I just came across this site, and it gave me a little shutter of joy. Packed with more info than even I ever wanted to know about Fairy Tales. There seems to be enough information here, and links, for (too) many entertaining visits.
How much of this site, and fairy tales in general, you share with your little ones is a really good question. I've struggled with it a lot. When I tell fairy tales to my children, and I frequently do, I've typically been in the "and then the little pig ran into the woods just before the wolf caught him" camp. I don't feel completely right about this, but that's what I do. Now that my children are 8 and 5 years old (the 5 year old is my primary audience), I have found myself gradually segueing into something closer to the original tellings of these tales. The woodcutter's new wife wanted Hansel and Gretel killed. Goldilocks runs away unrepentant. The wolf eats the grandmother and Red Riding Hood, and then the woodcutter kills the wolf. But, I still can't bring myself to tell how one ugly stepsister cuts off her toes, and the other her heel, to try to fit into the glass slipper. Yikes, I can hardly even type that. Nope, some censoring will still go on around here, though perhaps not so much as before. There's lots of discussions about this at this website.
How do you tell fairy tales to your children?
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