The True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fairy Tales & Nursery Rhymes

By Cindy Parmiter

If you've ever wondered if the fairy tales and nursery rhymes you grew up on have any basis in reality, this book holds the answers you seek. Included in this collection are the real-life events that inspired the exploits of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Jack Horner, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Quite Contrary and Bluebeard, to name only a few. So, if you're looking for the grain of truth hidden within these and other fantastic tales, you've come to the right place. Be prepared, however, to learn that a surprising number of these heartwarming adventures did not originate in a place of light but were instead born of the darkness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cindy Parmiter
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201597566

Book preview

Introduction

Many a child has been lulled to sleep by the comfort that only fairy tales and nursery rhymes can bring. These often magical stories have enthralled children of all ages for generations and continue to do so to this day. What most of us don’t realize is that a surprising number of these heartwarming adventures did not originate from a place of light but were instead born of dark events that were decidedly unpleasant.

Since the vast majority of the incidents on which these works are based took place centuries ago, in some cases, more than one version exists. That being said, painstaking research indicates that the scenarios depicted in this book come closest to what actually happened.

Included in this collection are the real-life occurrences that inspired the exploits of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Little Jack Horner, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Quite Contrary and Bluebeard, to name a few.

If you’re looking for the grain of truth hidden within these and other fantastic tales, you’ve come to the right place. So, without further ado, let us begin.

For Damien

(April 14, 2021-January 18, 2022)

We only knew you for a short time, but our love for you is never ending. The hole you left in our lives is one that can never be filled. We grieve for you every day and always will. Wherever you are, know that you were, and always will be, loved beyond measure. Rest peacefully our angel.

Chapter 1:

By Her Father’s Hand

Most of you are familiar with the story of Rapunzel, the fawn-haired beauty who was imprisoned in a tower by a spiteful witch. What you may not know is that this beloved tale is rooted in real-life events, as are the others included in this collection. It will become evident as you peruse these pages that, unlike the fairy tales they spawned, the actual incidents seldom had happy endings.

The story begins with a married couple who want a child more than anything but are having trouble conceiving. One day, as the forlorn wife is gazing out the window at the neighbor’s garden, she has a sudden craving for the delicious-looking rapunzel that grows there in abundance.

For reasons even she can’t understand, she is consumed by her desire for the leafy vegetable. Worried that she is losing touch with reality, her husband sneaks next door under cover of darkness and steals a large clump of the rapunzel.

When he hands the pilfered greens to his wife, she wolfs them down and asks for more. And so begins a cycle that continues until he pushes his luck one time too many and comes face-to-face with the irate property owner.

In a stroke of the worst kind of luck, it turns out that the garden belongs to a witch who has zero tolerance for thievery. As she unleashes her fury upon the hapless man, he begs for forgiveness, telling her all about his wife’s hankering for the tempting rapunzel.

After hearing him out, she states that she will allow him to walk away scot-free in exchange for the infant his wife is carrying. Thinking her mad, he agrees, completely unaware that they are expecting their first child.

Sure enough, a few months later, the couple brings a baby girl into the world. Shortly after her arrival, they are forced to turn the newborn over to the witch who names her Rapunzel.

Although the first few years of her life are relatively normal, when the girl reaches the age of twelve and begins to blossom into a young lady, the witch locks her away in a tower. To ensure that she can’t leave, all of the exits are sealed except for a small window situated high above the ground.

When the witch, who is the only person with access to Rapunzel, wants to enter the tower, she does so by asking her to lower her hair, which she then uses to pull herself up to the window.

Years later, when the girl has matured to adulthood, she is singing away in the tower one day when a prince happens by on his trusty steed. Attracted by the sound of her voice, he tries unsuccessfully to find a way to reach her.

As he ponders his next move, he hears the witch requesting that Rapunzel let down her hair. After watching her enter the opening with the aid of the tightly woven braids, he knows what he has to do.

Returning the following evening, he calls up to the girl and asks to be let in. As he waits eagerly for a reply, a rope of hair falls to the ground at his feet. After using it to make his way into the room, he introduces himself to the shy young maiden who, up till then, has never spoken to anyone other than the witch.

Bonding almost instantly, they decide to run away together. The only problem is that there is no way out for Rapunzel, since she can’t very well climb down her own hair. Faced with a quandary, they devise a plan that involves the prince sneaking silk fibers into the tower every day so that she can make a rope of her own.

Things unravel, so to speak, when she accidentally lets the cat out of the bag by remarking to the witch that her weight is harder to support than that of the prince. Upon hearing this, her furious caretaker grabs a pair of scissors and cuts off Rapunzel’s hair. Her anger not yet sated, she then drags her into the forest and leaves her there to fend for herself.

With her charge out of the way, the witch turns her attention to the prince. Figuring that he will show up at any time looking for Rapunzel, she takes the length of hair that was left behind and attaches it to the window sill.

Later that evening, when he climbs into the room expecting to see his sweetheart, he is met instead by the vengeful witch. After being told that the girl he came to see is gone forever, he jumps out the window, landing squarely in a prickly bush.

His eyesight stolen by the fall, he roams aimlessly through the surrounding woods, calling out for his lost love. When she hears his cries, Rapunzel runs to him, tears of joy streaming down her face. As they embrace, the salty droplets spill into his eyes, restoring his sight.

Having survived the witch’s wrath, they make their way to the castle where they are welcomed by the king. Their troubles behind them, they marry and live joyful lives from that day forward.

The real Rapunzel, whose birth name has been lost to the ages, was a young Lebanese girl who lived sometime between 200 and 300 A.D. Generous in both heart and spirit, she was the apple of her father’s eye. A single parent, he so adored his only child that he kept her isolated from the outside world for fear that she would someday set out on her own.

After word of her stunning beauty reached the nearby village, a parade of eligible bachelors began turning up on her doorstep, only to be sent packing by her overprotective father. The interest they showed made him more determined than ever to keep his most prized possession under lock and key.

The region in which they lived was predominately pagan, a common practice at the time. Even among the staunch nonbelievers, Rapunzel’s father stood out as someone who was intolerant of any ideologies that didn’t align with his own.

Since work often took him away from home, he cooked up a scheme to ensure that his daughter was kept firmly under his thumb. To prevent her from venturing outside while he was on the road, he started locking her in the stone tower that was situated on top of their dwelling. With only one way in and out, it seemed the perfect place to protect her from temptation. After providing her with several days’ worth of rations, he would head out on his travels.

During one of these periods of isolation, a bored Rapunzel began pondering the teachings of Christianity after reading a Bible that she found in a pile of books that had been left behind by the previous occupants. By the time that she got to the end of the tome, she had reached an epiphany. After making up her mind to devote her life to her newly acquired faith, she decided there and then that she had a moral obligation to spread the word to others.

Unable to escape the tower, she did the next best thing and opened the tiny window that was her only means of communicating with