In The Grimms Fairy Tale, Who Is Buried Under The Juniper Tree?
A woman loves her daughter, Margery, but detests her stepson. One day, she gives her daughter an apple out of a large chest in the attic. Margery wants her brother to have one too; his stepmother tells him to fetch one from the chest, and when he puts his head inside shuts down the lid, cutting off his head. Then she props him up and later tricks Margery into pushing him over, making the death look like her fault. Together they make the boy into soup and feed him to his father (who believes he has gone to stay with an uncle); then Margery buries the bones under the juniper tree in the garden. Out of the tree comes a bird. The bird flies away and manages to get a gold chain, a pair of shoes and a millstone. It comes back to the house and sings a song that tells the story of the boy’s death. Then it gives the chain to the father, the shoes to Margery and drops the millstone on the stepmother’s head. She is crushed to death, and the bird is turned back into a boy.
