Beautifully told Fairy tales with a modern twist, kept nice and short which makes them good for bedtime stories. Hansel telling Gretel that he’s a stupid idiot for leaving a trail of crumbs (pretty much what today’s siblings would sprout on occassion) and Getteppo that were horrified that Pinnoccio became “real” as he dislikes kids intensly.
Author/Editor/Fracturer: AJ Jacobs (some of his other books are highly entertaining as well - he wrote “My year of living biblically”)
The orignal ones indeed. Somehow the PC brigade got hold of them and made them more “palatable”. They forget that kids are vicious little critters.
Same brigade banned Noddy at some stage. Go figure.
I was lucky to be brought up with the original stories. The German version of Cinderella has the step-mother chop off bits of her daughter’s feet to get them in the shoe and then the Prince has the girls executed when he spots the fraud. Prince Charming? I think not!
They certainly are. My favourite book when I was a tyke was Strewwelpeter–I loved the gruesome pictures of Johnny Suck-a-thumb after the giant tailor had cut off his thumbs with a pair of scissors, or Harriet doing a Joan of Arc impersonation after playing with matches.
If I recall correctly, that was because Gollywog wasn’t deemed politically correct.
Yes, I read the translation. Ashputtle. Quite gory.
Yeeesss… Because two “men” (or dolls) sharing a bed us EVIL and kiddies should not be exposed to such influences. Snort! I’m pretty sure that wasn’t Blyton’s intention. Silly humans!
What would the PC brigade think of Captain Jack (Doctor Who / Torchwood)?