This half was really fun to read!
The Six Swans
This story is about a King that get's lost in the woods. A witch helps him get out of the woods, but only if he promises to marry her daughter. The King does, but he is scare for his children's life so he hides his six boys and girl in the woods. He visits them often and his wife starts wondering what is going on, she finds out about the boys and turns them into swans. She doesn't know about the daughter, so she is left human. The girl is found by another King and is married to him. She can't talk for six years while making shirts for her brothers to turn them back into humans. She is set to be burned at the stake on the very day that she is finally allowed to speak so that she can finally defend herself against her husbands mother.
Snow White
This version of Snow White is similar to the Disney movie, but there are some differences. In this version, the Queen tries and succeeds to "kill" Snow White 3 different times before she gets to the apple. By this point you kind of stop feeling bad for Snow White. You would think she would have learned her lesson by now! Snow White is also awoken when the prince is having her coffin moved and the piece of apple is knocked out of her mouth and she wakes up. I will give Disney props for making that part more romantic :)
Illustration from Sneewittchen, Scholz' Künstler-Bilderbücher, Mainz 1905.
By Franz Jüttner. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Ah yes, I remember reading the Grimm's fairytales without the Disney format. The story re-tellings in the movies are definitely much more romantic and less realistic than what could actually happen. As far as the tale of The Six Swans goes, I can honestly say I've never read it and from the title I thought perhaps the movie 'The Swan Princess' was based off of it. That doesn't seem to be the case, but from your notes I can't tell if she is still burned at the stake or because she's able to speak she is freed. I wouldn't be surprised if she was still burned - it IS a Grimm tale, after all.
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