Some stories are made up, but some stories are based on real events and real people. If you are shocked by the original Brothers Grimm stories fromthe previous blog, you will be even more shocked by the horrible and sad events and people that inspired the following fairy tales. I chose these three tales because they are from Germany.

Snow White.This tale is a mixture of the lives of two women. The first was Countess Margarete von Waldeck. She was born in 1533 in Wildungen, Hesse. When she was 16 years old, she met Prince Phillip II of Spain and they fell in love. This relationship was not approved by Margaret’s wicked stepmother or the King of Spain. At the age of 21, Margaret died of an apparent illness, but it was believed that she was poisoned on the orders of the Spanish king. As for the dwarves, Margaret’s father or brother owned copper mines and the miners were children who remained small due to hard working conditions and malnutrition. The second was Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina von Erthal.She was born in 1725 in Loir am Main.Her father was a baron who, after the death of Maria’s mother, remarried a widow named Claudia. Claudia was a domineering woman who, of course, favored her own children, but she was not evil. And here ends all resemblance ofMaria’s life with Snow White,because she never married and at some point she moved to the city of Bamberg where she lived for the rest of her life (died at 71 years of age) helping her community. She was so kind that her preserved tombstone reads:“The noble heroine of Christianity…”.What perhaps makes people believe that she was the inspiration for Snow White is the surroundings of Lohr, because it is rich in thick forests, apple orchards and in the wilderness you can find poisonous belladonna. Also, behind seven mountains (literally) lies the mining town of Bieber. In Lohr Castle, now a museum, there is a beautiful mirror that was a wedding gift from Maria’s father to his second wife. The frame of the mirror is gracefully decorated with writings, one of which reads, “Amour propre,” which means self-love.

Hansel and Gretel.The inspiration for this tale was Katarina Schraderin,who was born in 1618 in the Harz Mountains.She was famous for her gingerbread cookies, which she sold at markets and fairs. It was at one of these fairs that a local baker, Hans Metzler, fell in love with her. Her troubles began when she did not return his affection. He publicly accused her of being a witch. She was arrested, tortured, but eventually released for lack of evidence. Then Metzler and his sister Grete broke into her house, killed Katarina and burned her in the oven. Sadly, Katarina somehow remained a witch, and the evil brother and sister became innocent children. Also, some parts of this story were inspired by the famine of the 14th century, when some parents abandoned their children because they could not feed them.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin.This fairy tale is based on a mysterious event that took place in the town of Hamelin in the 13th century, when about 130 children disappeared.According to the tale, the Pied Piper took the children as a punishment because the mayor of Hamelin refused to pay him after he saved the town from rats. There are theories that the Pied Piper represented the plague and the children died, or that they were taken as participants in the Children’s Crusade. This mystery has never been solved.