I mean German fairy tales try to maximize Schadenfreude. Bad things happen to bad people - which is fun. Sure, the “bad things” are horrific but children don’t mind that usually.
I definitely remember reading a bunch of gruesome children stories as a child (and they were great)! Struwwelpeter and Max und Moritz are two funny children books with a couple of deaths.
In Romania we have a story about a goat with 3 kids written by a famous author.Source.
Shortened version: She leaves the kids at home and tells them not to open to door for anyone. Wolf comes, the 2 older kids open the door cause they’re idiots, small one hides. Older kids get eaten and the wolf leaves their heads by the window.
Mom comes home, young kid tells her what happened and she decides to invite the wolf to a meal. There’s a big hole where she puts hot coals or something and covers it with a bunch of twigs or something and places the table on top.
Wolf comes, eats and eventually falls in the hole once the hot coals weaken the twigs enough. Goat and kid throw some stuff on the fire to weaken it and then kill the wolf by throwing big rocks at him since he can’t escape the hole.
We have a sinilar goat story except the wolf falls asleep after eating the goats and the mother literally cuts him open and fills his stomach with stones. The wolf then wakes up thirsty and goes for a sip from the well but because he has a stomach full of rocks he falls in and drowns.
Alright I just checked the Grimm versions. The goats do as I said and the wolf drowns in a pond.
Red riding hood actually has 2 wolves in the Grimm version. The first one the huntsman slices open and they fill him with rocks. When he wakes up he tries to escape but collapses to the ground dead.
The second wolf happens later and grandma and hood figure out that after trying to eat red riding hood he hid on the roof to get her when she leaves. They fill up a big container (trough I think) with water from yesterday’s sausages (no joking). The smell makes the wolf extend too far off the roof and fall into the trough, drowning in the process.
I mean German fairy tales try to maximize Schadenfreude. Bad things happen to bad people - which is fun. Sure, the “bad things” are horrific but children don’t mind that usually.
I definitely remember reading a bunch of gruesome children stories as a child (and they were great)! Struwwelpeter and Max und Moritz are two funny children books with a couple of deaths.
In Romania we have a story about a goat with 3 kids written by a famous author.Source.
Shortened version: She leaves the kids at home and tells them not to open to door for anyone. Wolf comes, the 2 older kids open the door cause they’re idiots, small one hides. Older kids get eaten and the wolf leaves their heads by the window.
Mom comes home, young kid tells her what happened and she decides to invite the wolf to a meal. There’s a big hole where she puts hot coals or something and covers it with a bunch of twigs or something and places the table on top.
Wolf comes, eats and eventually falls in the hole once the hot coals weaken the twigs enough. Goat and kid throw some stuff on the fire to weaken it and then kill the wolf by throwing big rocks at him since he can’t escape the hole.
We have a sinilar goat story except the wolf falls asleep after eating the goats and the mother literally cuts him open and fills his stomach with stones. The wolf then wakes up thirsty and goes for a sip from the well but because he has a stomach full of rocks he falls in and drowns.
Huh, interesting. That’s what the huntsman does to the wolf in little red riding hood, actually. Or well, in the version I’ve heard when I was a kid.
Alright I just checked the Grimm versions. The goats do as I said and the wolf drowns in a pond.
Red riding hood actually has 2 wolves in the Grimm version. The first one the huntsman slices open and they fill him with rocks. When he wakes up he tries to escape but collapses to the ground dead.
The second wolf happens later and grandma and hood figure out that after trying to eat red riding hood he hid on the roof to get her when she leaves. They fill up a big container (trough I think) with water from yesterday’s sausages (no joking). The smell makes the wolf extend too far off the roof and fall into the trough, drowning in the process.
Haha, that’s cool. Thanks for sharing<3
I’ll have to check what happens in the one I have
Yeah, that’s also the story I remember from my childhood in Austria
It’s not Schadenfreude, it’s more education by fear. Make children be afraid of not following the rules.
Maybe in the Grimm’s versions, but I think it doesn’t really apply to the older folk tales they were based on…