Make the Cut

When the prince showed up searching for the woman who lost the glass slipper, we know how Cinderella's stepsisters tried to cram their feet into the shoe. However, in the original version, the girls' mother actually instructed them to cut off a piece of their foot so the slipper would fit. Surprisingly, they did, and actually fooled the prince. It was Cinderella's helpful friends – birds, not mice – who alerted the prince to the deception.

Eat It Up

Unlike the current version, in the original Snow White tale, it was not the queen who wanted to kill Snow White, but Snow White's own mother. In fact, she not only wanted Snow White dead, but she also instructed the huntsman to bring back Snow White's lungs and liver as proof of the murder. She stated that she would "cook them with salt and eat them."

True Identity

When hearing the tale of Hansel and Gretel, it's easy to dislike the cruel stepmother who cast the children out in to the woods. It's also easy to dislike the witch who, rather than helping the children when they stumble across her home made of sweet treats, decides to make them her next meal. But, in the original story, the true villain who sent them away turned out to be the children's own mother.

Far from Charming

When Giambattista Basile's tale of a princess who falls down dead after getting flax stuck under her nail was first published, it's not Prince Charming who kisses her awake. Rather, a king happens by and, finding her unconscious, takes advantage of her. Still unconscious, she gives birth to two children. One of the kids sucks the flax out of her finger, waking her up, and the king returns to be with her.

An Unhappy Choice

Fans of "The Little Mermaid" would recognize the beginnings of the original tale, where the mermaid trades her voice for legs. However, in Hans Christian Andersen's story, every step she takes is agony. Also, after failing to impress the prince with her dancing, he marries another. When the mermaid can't kill him to become a mermaid once more, she dies and dissolves into sea foam.

No Escape

We all know how Goldilocks made her way through the home of the three bears, searching for food, a chair and a bed that was "just right." When the family of bears discovers Goldilocks sleeping in one of the beds, she awakens and runs out before they can stop her. However, in the original version, the intruder was an old woman, who, in a subsequent version, is mauled to death by the bears.

An Unplanned Surprise

We were told that Rapunzel was trapped in a tower by an evil enchantress, but we never knew it was because her parents stole food from the enchantress' garden. And the prince that comes to rescue her actually slept with her many times during numerous visits, leaving her pregnant. When the enchantress learns this, she cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her to the desert.