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Contrary to the enchanting, Disney-like fairy tales we often picture, the earliest collected folk tales were packed with strange, marvelous, and tragic elements. Frequently grim and unsettling, this collection revisits 10 eerie fairy tales your parents likely never shared with you.
10. The Tale of The Goose Girl
Kicking off this list of Grimm Brothers' stories, a queen sends her daughter off to wed. As a protective measure, she creates a charm using her own blood to safeguard her daughter, who is accompanied by a maid and a talking horse named Falada.
Shortly after, the princess grew thirsty and requested her maid to bring her water from a nearby river. To her astonishment, the maid declined, stating, 'If you’re thirsty, fetch it yourself. I’m not your servant.' As the princess bent over the river to drink, the charm her mother had given her slipped from her dress and was carried away by the water. Realizing the princess was now vulnerable, the maid coerced her into exchanging clothes and horses and made her swear an unbreakable vow to never reveal her true identity. Had the princess refused, the maid threatened to kill her and abandon her body in the dense forest.
Upon reaching the neighboring kingdom, the maid posed as the princess and wed the king’s son, while the true princess was compelled to work as a goose herder. Determined to hide her deceit, the imposter ordered Falada’s execution. Heartbroken over losing her final companion, the real princess bribed the butcher to mount Falada’s head above the city gate, allowing her to converse with it daily.
One day, a boy attempted to pull a golden hair from the princess’s head, but she summoned a fierce wind to blow his hat away. Frustrated, the boy reported the peculiar girl who spoke to horse skulls and commanded the wind to the king. Intrigued, the king urged the princess to share her story, but she explained she was bound by her oath. The king, growing more curious, suggested she confide in the stove, while he secretly listened outside and uncovered the truth. He then arranged for his son to marry the real princess and punished the imposter by having her thrown into a spiked barrel and dragged through the city until she perished.
9. Hans My Hedgehog
This tale by the Grimm Brothers recounts the story of a man mocked by his village because his wife couldn’t conceive. In despair, the man prayed to God, declaring he would be happy even with a hedgehog child. His prayer was answered—his wife gave birth to a half-hedgehog, half-human child named Hans.
Shocked by their unusual child (with a hedgehog’s upper body and a human’s lower half), the parents hid him behind the stove for eight years. Surprisingly, Hans survived and eventually asked his father to fit a rooster with shoes so he could ride it into the forest. There, he herded sheep and played bagpipes from the treetops.
One day, a lost king stumbled upon Hans in the woods and asked for directions home. Hans agreed to help but demanded a written promise that the king would give him the first thing to greet him upon his return. However, the king, aware of Hans’s illiteracy, tricked him by writing an order for his guards to attack any hedgehog boy riding a rooster who entered the kingdom.
Later, another king got lost in the same woods and made a genuine promise to Hans, offering the first thing he saw upon his return—his own daughter. Hans then traveled to the first kingdom, evaded the guards’ attacks, and used his quills to harm the deceitful king’s daughter. Afterward, he returned to the second kingdom, married the princess, and on their wedding night, shed his hedgehog skin, instructing the guards to burn it, transforming into a human boy.
8. The Maiden Without Hands
In this grim story, a miller was cutting trees in the forest when he encountered an elderly man. Noticing the miller’s sorrowful expression, the old man chuckled and offered him immense wealth in exchange for whatever stood behind his mill. Assuming it was just an old apple tree, the miller agreed, and the old man promised to return in three years. However, upon arriving home, the miller discovered his daughter standing beneath the tree.
When the old man—revealed to be a devil—returned, the miller’s daughter cleansed herself and stood within a chalk circle, rendering herself too pure for the devil to seize. Enraged, he ordered her father to deny her water to prevent her from washing. Yet, her tears cleansed her, maintaining her purity. The devil then commanded the miller to sever his daughter’s hands with an axe, but her tears purified her wounds, forcing the devil to admit defeat.
Unsurprisingly, the girl chose to leave home after this ordeal. Wandering deep into the night, she was overcome with hunger. Eventually, she reached a royal garden filled with ripe pears and apples, protected by an impassable moat. After praying, an angel appeared, drained the moat, and allowed her to cross and eat a single pear. The next day, the gardener reported seeing a handless spirit who had crossed the moat and taken a pear. Curious, the king hid in the garden and witnessed the girl repeat her actions the following night. Captivated, the king married her and crafted her a pair of exquisite silver hands.
Still enraged at being thwarted, the devil sought revenge. When the king left for war, the devil intercepted his letters and forged one ordering the queen and their child to be killed. Unable to harm them, the king’s mother helped them escape and sent the king a deer’s tongue and eyes as false proof. Devastated upon discovering the truth, the king vowed not to eat or drink until he found his family. After seven years of searching, he found his wife and child in a cottage near the castle, her hands miraculously restored.
7. The Tale of The Three Snake Leaves
In this Grimm Brothers story, a mighty king had a daughter described as “exceptionally beautiful yet peculiar.” Despite numerous suitors, she refused to marry anyone unwilling to be buried alive with her if she died first, arguing, “If he truly loves me, what purpose would life hold for him afterward?”
Meanwhile, a young peasant left home to seek fortune as a soldier. During a battle, most of his comrades perished, but he rallied the survivors and led them to triumph. Rewarded for his valor, the king bestowed upon him great treasures and knighted him. While visiting the castle, the boy fell for the princess and accepted her unusual marriage terms. They lived happily until the princess fell ill and passed away. Bound by his promise, the boy was sealed in her tomb by the king’s guards.
Inside the tomb, he noticed a snake entering through a crack and killed it to safeguard his wife’s body. Before he could act further, a second snake appeared carrying three leaves, which it used to revive the first snake. Both snakes vanished, leaving the leaves behind. The boy used them to resurrect the princess, and together they escaped the tomb and sailed back to the castle.
However, the leaves had altered the princess’s nature, making her cruel. She fell for the ship’s captain, and together they conspired to drown the boy at sea to clear the way for their marriage. A loyal servant witnessed the act, rescued the boy, and rowed him to safety. Miraculously, they returned to the kingdom before the others and revealed the entire plot to the king. When the princess and captain arrived, the king condemned them to death by setting them adrift in a ship riddled with holes.
6. The Tale of Fitcher’s Bird
Long ago, a peculiar beggar roamed the land, abducting young girls. Arriving at the home of three sisters, he convinced the eldest to let him inside. The moment he touched her, she was compelled to leap into his bag. He took her to his golden house, promising her every luxury if she agreed to stay and marry him.
If that wasn’t unsettling enough, he then declared he had to leave briefly, handing her an egg to safeguard and forbidding her from entering a specific room under threat of death. Once he left, curiosity overwhelmed her, and she entered the forbidden room. Inside, she discovered a basin filled with blood and the dismembered bodies of young girls, with an axe and chopping block ominously placed nearby.
Terrified, the girl dropped the egg, staining it with blood that couldn’t be removed despite her efforts. When the beggar returned and saw the bloodied egg, he dragged her into the forbidden room and dismembered her. He then went back to the house and abducted the second sister, who met the same gruesome end. Finally, he returned for the youngest sister.
This time, however, the beggar encountered his match. Suspicious, the youngest sister hid the egg before venturing into the forbidden room. Finding her sisters’ mutilated bodies, she reassembled them, bringing them back to life. When the beggar returned and saw the egg untainted, he declared she had passed his test and would become his bride. As a wedding gift, she asked him to deliver a basket of gold to her father, but secretly hid her sisters inside. She then placed a skull in the window to mimic her presence and covered herself in honey and feathers, disguising herself as a bird in the trees. When the beggar and his companions arrived for the wedding, the girls’ brothers locked them inside the house and set it ablaze.
5. The Tale of The Singing Bone
In this Grimm tale, a massive boar wreaked havoc on a struggling kingdom, destroying crops and killing peasants. Desperate, the king promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who could slay the beast.
Two brothers stepped forward, one driven by pride and the other by compassion. To increase their odds of locating the monstrous boar, they entered the forest from opposite ends. Deep in the woods, the younger brother met a dwarf who, sensing the boy’s pure heart, gifted him a magical spear capable of slaying the beast. True to its power, the spear pierced the boar’s heart, killing it instantly.
As the boy carried the boar’s carcass toward the castle, he encountered his older brother at a tavern. Seeing his sibling’s success, the older brother offered him wine to celebrate. Once the younger brother was drunk, the older brother killed him and buried him beneath a bridge, then presented the boar to the king, claiming the princess as his prize. He lied, saying his brother had been devoured by the beast.
The murderer and his new bride lived contentedly for years. One day, a wandering shepherd found a weathered bone and fashioned it into a horn’s mouthpiece. Unbeknownst to him, the bone belonged to the murdered brother, and when blown, the horn sang a haunting song of betrayal. The shepherd brought the eerie instrument to the king, who ordered the bridge excavated, uncovering the younger brother’s body. As punishment, the older brother was sewn into a sack and drowned in the sea.
4. The Tale of Mother Holle
This story revolves around a widow and her two daughters. Her biological daughter was unattractive and idle, while her stepdaughter was lovely and hardworking. Resentful of her stepdaughter’s virtues, the widow forced her to spin cloth by a well until her fingers bled.
One day, the stepdaughter accidentally dropped her spindle into the well. Without hesitation, she leapt into the well to retrieve it. Instead of drowning, she found herself in a radiant meadow. As she explored, she encountered a baker’s oven pleading for its bread to be saved from burning and an apple tree begging her to harvest its ripest fruit.
Eventually, she reached the home of Mother Holle, an elderly and unattractive woman, who requested her help in cleaning the cottage. The girl diligently completed every task and was rewarded by being showered in gold, given her spindle back, and sent home.
Envious of her stepdaughter’s newfound fortune, the widow sent her own daughter down the well. However, the lazy girl ignored the pleas of the oven and the apple tree. Her half-hearted efforts displeased Mother Holle, who sent her away covered in sticky pitch instead of gold, a punishment that lasted a lifetime.
3. The Tale of The Mouse, The Bird, And The Sausage
In this peculiar tale, a mouse, a bird, and a sausage shared a quaint cottage in the woods. Each had a distinct role—the bird gathered firewood, the mouse fetched water and lit the fire, and the sausage prepared meals. Together, they lived a harmonious, albeit unusual, life.
One day, while gathering wood, the bird encountered an old friend who mocked the bird for toiling while the mouse and sausage stayed home. The friend claimed the mouse merely lit the fire and the sausage only sat by the stove. Convinced, the bird refused to work the next day, declaring he wouldn’t be their servant and that they could gather their own wood.
Surprised but willing, the mouse and sausage swapped roles, with the sausage venturing into the forest. However, the sausage didn’t return, and the bird went searching for him. He found a dog carrying the sausage, who refused to release him, accusing the sausage of forgery and killing him. Returning home, the bird discovered the mouse had accidentally boiled itself while cooking. In a fit of rage, the bird scattered the wood, setting the house ablaze. While trying to extinguish the fire, the bird fell into a well and drowned. The End.
2. The Tale of The Three Army Surgeons
Once, three boastful army surgeons, convinced of their unmatched skills, traveled the world to flaunt their talents. They arrived at an inn in a remote forest, where the skeptical innkeeper challenged them to prove their abilities. Confidently, the first surgeon severed his hand, vowing to reattach it by morning; the second did the same with his heart, and the third removed his own eyes.
Their confidence stemmed from a secret magical ointment that could reattach body parts. Impressed, the innkeeper entrusted the hand, heart, and eyes to a maid, instructing her to guard them overnight. However, the maid’s secret lover, a soldier, visited that night, and their distraction allowed a cat to sneak in and devour the severed parts.
Upon discovering the loss, the soldier vowed to replace the parts. He cut the hand from a hanged thief, took the heart from a slaughtered pig, and plucked the eyes from the cat.
The next day, the surgeons reattached their parts using the ointment. However, as they journeyed on, the first surgeon felt compelled to steal, the second rolled in mud uncontrollably, and the third saw mice in the dark. Realizing something was amiss, they returned to the inn, demanding their original parts. The maid and soldier had fled, leaving no trace. In frustration, the surgeons extorted all the innkeeper’s money, threatening to burn his inn otherwise.
1. The Tale of The Enchanted Tsarevich
In this Russian folktale, a humble merchant left his three daughters for a business trip, promising each a unique gift. The older daughters requested coats, while the youngest drew a picture of a flower. The merchant found the coats easily but struggled to locate a flower matching the drawing until he stumbled upon a castle overgrown with such flowers near his home.
As the merchant picked the flower, a three-headed serpent appeared, demanding the merchant’s youngest daughter as his bride in exchange for mercy. The youngest daughter, upon greeting her father, willingly went to the serpent’s castle. By day, the castle was empty, but each night the serpent returned, gradually demanding she move her bed closer to his until she slept beside him, only to vanish again at dawn.
The serpent grew to love the girl and, seeing her longing for her family, allowed her to visit them, provided she returned by evening. However, her jealous sisters tricked her into staying longer by pretending to cry with onion juice. When she finally returned, she found the serpent transformed into a lifeless prince, dead from heartbreak.
