One of my favorite fairy tales, and probably among one of the darkest, and most gruesome is the Grimm brothers' tale, The Juniper Tree. Of all the wicked stepmothers in fairy tales, this one is by far not only wicked and evil, she is truly mad, and appears possessed by the "Evil One." Driven by greed, she wants to make sure that her daughter inherits everything.
In this tale, the biological mother dies from happiness after giving birth to a son. Upon seeing her child who was as white as snow, and as red as blood just as she wished, she died of happiness. Her grieving husband buried her under the juniper tree in the front courtyard. It was under this tree that she wished for a child who was as white as the snow and as red as blood.
The husband took another wife and they had a daughter. Of course the stepmother loved their daughter, and of course she hated the stepson. He would always stand in the way of her daughter getting the entire inheritance. Like I previously stated, there have been some really evil, wicked stepmothers in the Grimm brothers' fairytales, but this one goes beyond the horrors of hard labor, starvation, and abandonment. The story seems to imply some demonic possession as well. She was prompted by the "Evil One" to offer the boy an apple out of the chest, and again prompted to slam down the chest lid when he reached in for an apple. She decapitated the boy, and as if that wasn't enough, in an attempt to cover her crime, she tied his head back on to his neck with a scarf and sat him in a chair with an apple in his hand.
Here's where it really starts to get mad. The mother then tells her daughter to get the apple from her brother, and if he doesn't give it to her, she should box him in the ears. The daughter does as she is told and as planned the boy's head falls off onto the floor. Not only is the stepmother responsible for decapitating her stepson, she allows her daughter, the one she loves, to believe that she is responsible.
More horrors to come - she dismembered the boy's body and made a stew out of him. What's worse is that she fed the stew to the father, and the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat. He ate the stew with fury, and threw the bones under the table until he finished everything. The daughter wrapped the discarded bones in a silk scarf and buried them under the juniper tree.
This tale is an example of how the Grimm brothers, even after becoming aware that children were their primary audience, continued to write in graphic detail the violent description of a tormented, decapitated, and dismembered little boy made into a stew by his wicked stepmother, and then fed to his father.
I told you the guts of the story; however, there's more to it, and the ending is great. So readers, if you want to know the ending of this fantastic fairy tale, click on the link in the first paragraph and it will take you to the full story. As an added bonus, check out an animated Juniper Tree video posted on YouTube.
In this tale, the biological mother dies from happiness after giving birth to a son. Upon seeing her child who was as white as snow, and as red as blood just as she wished, she died of happiness. Her grieving husband buried her under the juniper tree in the front courtyard. It was under this tree that she wished for a child who was as white as the snow and as red as blood.
The husband took another wife and they had a daughter. Of course the stepmother loved their daughter, and of course she hated the stepson. He would always stand in the way of her daughter getting the entire inheritance. Like I previously stated, there have been some really evil, wicked stepmothers in the Grimm brothers' fairytales, but this one goes beyond the horrors of hard labor, starvation, and abandonment. The story seems to imply some demonic possession as well. She was prompted by the "Evil One" to offer the boy an apple out of the chest, and again prompted to slam down the chest lid when he reached in for an apple. She decapitated the boy, and as if that wasn't enough, in an attempt to cover her crime, she tied his head back on to his neck with a scarf and sat him in a chair with an apple in his hand.
Here's where it really starts to get mad. The mother then tells her daughter to get the apple from her brother, and if he doesn't give it to her, she should box him in the ears. The daughter does as she is told and as planned the boy's head falls off onto the floor. Not only is the stepmother responsible for decapitating her stepson, she allows her daughter, the one she loves, to believe that she is responsible.
More horrors to come - she dismembered the boy's body and made a stew out of him. What's worse is that she fed the stew to the father, and the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat. He ate the stew with fury, and threw the bones under the table until he finished everything. The daughter wrapped the discarded bones in a silk scarf and buried them under the juniper tree.
This tale is an example of how the Grimm brothers, even after becoming aware that children were their primary audience, continued to write in graphic detail the violent description of a tormented, decapitated, and dismembered little boy made into a stew by his wicked stepmother, and then fed to his father.
I told you the guts of the story; however, there's more to it, and the ending is great. So readers, if you want to know the ending of this fantastic fairy tale, click on the link in the first paragraph and it will take you to the full story. As an added bonus, check out an animated Juniper Tree video posted on YouTube.
Sources:
Ashliman, D.L. (2009, July 4). the grimm brothers' home page.
Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm047.html
Tatar, M. M. (2002). The Annotated classic fairy tales. Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Wood, P. (2007). The Junper tree. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LHmrS9n1vc
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