10 Gruesome Fairy Tales You'd Never See Disney Make

2. The Juniper Tree

juniper tree

Motherly love can be complicated and strained, especially when it€™s between a step-mother and son. Hopefully other sons don€™t have to worry about their fates ending up like The Juniper Tree. When the boy asks for an apple, the step-mother opens the chest for him to reach in. She then slams the lid shut, slicing his head off. The step-mother then takes the head, places it back on the body, and sits it down like nothing happened. She then persuades her actual daughter to box the body on the ear, convincing her own daughter that it was she who committed the murder, not the stepmother. How does the step-mother hide the deed and body? By putting the meat into a soup, and feeding the soup to the boy€™s father, while the daughter hides the bones in the boughs of the juniper tree. The boy€™s spirit goes into a bird, and sings for three items; a gold chain, a pair of dancing shoes and a millstone. The bird sings of the step-mother€™s treachery, gives the gold chain to his father, the dancing shoes to his stepsister, and drops the millstone on the step-mother€™s head. The boy is brought back to life, and one of Grimm€™s most dysfunctional families sets about living their extremely unusual lives.
 
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A recent graduate of Saint Anselm College, Jack is a playwright, fiction author and contributing writer to whatculture.com. An avid fan of theater, movies and the medium that is comic books, Jack is an award-winning lover of the English language.