> > Even Snow White and Cinderella...
> > The first version of Cinders I knew had her older sisters cutting off their toes, and shaving their heels in an attempt to fit in the shoe.
> > The first Versh of Snow White I knew contained a poisened comb, the apple, and something else, which I've forgotten, you know, the magical 'three'.
> >
>
> I seem to recall ribbons tied around her so tightly that she couldn't breathe. The dwarves revived her by doing a kind of Maypole dance around her to unweave the ribbons. And I think Disney made up the fairy godmother thing, too. Cinderella was helped out by the ghost of her mother.
>
> Mary "Unless that was just _Into the Woods_" am


I don't mind...to a point...the re-telling of tales in a simplified or prettified way--it is, after all, just Disney's marketing decision meant to appeal to the youngest and/or widest audience. And, too, even excluding the commercialization, when you're talking about folk tales or fairy tales, isn't it each storyteller's perogative--again, to a point--to embellish or mold the story a bit, giving it the flavor of their own personality? The problem is, though, that that young audience then thinks the version they saw on the screen is *the* standard, and in essence *becomes* the standard because that's the way "everyone" has heard it. So the interesting (and often metaphorical) details like Snow and her ribbons get lost forever.

koala"always prefered Rose Red over Snow White"mom

PS. For an interesting--if convoluted-- re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, check out the novel ___Beauty___ by Sheri S. Tepper