never been before, and stepmom tells them to build a fire. If they get tired, sleep, and she and dad will be back when they are ready. Noon comes and Gretel shares her bread with Hansel. They fall asleep again, and when they wake up, Hansel said that they can use the moonlight again to show them the breadcrumbs. Well, birds ate the breadcrumbs, so the two just decided to wing it and wander in the direction they thought their home might be. They wandered and slept in the woods for two days, and by noon on the third day they saw a white bird singing a song. They followed the bird and it landed on the roof of a house made of bread with a cake roof and sugar window panes. The two kids were excited to see food and began to eat pieces of the house. Hansel ate part of the roof while Gretel went for a window. They heard a voice from inside the house say, Nibble nibble like a mouse. Who is nibbling at my house? The kids replied that it was just the wind and kept eating. Soon the door to the house opens and an old lady comes out. The kids were scared, and the old woman said that they should come inside. The kids saw a table covered with food and two little beds and were thrilled. Don't you be fooled, though, reader. The old lady was actually a wicked witch, of course, who liked to lure in children, which is why her house was made of sweets. The story goes When they were once inside, she used to kill them, cook them, and eat them. And then it was a feast day with her. The witch's eyes were red, and she could not see very far, but she had a keen scent like the beasts, and knew very well when human creatures were near. When she knew that Hansel and Gretel were coming, she gave a spiteful laugh and said triumphantly, I have them and they shall not escape me. The kids eventually went to sleep on the cots, and before they woke, the witch stared down at them and thought about what a great meal they would make. The witch then grabbed Hansel's hand and led him to a stable where she locked him in a room or an area where Noise couldn't escape. The witch then shook Gretel awake and told her to get water and make something for Hansel to eat so that he would be nice and fat for the witch to eat. Gretel cried but did what she was told and made a great meal for Hansel, and all she had left were crab shells. How are there crabs in the woods? I don't know. Every morning the witch went to the stable and asked Hansel to stick out a finger so she could see how fat he was getting. Instead of sticking out his finger, he stuck out a bone he had found, because he could tell that the witch had poor eyesight and wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You would think she could tell the difference between a naked bone and a flesh-covered finger with a pulse, but here we are. These wizards are nuts. After four weeks of this charade, the witch lost her patience. She told Gretel to get some water ready because she was going to kill and eat Hansel the next day. Be he fat or lean. Then came the fateful day. The witch told Gretel to make a fire, put the kettle on it, and get to the baking. The witch ordered Gretel to climb in the oven to see if it was hot enough, but Gretel was on to her tricks. I don't know how to do it. How shall I get in? she asked. The witch was frustrated and said, The opening is big enough, do you see? I could get in myself. Then stuck her head in the oven. Gretel wasted no time and pushed the witch all the way in and shut and locked the oven door. Gretel ran to the stable to release Hansel and they danced around and celebrated. Now that the witch was dead, the kids wandered around the house and found chests full of pearls and other gems. Hansel filled his pockets and Gretel her apron and they set out into the woods. Where the pearls and gems came from, dunno, maybe the same treasure chest as the crabs. They came upon a river, possibly? Uh where there was no way across. Don't worry though, the kids saw a white duck and thought to ask her to help because duh. The duck came over and took Hansel on her back and to the other side of the water, then came and did the same for Gretel. They wandered the woods and eventually found their way home to their father's house. The story goes Then they ran till they came up to it, rushed in at the door, and fell on their father's neck. The man had not had a quiet hour since he left his children in the woods, but his wife was dead. No details though. Gretel and Hansel both emptied their pockets and apron and showed their father the jewels, and that's it. Okay, takeaways for this story. Um don't make a house with a cake roof. If you abandon your spouse's kids in the woods, you'll die a mysterious death. Also, was the wife the witch? Because that would be interesting. You know, she's trying to get rid of the kids, and this is how she does it. And then the witch and the wife are both dead in the end. It can't not be proven. Um, always lie to your elders. I guess there's not really a good moral to this story. Next up is Rapunzel. The story that we know is: a man and a woman were waiting for the birth of their first child. The couple lived in a house with a garden behind it. The garden belonged to a witch and she would curse anyone that entered it. One day the woman was looking out of her window at the witch's garden and was craving all the fruits and veggies that grew there. The man and woman didn't have any money and were hungry, so the man made the choice to climb over the back wall and into the witch's garden. As he was almost done picking the food he wanted, he heard the witch's voice behind him. The man begged the witch to let him keep the food to feed his pregnant wife. The witch thought this over and offered that the man and woman could eat as much of her garden as they wanted, but only if they gave her their baby. The man was terrified and wanted to get out of there, so he agreed and ran back over the wall and into his home. Not long after, the woman delivered a baby girl and the witch showed up to take the baby. The witch named the baby Rapunzel. Rapunzel grew to be very beautiful and had long golden hair. The witch sequestered Rapunzel to a tower in the woods with no doors or stairs so that no one could take her. Every morning the witch would visit Rapunzel and say, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel would drop her long hair out of the window and the witch would climb up. The witch could be very cruel during her visits, and Rapunzel came to hate her. Alone and sad, Rapunzel would sing out of her window each day. Years later, a prince was wandering the forest and heard Rapunzel singing. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. He followed the singing until he found his way to Rapunzel's tower. He hid behind a bush to listen to her and fell in love. The prince watched as the witch came over and called for Rapunzel's hair. After the witch left, the prince called to Rapunzel and she dropped her hair. The prince climbed her hair, but Rapunzel was scared when he climbed into her window. She had never seen anyone else, let alone a man. The prince was sweet and kind, unlike the witch, and Rapunzel loved hearing his stories about life away from her tower. The prince promised to rescue her. The two hatched a plan, and over the next few weeks, the prince would bring Rapunzel silk on his visits, so that she could knit a rope. One day, however, the witch thought Rapunzel was hiding something and subsequently found the silk rope. The witch was pissed and ended up cutting Rapunzel's hair. She then cast a spell that sent Rapunzel deep into the forest. Later that same day, the prince came and called out for Rapunzel, only to have the witch drop Rapunzel's hair. When he had reached the top, the witch told him that Rapunzel was gone and he would never see her again. She then dropped the hair, and the prince landed in a bush of thorns that scratched his eyes, leaving him blind. The prince wandered the forest, calling Rapunzel's name until one day when he heard Rapunzel singing. They soon found each other, and Rapunzel's tears of joy landed in the prince's eyes and cured his blindness. The prince led them back to his castle and they lived happily ever after. Alright, now for the real story. The husband went into the garden and stole the veggies on two separate occasions. On the second visit, he was caught and told that he could take as much as he wanted, but his future child, they didn't say the woman was pregnant, just that she had wished for a child, would be given to the witch to raise as her own. The man agreed, and when his wife had a daughter, the witch took her and named her Rapunzel, which is the same as Rampion. And Rampion is described as a bell flower whose leaves are eaten like spinach and its root is eaten like radish. When the girl turned twelve, she was put in the tower. Let down your hair, blah, blah, blah. After a few years, the prince shows up and hears her singing, but can't figure out how to get into her tower. He gave up, went home, and couldn't get the song out of his head. He returns to the tower every day just to listen to Rapunzel singing. On one of these stalker sessions, he saw the witch and learned how to gain entry to the tower. The prince tested his luck the next night, and sure enough, Rapunzel let down her hair and he climbed up. The middle section's the same. They fall in love and Rapunzel asked for silk to make a rope. This is where the story splinters a bit. In the first version of Grimm's story, which is inspired by a French tale, which was inspired by an Italian tale, the prince and Rapunzel secretly marry, no details on who married them. And one day months later, Rapunzel asks the witch why her clothes fit so tight around her waist. In the second slightly cleaned-up version, not sure why the pregnancy was a scandal if they were married, Rapunzel asks why it takes the witch so long to climb her hair, when it only takes the prince a few seconds. The story is the same up until the prince goes blind by thorns. Then he wandered the woods for years until he finds himself in the place that Rapunzel has set up a home with their twin children. So if you're canceling out the part where she asks why her dresses fit so tightly, how does she magically have twins? Whatever. Her tears clear his blindness and they're cool. However, the witch wasn't just forgotten about. In some versions of the story, the witch drops Rapunzel's hair when the prince falls from the tower, and then she's trapped in there and ends up dying. This one isn't too far off from the original story. I guess they changed the part about Rapunzel becoming pregnant because they thought that wasn't a concept that a kid could understand. I don't know what we're supposed to take away from the tale, though. Because now if someone just stands around staring at you, singing every day and tries to get into your house, you call the cops. So yeah. Snow White. The story that we know. A king and queen didn't have any children but really wanted one. One day when it was snowing, the queen went into the garden and prayed for a daughter as beautiful as snow and with lips as red as a rose. The queen gets pregnant and gives birth to a daughter that she had prayed for. The queen died during childbirth, and now it's just the king and their daughter Snow White. Eventually the king decides to marry and fell in love with an enchanting woman who soon became queen. Soon after the wedding, the new queen killed the king. Cool. She was actually an evil witch and just wanted her own kingdom. The witch also wanted to be the most beautiful woman in that kingdom. Every day the witch would stand in front of her magical mirror and ask it who was the most beautiful in the land. The mirror said that it was she, and she was happy. The kingdom started to suffer because the queen didn't really care about them, she just wanted power. Snow White was also pretty much ignored until her 16th birthday. On this day, the magic mirror told the witch that it was Snow White that was the most beautiful, not her. And ooh, she was pissed. The witch called one of her guards and told him to take Snow White and kill her. The guard didn't want to do it, but he led Snow White into the woods. He got cold feet and just abandoned her there. Snow White wandered for a while and came upon a small home. The home had seven tiny beds and a table with seven tiny chairs. Suddenly, seven small men walked into the home and demanded that Snow White tell them who she is. She informed them that she was the princess Snow White. The men said that they had seen a royal guard pulling the heart out of a deer and saying that he would tell the queen it was the heart of the princess. Snow White confirmed that yes, the guard had brought her to the woods but couldn't bring himself to kill her and left her in the woods. The men said that she could stay with them. During the day, the men went out to hunt while Snow White took care of the home. Things were going well until the evil witch asked the mirror who was the most beautiful, and it told her that Snow White was, that she was alive, and that the guard had lied to the witch. Pissed once again, the witch disguised herself as an old woman and asked the mirror where Snow White was. She went into the woods and found Snowy at a stream. The witch approached and asked for some water, which Snow White gave her. As a thank you, the witch gave Snowy an apple. She took one bite of the apple, fell over, and died. For you see, the witch had poisoned the apple. The witch skipped happily along home but wasn't paying attention and fell into quicksand and died. On their way home, the seven men saw Snow White laying there dead and were heartbroken. The men saw a black apple with one bite taken out of it and suspected that it was all the queen's doing because, sure. They didn't want to part with Snow White and decided to keep her in a glass box because, again, sure. They set the glass box in their garden and put a red rose on it every day. One day, a prince was riding through the forest and saw the seven men standing around Snow White's glass box and he decided to investigate. The prince looked at Snow White and asked the men what the deal was. They filled him in and he said that he loves her and he wishes he could have met her and then decided to kiss her. Immediately she woke up. The curse of the apple was broken. We never heard it was cursed, and the prince takes Snowy back to her kingdom to face the queen. Once she arrives, she learns that the queen's dead, and she becomes the new queen with her king. The real story. The beginning's the same. The queen wants a daughter and eventually has one and names her Snow White. She dies after the girl is born, and the king waits one year before selecting a new wife. The king falls for the enchanting woman, and the magic mirror tells her that she's the prettiest. That is until Snow White turns seven, which is when the mirror tells the evil queen, Queen, you are full fair. Tis true, but Snow White fairer is than you. She couldn't take this insult and asked one of the huntsmen to kill Snow White in the woods and bring the queen back a token. The man takes Snowy into the woods, but she begs for her life. Oh dear huntsman, do not take my life. I will go away into the wild wood and never come home again. He tells her to run and assumes that an animal will kill her. On his way back to the castle, he kills a wild boar, takes its heart, and delivers it to the queen, who cooks it and eats it. Snowy's in the woods, runs around for a while, finds a tiny house, she goes inside, eats their food, drinks their wine, takes a nap on the seven beds. The story is similar to Goldilocks at this part. It goes like this. After that, she felt so tired that she lay down on one of the beds, but it did not seem to suit her. One was too long, another too short. But at last the seventh was quite right. And so she lay down upon it, committed herself to heaven, and fell asleep. Hours pass, and eventually the seven inhabitants of the home return from their job of, quote, digging underground among mountains, so miners, uh, and they notice that food's missing and wine has been drunk and silverware is used and beds have been slept in, and then they find Snow White asleep on one of the beds and choose to let her sleep. The men whose bed Snow White was in, quote, slept with his comrades an hour at a time with each until the night had passed, which sounds awful. In the morning, Snow White and the men exchange stories, and it's decided that she will stay with them and keep their house. The men warned her that when they are away at the mines, quote, beware of your stepmother. She will soon know you are here. Let no one into the house. Later on, the queen asked the mirror who is the most beautiful, expecting the answer to be her, since she ate the heart of her enemy. Wasn't she surprised when the mirror said, Queen, thou art of beauty rare, but Snow White living in the glen with the seven little men is a thousand times more fair. The queen dresses herself up to look like a haggard, and found her way to Snow White. The meeting goes like this. She knocked at the door and cried, Find wares to sell, find wares to sell. Snow White peeped out the window and cried, Good day, good woman. What have you to sell? Good wares, find wares, answered she. Laces of all colours. And she held up a piece that was woven in variegated silk. I need not be afraid of letting in this good woman, thought Snow White. And she unbarred the door and bought the pretty lace. What a figure you are, child, said the woman. Come and let me lace you properly for once. Snow White, suspecting nothing, stood up before her and let her lace her with her new lace. But the old woman laced so quick and tight that it took Snow White's breath away, and she fell down as dead. Now you have done with being the fairest, said the old woman, as she hastened away. When the seven men came home, they found Snow White on the floor, tightly laced up and dead. They cut the laces and she began to breathe and came back to life. She told them what had happened, and they said that the woman must have been the evil queen and to not let anyone in when they are gone. At the end of the day, the queen asked the mirror who was the most beautiful and got the same response as before, that it was Snow White. She was furious and now needed a better plan than strangulation, a poisoned comb. She dresses herself up, goes to the house, Snow White lets her in, and she puts the poison comb into Snowy's hair. She passes out, and the queen skips off home. The seven men return and copy and paste the conversation from the previous day. Same goes for the witch in the mirror. This whole scenario repeats for a second time with the poisoned apple. Snow White takes a bite of the poisoned apple and falls down dead. Finally, when the queen returns home and asks the mirror who is the fairest, she gets the answers she wants, that she is. The seven men found Snow White dead, and despite cutting her laces and washing her hair, she wouldn't come back to life. They set her up in a wooden frame and mourned her for three days. They thought it was strange though that she wasn't decaying at all, and they didn't want to put her beautiful self into the nasty dirt. Enter the glass box. They write her name and title of princess in gold on the box and set it up on a mountain. One of the men was always sitting with Snow White in her glass box. She still wasn't decaying and just looked like she was sleeping. One day a prince came along and saw the glass coffin. He begged the seven men to part with her and had his servants carry the coffin to his home. On their way, they had tripped over a bush, and this impact launched the poison apple out of Snow White's throat, and she became alive again. They agree to get married, and Snowy's stepmother is invited to the wedding, I guess because of protocol. She goes to her mirror dressed in her finest and asks, Who is the fairest? The mirror tells her, Oh queen, although you are of beauty rare, the young bride is a thousand times more fair. And I'm gonna read the last paragraph word for word because it confuses me. Then she railed and cursed and was beside herself with disappointment and anger. First she thought she would not go to the wedding, but then she felt she should have no peace until she went and saw the bride. And when she saw her, she knew her for Snow White, and could not stir from the place for anger and terror. For they had ready red hot iron shoes in which she had to dance until she fell down dead. Is it horribly different than the story we know? No. But I feel like the one we know is weirder because the prince sees her in her coffin and decides to kiss a dead body. In the real story, it makes sense that the prince sees the inscription on the coffin saying she's a princess and wants to return her home almost as like a sign of respect or honor. Uh second, the evil queen starts her rage when Snow White is seven years old, not that blessed 16 that Disney loves to use. Seven's intense. She could have just kept the girl hidden away, uh, so that people in the kingdom only knew the queen to be the most beautiful. I don't know. I also don't understand the ending of the real story. So did Snow White and the Prince have those red-hot shoes ready for when the queen showed up? Because that seems a little out of character from what little we know. Also, what about the seven men that let Snow White live with them? Like what happened to them? Are they in the woods? Were they invited to the wedding? Did the prince and Snow White help them out in any way? Uh, anyway, let me know your thoughts. Let me know if you want me to do any other fairy tales or if you're already sick of it, and come back next time to see what else has been hidden.