fairy tales

14 Stories

JK Rowling's Idea for Kids in Lockdown Starts Today

She'll be releasing 'The Ickabog,' a 'political fairy tale,' in 34 free installments ahead of print edition

(Newser) - JK Rowling is set to release her first children's book unrelated to the Harry Potter series—and this time it's free. The Ickabog, a fairy tale "about truth and the abuse of power" in an imaginary land, written "in fits and starts" between the Harry Potter...

18th-Century Gravestone Could Belong to 'Snow White'

It's now on display in Germany

(Newser) - Choose what's more surprising: that an 18th-century woman may have inspired the tale of Snow White, or that she actually got her own gravestone—a rarity for women of that era—and it's now on display. ABC News has the story of Maria Sophia von Erthal, a German...

NRA Arms Hansel and Gretel in Firearm Fairy Tale

Gun-control advocates call the series 'disgusting'

(Newser) - First the NRA repurposed Little Red Riding Hood ; now it's reloading Hansel and Gretel . The gun lobby group's fairy tales-with-firearms series, penned by Amelia Hamilton and appearing on the NRA Family site , aims to place traditional tales in a new "utopia filled with empowered and unharmed children,...

Study on Fairy Tales Proves Brothers Grimm Right

They're much older than thought

(Newser) - Many traditional fairy tales, long thought to be a somewhat recent invention, have actually been around for thousands of years, according to a new study . "Versions of Beauty and the Beast, Rumplestiltskin, and Jack and the Beanstalk have probably been around since before the existence of many modern European...

Grimms' Original Fairy Tales Were the Stuff of Nightmares

In new translation of Grimm tales, Snow White's own mom wants to kill her

(Newser) - Forget an evil stepmother: The woman jealous of 7-year-old Snow White's beauty was her biological mother, and she flat out wanted her kid dead. At least that's how the Brothers Grimm tell it in the first edition of their fairy tales; that December 1812 version has just been...

How a Computer Solved the Mystery of Red Riding Hood's Origin

Study suggests the tale is as European as Schnitzel after all

(Newser) - You probably know that the Brothers Grimm wrote "Little Red Riding Hood," or at least, were the ones who made the version of the tale you're familiar with famous. But the folktale's origins actually stretch into the distant and murky past, before the Grimm boys were...

The Strange Tale of the Brothers Grimm
 The Strange Tale 
 of the Brothers Grimm 
200th Anniversary
Dec 20, 2012 9:28 AM CST

The Strange Tale of the Brothers Grimm

200th anniversary of famous book has people looking at odd brothers

(Newser) - Today is the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Grimm's Fairy Tales—but while most people know many of those European folk tales, far fewer know about the odd German brothers, Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm, who compiled them. The brothers were born into wealth,...

Doctors' Required Reading: Fairy Tales

The Brothers Grimm have some insights to share

(Newser) - Doctors can memorize stack upon stack of clinical textbooks, but they should keep at least a few fairy tales on hand. Valerie Gribben—a medical student and author of The Fairytale Trilogy—says that in her work, she draws just as much from the Brothers Grimm as she does Gray'...

Red Riding Hood Reviews: Catherine Hardwicke's Movie Looks Nice but Lacks Depth

 Red Riding Hood 
 Doesn't Venture Too Deep 
movie Review Roundup
Mar 11, 2011 12:25 PM CST

Red Riding Hood Doesn't Venture Too Deep

Amanda Seyfried stars in Catherine Hardwicke's retelling

(Newser) - Catherine Hardwicke’s take on Red Riding Hood, the classic story doused in teen angst and good looks, is certainly riding the zeitgeist—but it never really enters the woods, critics say:
  • The film is “gorgeously shot, smartly conceived, cleverly cast, badly executed—the lush medieval beauty here is
...

Why Palin Is Smart to Read CS Lewis
Why Palin Is Smart
to Read CS Lewis
OPINION
Dec 21, 2010 11:57 AM CST

Why Palin Is Smart to Read CS Lewis

Essay: 'Narnia' author wrote his fairy tales for all ages to 'convey truth'

(Newser) - Sarah Palin took some ribbing from View host Joy Behar for saying (more than once) that CS Lewis is among her favorite authors. "Aren't they children's books?" Behar asked in derision. And with that question, Behar becomes like a character in one of Lewis' books—"the type of...

Disney Grumpy About 'Ho White' Ads

Aussie ale company rewrites fairy tale

(Newser) - Once upon a time an Aussie ale company ad turned Snow White into "Ho White," and made Disney officials as angry as wicked witches. The not-so-virginal disheveled beauty blows smoke rings in bed with her little naked buddies including Filthy, Smarmy and Randy in the controversial ad for...

Rowling Gives Us More Magic
 Rowling Gives Us More Magic 
book review
Dec 4, 2008 7:45 PM CST

Rowling Gives Us More Magic

(Newser) - Harry Potter's saga may be done, but author JK Rowling's new book proves she's still a master storyteller. Her "charming" Tales of Beedle the Bard reveals anew that Rowling is a "genius with words, blessed with wisdom, a sly wit and an effortless prose style," writes Deirdre...

Rats Plague Pied Piper City
 Rats Plague Pied Piper City 
Nov 20, 2008 1:52 AM CST

Rats Plague Pied Piper City

Infestation threatens to spoil anniversary

(Newser) - The 725th anniversary of the Pied Piper's legendary removal of rats from the German town of Hamelin could be spoiled by—wait for it—rats. The rodents have infested an empty lot the size of a soccer field close to the picturesque medieval town. Rather than hire another piper, authorities...

Hacker Adds Bestiality to Fairy Tale

Dial-in story line's pig-on-dog action surprises Calif. mom

(Newser) - A miscreant hacked into a California library's phone "story line" and recorded an obscenity-laced tale about sex between a pig and a dog. The mother of a 6-year-old quickly realized something was wrong and notified the library, reports the Conta Costa Times.

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