Do you think that the sanitized version of fairy tales makes kids miss out on the real story?
It entirely depends on what kind of “sanitization” has taken place. You have to keep in mind that for a lot of tales there is no single “original” version, a single tale can exist in dozen of versions, no one of which can claim to be the first. I totally agree that tales that have been significantly altered to make them “nicer” are just terrible. I grew up on the version of “The Little Mermaid” where she dies at the end and loved it, not all fairy tales have to end with “happily ever after”. That being said I also think there are some tales that can be downright disturbing to younger children and I don’t have a problem with some elements in these tales at least being softened. I’m thinking of tales like Bluebeard (which gave me nightmares as a small child but which I enjoy now). I don’t really think a child is missing out on anything by being read a retelling of Bluebeard that glosses over the cannibalism part of the story but I’ve read a few retellings where all of Bluebeard’s wives w
