The Most Surprisingly Dark Fairy Tales

1. Cinderella

As one of the oldest fairy tales around, Cinderella has many different versions, but Charles Perrault’s version is the one Disney based its classic movie on. In a nutshell, Cinderella lives with her stepmother and stepsisters, who are all terrible and make her work as the maid of the castle. Then the fairy godmother comes to the rescue, gives her a gown, a carriage, and a ball to go to, where she meets her prince and loses a slipper. A yes, the glass slipper: in the brothers Grimm version, this is the real deal. The desperate sisters go to the lengths of cutting off their own toes and heels just to fit in the shoe, but once the Prince decides on Cinderella, birds fly to the attack of the mother and sisters, pecking their eyes out for being evil. If that isn’t one of the most surprisingly dark fairy tales then I don’t know what is!