Many people growing up have been told fantasies and fairytales ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Beauty and the Beast. But, what if there were fairytales that most people are unaware of? In fact, there are hundreds. In this, take a look at five  of the most uncommon and unknown fairytales people have no idea what they are about.

• Snow White and Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm

“I swear, once I heard the title, I thought it was just another version of Snow White. I was wrong, but I have no clue what this tale is about,” Jaleana Short, a junior at EHS, explains.  In this cute tale, Snow White (no relation to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and her sister Rose Red live with their widow of a mother in a cottage in the woods. One day, a Bear comes into the cottage asking if he could warm up in their home for the night, and being courteous girls, they of course have no problem with it. As time went on, the sisters grew accustomed to the Bear, and he spent all summer with the sisters–until he had to leave and take care of his treasure so an elf wouldn’t take it. Since then, the sisters have spotted the rude elf and even helped him but were ungrateful every time until the Bear found him. The elf begged, but once the Bear killed the elf, the once-Bear turned into a prince and married Snow White, while Rose Red married the prince’s brother. “I guess every Snow White is fortunate to marry a prince in the end, huh?” Short muses about the tale.

• The Enchanted Maiden by Zófimo Consiglieri Pedroso 

This enchanting tale is about a man with three daughters and explores how each one of the daughters got married. For his eldest daughter, the man hung a golden ball, making everyone believe the family was too rich to marry into–until a prince came and married her. It was the same with the next daughter, but there were different circumstances for the youngest daughter. By the time the youngest daughter was ready for marriage, the man couldn’t afford a golden ball to hang, so he hung a silver one instead. A prince did pass but believed the family would be beneath him, so a man passed and asked for the youngest daughter’s hand in marriage. This caused the sisters to not speak to one another until after the birth of a baby from the youngest daughter, which she was able to speak with flowers coming from her mouth because of fairies enchanting her once she was born. The enchanted maiden, once grown up, fell in love with a prince who was betrothed to her cousin, but she wished to be with him and he with her. Long story short, the prince decided to marry his betrothed cousin (the enchanted maiden)…and they lived happily ever after.

• The Shadow by Hans Christian Andersen 

“Now, in this case I thought this tale would be about Peter Pan, because he loses his shadow when he visits Wendy–but no,  not the case here,” Short shares on the tale. That is definitely not the case for this tale. This tale begins with a knowledgeable man learning the meanings of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. While learning, the learned man lost his shadow in Africa and began to grow a new one. When the learned man returned to northern Europe, he had a surprise visit from his shadow that unmistakably had taken the form of a man. The shadow believed to know and understand the cruelty in the world, while the learned man had believed it to be pure. Over the course of different trials and tribulations between the shadow and the learned man, in the end, the learned man was executed by his own shadow.

• The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen

In this next tale by the common author of the previous tale, comes The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. In this tale, a girl named Karen is given a pair of red shoes; soon after, her mother unfortunately passes away. Karen gets taken by another villager, although she believes she is being taken in because of her lovely shoes. Soon, the lady that has taken her in ruins them for her, because she hates Karen’s shoes. Down the road years later, the lady buys Karen a pair of shoes, believing they were black (because of her horrible eyesight), when in reality they were red. Karen was overjoyed but turned desperate to get them off after an encounter with a soldier where she couldn’t stop dancing. At a point, Karen finally convinced the town executioner to chop off her feet, and he gladly did so. For the rest of Karen’s life, she works for a clergyman, while trying to repent for her vanity.

• Hans, Who Made the Princess Laugh recorded by Peter Christen Asbjornsen

“My mind went immediately to Frozen, and I thought What the heck!” states a surprised Short. This tale may be a surprise to many, if some were to connect the dots. This tale has Hans as a prince with two older brothers, who both fail at making the Princess laugh. The reason being for wanting to make the Princess laugh was because her father, the King, declared that whoever makes his daughter laugh has her hand in marriage–and will gain half of his kingdom. After the failure of his two brothers, Hans has his chance to make the Princess laugh. Hans procures a golden goose that, if touched, is glued to it forever. So, on his way to the Princess, many people have touched the goose, which creates a mass of people, which in turn makes the Princess finally laugh. With that, Hans now has a kingdom and a Princess. Short comments: “After reading the tale, I thought, Well, I guess at least someone named Hans got a happy ending! but instead of getting with Anna, he got with a character almost like Elsa. Interesting, very interesting!” 

So many tales have already been past down from one person to another, and there are still many other tales to discover. The mission is now to find even more worth sharing with others.