The Macabre and Magical: Grimm's Fairy Tales Quiz
Estimated Completion Time 3 min
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Image: Kachelhoffer Clement/adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images
About This Quiz
The original Grimm fairy tales are a far cry from the happily-ever-after versions you grew up with. Test your knowledge of the downright disturbing tales from the brothers Grimm.
START QUIZ
Who were the Grimm brothers?
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published fairy tales throughout the 19th century.
Where were they from?
The Grimms were born in Hanau, Germany.
What was a formative turning point in the brothers' lives?
Their sister was kidnapped.
The boys' father died when they were 10 and 11 years old, and the family fell into poverty.
What was the name of the Grimms' first collection of fairy tales?
"Tales for Children and Parents"
"Folklore for the Nursery"
"Nursery and Household Tales"
It was titled "Kinder- und Hausmarchen ," or "Nursery and Household Tales."
When was "Nursery and Household Tales" published?
The first edition was published in 1812.
How many fairy tales were in the collection?
How many stories were in the second collection, which was published in 1815?
The second volume contained 70 tales.
Which edition of "Grimm's Fairy Tales" is best known today?
The 1857 seventh edition contains the fairy tale versions that are most familiar today.
About how many of the tales were deleted or almost completely changed between the first and seventh editions?
An estimated 45 to 50 of them were deleted or drastically altered.
When was the first English translation of the first edition published?
Jack Zipes, a professor at the University of Minnesota, was the first to translate 156 of the original tales in 2014.
In which deleted tale does a mother say to her children, "I've got to kill you so I can have something to eat"?
"The Children of Famine" is a very short, very disturbing tale of a starving mother and her two daughters.
In which tale does a stepmother chop off the head of her stepson?
And then she chops him into pieces and serves him in a stew to his father.
And then what happens?
The father throws up when he realizes what he's eaten, and the boy is resurrected.
The boy's sister finds out and hangs the stepmother from a tree.
The boy reappears as a bird and kills the stepmother by dropping a stone on her head.
The boy's sister buries his bones, and a bird flies out of the tree that grows there.
In which tale does a father make tiny coffins with pillows for his sons?
The king wants to kill his 12 sons so that if his 13th child is a girl, she can inherit the kingdom. So he preps by having 12 tiny coffins made.
What's the modern name of the Grimm tale "Aschenputtel "?
"Aschenputtel " is better known as "Cinderella."
Which group used the Grimm tales as propaganda in the 20th century?
The Nazis held up Cinderella, for one, as a symbol of Aryan purity.
In "Rumpelstiltskin," the titular character turns a poor girl into a queen in exchange for what?
Creepy old Rumpelstiltskin wants her firstborn son.
In which tale is a naked servant rolled down the street in a barrel lined with nails?
"Death and the Goose Keeper"
In "The Goose Girl," a devious servant posing as a princess receives this cruel and unusual punishment.
In the original "The Frog Prince," what does the princess do to the frog instead of kissing him?
throws him against a wall
The frog's spell is broken when the princess throws him against a wall.
In which tale does a gang of men abduct a woman and chop "her beautiful body into pieces and sprinkle them with salt"?
The robber bridegroom and his gang are appropriately put to death at the end of the tale.
In the original version of "Rapunzel," what do Rapunzel and the prince do during their "merry time" in the tower?
It isn't explicitly stated, but after said "merry time," Rapunzel wonders why her clothes are getting tight.
And then what happens to the prince when Mother Gothel confronts him about it?
He falls to his death from the tower.
He does fall out of the tower, but it isn't fatal. He lands in some bushes … and the thorns scratch out his eyes.
Does he ever encounter Rapunzel again?
The blind prince becomes homeless and eventually runs into Rapunzel and his twin children.
Does he ever see Rapunzel again?
Rapunzel's magical tears restore the prince's sight.
In the original Grimm "Cinderella," how do the stepsisters try to make the glass slipper fit?
They bind their feet in bandages.
They dip their feet in poison that makes them shrivel.
They slice off pieces of their feet.
The stepmother instructs the girls to chop off their toes and slice off their heels.
What creatures notify the prince about the stepsister's bloody feet?
The prince actually thinks the slipper fits the stepsister, but then the pigeons direct his attention to the blood. And then the pigeons peck out the sisters' eyes at Cinderella's wedding.
In the original "Snow White," which parts of Snow White does the evil queen express a desire to eat?
The queen — who is actually Snow White's mother, not her stepmother — wants to consume her lungs and liver.
How does the evil queen die?
She's tricked into wearing a pair of burning-hot iron shoes.
The dwarves lure her into the mine and bury her alive.
Snow White chases her off a cliff.
The queen survives to attend Snow White's wedding, where the guests have her put on the iron shoes.
In the original "Little Red Riding Hood," whom does the wolf eat?
But fear not — the hunter cuts open the wolf's belly and rescues them.
In the original "Rumpelstiltskin," how does Rumpelstiltskin die?
He turns into a ball of fire.
When the queen correctly guesses his name, an angry Rumpelstiltskin stomps his foot deep into the ground and then rips himself apart when he tries to get it out.
You Got:
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