The dark origins of Disney fairy tales

539,049 plays|

Claudia Schwabe |

TED-Ed

• June 2026

An evil stepmother demands a maiden’s lungs and liver; a girl is ripped from a wolf’s stomach; and sisters mutilate their feet to squeeze into a gold slipper. During the early 1800s, brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm gathered these unflinchingly gory details from stories circulating around what’s now Germany. Claudia Schwabe explores how these now-infamous tales evolved as they spread worldwide. [Directed by Skirmanta Jakaitė, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Cem Misirlioglu, Brooks Ball].