Ever since I was young, I’ve loved all of the Disney princesses and their stories. I watched each movie over and over again, and sometimes, I still watch them. But most people don’t know that most of the older Disney princess movies (and Disney original fairytales) are based on actual stories from old European folktales. These stories are much more grim than what Disney makes them out to be. So far, I’ve only read three of them. If you ever get a chance, check out the original stories and see how they compare to the Disney movies!
The Little Mermaid
In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Ariel is able to win the heart of Prince Eric at the end of the movie, defeating Ursula, getting her voice back, and marrying Eric on a boat surrounded by her aquatic friends and family. However, in the original stoy written by Hans Christian Andersen, Ariel doesn’t get the same happy ending. When Ariel went from being a mermaid to being a human, she suffered through lots of pain and her prince falls in love and marries someone else instead. The Sea Witch offers her another deal, telling Ariel that if she kills the prince, she’ll turn back into a mermaid and be able to live. Ariel chooses to sacrifice herself, throwing herself into the sea and becoming sea foam. Tragic, right?
Mulan
In the Disney version, Mulan is seen as a heroic female warrior that fought in the place of her father by pretending to be a man. The tale follows a poem called The Ballad of Mulan. In the poem, Mulan does take her father’s place in the army and meets the king’s daughter, who’s also a warrior. When the king is defeated, Mulan and the king’s daughter offer to be put to death in his place but they’re eventually spared. When Mulan returns home, she finds that her father died and her mom remarried. When it’s revealed that she’s actually a woman, she’s ordered to become a concubine but she commits suicide rather than submit to that fate.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
We all know Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the fairytale of a young girl running away from her evil stepmother and living with seven dwarves. At the end, the prince awakens Snow White with a kiss and takes her to his castle. In the Brothers Grimm collection, the evil queen attensd the subsequent wedding where the prince recognizes her. He makes her dance until she drops, literally, in a pair of red-hot iron slippers.
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