Not all fairy tales I read as a child had happy endings.
I notice this before I realised that many fairy tales I read were "sanitised".
Being a voracious reader, I read most of these tales myself rather than had an adult read them to me.
In JC, I discovered a whole study devoted to anthropological analysis of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
Now with the internet, I found it so much easier to track down such discussions.
For a long time, I thought there must be some sort of happy-endings to fairy tales - I mean, who in all sanity would create a story to make children cry?
Unfortunately, I learn that there are people in this world who would, for whatever reasons.
A quick run down of some of Anderson's fairy tales which I now think I will let my children read and discover for themselves if they are so inclined rather than give to them.
Little Mermaid (which thanks to Disney, will confuse subsequent generations of children, at least for a while.)
Little Match Girl - In some translations, they balked at the original ending. Who's to say whether it was a tragedy or a triumph? This is where our answer tell us more about ourselves than about the author. Who'd thought it'd inspire the 1990s Japanese serial Heaven's Coins?
The Princess and the Pea - If anyone can explain its value (worthiness) to me, I'll treat you to lunch.
I just read HC Anderson's short bio at wiki. I wonder if his fairy tales is meant to cheer others or share his torments with his readers.
The Emperor's New Clothes seems to be about the safest. Many of his other tales aren't even well-publicised.
