And they all lived happily ever after is, of course, the classic fairytale ending, but it simply isn't true. Those that didn't live happily ever after or, indeed, at all come the end of the story include:-
- The big bad wolf who would have welcomed the abolition of axes and woodchoppers.
- The witch in Hansel and Gretel who merely needed to change her choice of meat to avoid controversy. But she didn't so into the oven for her - definitely not her idea of a happy ending.
- Cinderella's stepmother and ugly sisters unless they had the good sense to come to terms with Cinderella quickly.
- The wolf in The Three Little Pigs who ended up in a boiling cauldron. Nothing happy about that - well not from the wolf's viewpoint. Could make a good roadtest for the cauldron manufacturers though. ("You want a decent sized cauldron for your spell cooking. Try ours. Will boil a wolf.").
- The red shoes lady who danced in them until she was dead.
- The Little Mermaid. (Hans Christen Andersen's original version. Disney couldn't have filmed the story as he wrote it. It wouldn't have got a U certificate!).
- The White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Mind, it serves her right for inflicting winter on people without Christmas to break it up. The thought of everlasting snow and ice does not appeal.
- Spinning Wheel Salesmen in Sleeping Beauty. Would have been given short shrift at best by Sleeping Beauty's royal parents.
- Snow White's stepmother. Serves her right for being so vain though. (And why didn't she think to marry Snow White off to someone? That would have got the girl out of the Kingdom and her hair well enough).
- Those who mocked the Ugly Duckling. Wait till they discover just how powerful a swan is!
RSS Feed
