In 1697, a French author named Charles Perrault published a classic book titled Tales of Times Passed. In our time the book is better known under its later name "Mother Goose Tales". It contains eight tales of which seven has become classics for children and it's likely that you know most of these "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" - "Little Red Riding Hood" - "Blue Beard" - "The Master Cat or Puss in Boots" - "Diamonds and Toads" and Cinderella.
Charles Perrault was not the original author of any of these stories. They were rewritten editions of stories going back through history and had been passed from mouth to mouth, and these stories were actually very cruel in their original form. Charles Perrault just cleaned them up and let everybody live happily ever after in them. The earliest known written version of Sleeping Beauty was actually published 61 years earlier by an Italian named Giambattista Basile.
Here is how the story was originally told:
A great king was forewarned by some wise (old?) men that his newborn daughter named Talia was in great danger. It seems that a poison splinter was in the palace's flax, and it would destroy her. The king immediately ordered a ban on flax inside the palace walls.
But, as all great fairy tales go, Talia somehow encountered a flax-spinning wheel and got that nasty splinter in her finger. What happened? Talia dropped dead. As a result, King Dad placed his daughter's body on a velvet cloth, locked the palace gates, and left the forrest forever and ever.
Enter the great nobleman, who turned out not to be so noble. While hunting in the woods one day, he just happened to stumble on the abandoned palace and Talia's dead body. One would think he kissed her at this point, but no such thing happened. Instead, he raped her.
He planted the noble seed and nine months later Talia gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Their names were Sun and Moon (which is the boy and which is the girl?) and the fairies took care of them. One day, the boy was sucking on mom's finger and sucked out the poisonous flax splinter. Talia awoke from her death bed.
Many months go by and the horny young nobleman returns to the woods to have another encounter with the princess. To his surprise, he found her alive and well. He confesses that he is the father of her children and they enjoy a hot weekend fling in the hay
The nobleman then returns home to his wife. Somehow she learns about his illegitimate children. The wife orders the capture of the children. Her cook is then told to slash their young throats and to cook a hash with their flesh. At dinner that night, the wife gleefully watches her husband eat his meal. When he has finished, she announces "You are eating what is your own!".
We can be sure that the nobleman did not feel too well at that moment. But then, he did rape a dead woman, so he deserves a little suffering. But all fairy tales must have a happy ending, so check out this one:
It turns out that the cook had a soft heart and never slaughtered the children. Instead, goat meat was substituted. The enraged wife ordered the capture of Talia and that she be burned at the stake. But she was saved from death by her rapist and they lived happily ever after.
No comments:
Post a Comment