Aaron Manke (0:00)

Beautiful Anonymous changes each week. It defies genres and expectations. For example, our most recent episode, I talked to a woman who survived a murder attempt by her own son. But just the week before that, we just talked the whole time about Star Trek. We've had other recent episodes about sexting in languages that are not your first language or what it's like to get weight loss surgery. It's unpredictable. It's real, it's honest. It's raw. Get Beautiful Anonymous wherever you listen to podcasts.

Alex Robinson (0:39)

Once upon a time, there was a peasant. And one day, the peasant was working on his farm when he saw a heap of burning coals in the middle of the field. As he approached, he was astonished to see a tiny black devil and sitting on the fiery stones. For some reason, instead of running away, the peasant decided to ask a rather odd question. Are you sitting upon a treasure? And the devil replied, yes, on a treasure which contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life. Feeling much braver than he probably should have, the peasant told Satan that since this was his field, then all the treasure in it belonged to him. The devil, who was sick and tired of having all the gold and silver in the world, told him that he could have it as long as the man gave him half of everything that grew in the field. Half of his crops for the greatest treasure on earth. Well, that was just fine with the peasant. But in the interest of dividing the crops as evenly as possible, he proposed that the devil could take everything that grew above the ground and he could keep everything that grew below. This sounded like a fair deal to the devil. And so, once they were in agreement, he disappeared and the peasant started planting his field. Many months later, the devil returned at harvest time, ready to take his half of the crop that grew above the ground. But to his dismay, he arrived to an empty field. The peasant had kept everything because he had planted turnips. And so the peasant who outsmarted the devil and lived happily ever after with his treasure and the devil got nothing. Now, believe it or not, this story is a Grimm fairy tale. That's right. Cinderella and Snow White aren't the only fairy tales out there. The Grimm brothers collected hundreds of them. And while some have been immortalized in popular culture, most of them have been forgotten. But forgotten fairy tales go far beyond the Grimm brothers, because despite their modern reputation, the those two weren't the only story chroniclers out there. There were so many more stories than they ever had opportunity to record. Hundreds, thousands, even every village in the world had their own. And There was no way that they could all be put to paper. Thankfully, though, a few people tried. I'm Aaron Manke, and this is Lore Leg. What exactly is a fairy tale? Well, if you ask someone on the street, they would probably describe them as fantasy tales for children. And to be fair, that's the box that we've put them in. After all, we've built an entire cartoon empire off of Grimm's Tales. And you're more likely to find a reference to Hansel and Gretel in a kid's book than in an adult novel. But fairy tales were never meant to just be for children, because they're so much more than silly little stories. With magic sprinkled in. Fairy tales float somewhere between fantasy and folklore. In a fairy tale, a peasant can become a princess, a goose can lay a golden egg, a farmer can trick the devil, and can even get away with it. There are no rules in a fairy tale. Anything can happen for any reason. When you enter a fairy tale, you enter a realm with no barriers. They're not meant to make sense. They are simply meant to take you on a journey. Sometimes these stories convey a moral lesson, or they presented information in a new and memorable way. But oftentimes their only purpose was pure entertainment. That might sound frivolous, but the importance of fun for fun's sake can't be overstated, especially for the masses of early modern Europe who had very few options for entertainment available to them. There were no screens, no radios. Books were rare outside of the wealthy, educated households. If it wasn't a holiday and no public dances were being held, then storytelling was one of your only options. If you were able to pull a moral message out of a fairy tale, then good for you. But if you didn't, then at least you had some fun. Folklorist Angela Carter says that no fairy tale is a unique one off, meaning that no one sat down, put pen to paper, and wrote a fantastical story and then just published it instead. The creation of this specific genre resembles a giant game of telephone. Centuries ago, someone told a story around a campfire, or beside a child's bed, or during a particularly boring household chore. And then, as people grew up, they continued to tell that story, adding their own embellishments along the way. And so, organically and almost exclusively through word of mouth, fairy tales spread through entire regions, with each person contributing their own unique spin and cultural perspective. Each. It was a group effort that spanned generations. These fairy tales were created at a time when the majority of the European population was illiterate so they were almost always told orally and rarely if ever written down. Fairy tales weren't recorded until people like the Grimm Brothers started to collect them. But the Grimm Brothers weren't the only ones who thought that they needed to be saved. In 2012, the British newspaper the Guardian announced that 500 new fairy tales had just been discovered in the German city of of Regensburg. The article was actually a bit misleading. The fairy tales had really been discovered in 2010, but it took two years for the news to reach the broader English speaking world. Once it did, though, the folklorists went wild. It had been years since anything resembling a new fairy tale had emerged, and now there were hundreds. The stories had all been collected in the mid 19th century by the historian Franz Xavier von Schonwert. Franz was born in 1810 and grew up in the Bavarian town of Amberg. He was well educated, briefly attending the Bavarian Royal Academy of Architecture before transferring and earning his law degree. After graduating, Franz didn't work as a lawyer or as a folklorist. Oddly enough, he actually became the private secretary to the Crown Prince of Bavaria. He was truly a well connected member of society's upper echelon, which is why it was so odd when he started interviewing common men like cooks, cobblers and farmers. You see, Franz's true passion wasn't his job for the prince, it was the folklore of Bavaria. Franz was worried that modernization would wipe out local Bavarian culture. So he set out to save it. His solution, to write down every fairy tale, children's rhyme and local legend that he could. And to get to the tales, Franz had to go straight to their source. And so in the 1850s, Franklin, he began talking to the working class. At first, people were suspicious of his motives. In his private writings he said, and I quote, these people can't seem to get it through their heads that a scholar might actually be interested in their stupidities. And they begin to worry that you are just trying to make them look like fools. But gradually he earned their trust. He found his way in by sweet talking washerwomen, giving them gifts and impressing them with his ability to speak in their regional dialect. Eventually, the rest of the community started to trust him more. And in 1857 he finally published the first of three volumes of Fairy Tales. The third and final volume came out in 1859. Unfortunately, it didn't get the reception that he hoped for and he sold much fewer copies than he expected. So Franz shelved the final 300,000 pages of his work. And they never saw the light of day. Until, that is, they were rediscovered 150 years later. Franz's Bavarian stories are darker than most of the fairy tales that we're used to. While the Grimm Brothers were believed to have polished their tales to make them a bit more kid friendly, Franz's fairy tales are still gritty and raw. They are completely uncensored. So much so that you can practically hear the Bavarian washerwomen laughing over each other as they told him every sordid detail. In short, these stories are pure gold. So today, we're going to do something a little different. For the rest of this episode, we're going to explore three of Franz's fairy tales. And as we walk through each one, I want you to ask yourself a very important Is this tale worth remembering? Once upon a time, a prince married a beautiful princess. At first, they were happy together, but as the years wore on, their love grew more strained. It's a tale as old as time. Of course, no matter what they did, the princess never became pregnant. And so their grief drove them apart. Eventually, it became clear that they may never have children at all. The prince was devastated. But the princess's heart went in another direction. She was envious. And it was only a matter of time before that envy devolved into a poisonous bitterness. One day, when the two royals were visiting a nearby village, they stumbled upon a celebration. A large group of peasants were processing to the church, laughing and cheering as they went. The reason for their good mood became evident. A local farmer's triplets were being baptized, and everyone in the village was attending. Now the prince found himself smiling at the group of people, albeit sadly, of course. But when he looked at his wife, his smile fell away. She was seething. The prince harbored no great love for his wife. Not anymore. And so he poked the bear. He teased her for being so jealous of a peasant. After all, she owned everything in the world. And yet, peasants had the one thing that she could never have. At these words, the princess flew into a rage. Storming up the church's steps, she tried to put a stop to the entire baptism, screaming that the triplet's mother must have cheated on her husband to get three babies. Mortified, the prince dragged her away. But the damage was already done. The prince finally saw the beautiful princess for what she truly was. The most hideous woman in the kingdom. When they returned home, he held up a mirror so that she could see how ugly she had become. And when she looked into the glass, she saw the face of a wolf. A red eyed creature that bared its teeth Reflecting her own savage soul back at her. As it turned out, though, the princess's breakdown in the village was completely unwarranted. Because unbeknownst to her, she was finally pregnant. She gave birth to seven sons, one each day for seven days in a row. But her heart had been hardened and she rejected her new children. She demanded that her midwife take them away into the woods and leave them in a wolf den. The midwife did as she was told. But as she was carrying the seven babies through the forest, she crossed paths with the prince who had been out hunting. He asked what she was doing, and she revealed everything to him. Furious, the prince struck her down with his sword. Then he took his children from her lifeless arms and he brought them somewhere safe. Years went by and and the princess never learned that her children had survived. The prince had no interest in telling her the truth. He simply bided his time, allowing his wife to believe that their sons had been torn apart by a pack of wolves. Eighteen years later, he decided to throw a feast. Every important lord and lady in the kingdom had been invited. The castle's great hall was filled with food, drink and laughter. But the entire party stuttered to a halt when in the middle of dinner, seven long haired men walked through the front door. As soon as she laid eyes on the seven strangers, the princess began to tremble. But the prince invited them to join the revelries, and he had chairs pulled out for each of them. During the meal, the prince casually asked how he should punish a mother who threw her sons to the wolves. Thinking it was a fun joke, the partygoers began tossing out punishments, laughing and arguing until they decided on the perfect consequence for the crime. Dancing to death in red hot iron shoes. And the prince agreed. So he condemned his wife to that very same fate. After she had danced her way to a gruesome death, the prince claimed the seven strangers as his legitimate sons and heirs. Those teenage princes came to be known as the Wolves. And they ruled alongside their father for many years to come. Once upon a time, there was a village populated with the most beautiful girls in the world. But they didn't start out that way. No, they had been transformed. The little village was situated near a large lake. Every time the girls swam in that clear blue water, they emerged, looking more and more lovely. And if they submerged themselves under the water's surface, they then their beauty increased even more. Eventually, they became so remarkably stunning that all their neighbors took notice. As a result, girls from other nearby villages started visiting so that they could swim in the lake. As well, and then, as the story spread, people came from even farther afield. Girls traveled from far and wide for a chance at becoming even half as beautiful as the locals. And the village welcomed its visitors with open arms. After all, there was plenty of lake to go around. But not everyone was able to handle the water. Yes, the local village girls had been swimming for years, so they had mastered the art of holding their breath for the perfect amount of time. But so many of the others who traveled to the village had never swam before, and they didn't know when to come up. In this pursuit of perfect beauty, they often held their breath underwater for too long. The first few drownings were written off as bad luck. But many of the girls who came to the lake were ugly, and this was their only chance to ever get married. And so more girls took the risk, staying submerged under the water longer than their lungs could stand. And they all died. As the bodies piled up, people grew more wary of the lake. The flow of visitors slowed to a trickle and then to a crawl. And then, finally, no girls came to visit the lake at all. Instead, they were replaced with boys. Suitors from all four corners of the globe traveled there, hoping to secure one of the beautiful villagers hands in marriage. They came with roses and with sonnets, but most of all, with grand promises to cherish and love the girls forever. Unsurprisingly, the village girls fell in love. And soon enough, they were all engaged. And since so many of their residents were bound for the altar, the villagers decided to host a mass wedding. All the girls and their suitors were married on the very same day. And afterwards, the village threw the biggest celebration anyone had ever seen. It was the perfect happy ending. Until, of course, it wasn't. The very next morning, chaos erupted. Under the soft light of dawn, screams came from every house. One by one, the new wives ran outside, pursued by their new husbands. The men pulled at their hair and pushed them to the ground. They beat them in the streets, spitting foul curses at them. Then they all ran away, leaving their brides behind, battered and. And heartbroken. And if you were to ask the husbands why they had all of a sudden flown into a rage, they would all tell you the exact same thing. There was something wrong with those girls. Each and every one of their bodies was covered in fish scales. Horrified, the villagers called for a magistrate. When he arrived, he took one look at the scaly brides and declared that they were unnatural. And thus, he condemned them to be burned at the stake. The villagers, fearful of what they did not understand, simply fell in line. They built a great pyre for all of the girls, stacking it high with wood. And then they lit the flames. Suddenly, a tall wave rose up from the lake. For a brief moment, it towered over the village, only to come crashing down. As a result, the streets were completely flooded. But the nightmare wasn't over. After the wave hit the village, a gigantic head emerged from the lake. The giant man spewed a great arc of water onto the pyre, dousing the flames, forming an orderly line. The girls of the village walked across this arc of water as if it were a bridge. No one could stop them. It was as if they were in a trance. As they approached, the merman unhinged his gigantic jaw. One by one, the girls walked into his open mouth as if they were walking through a gate. And then, once they were all inside, his mouth slammed shut. The beautiful girls were gone, and no one ever swam in the lake again. How do our most beloved stories become beloved? What is it about Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White that has stayed with us for generations? While, by contrast, fairy tales about giant man eating mermen are completely forgotten? And sure, that particular fairy tale was lost for over 150 years. But many of Franz's other Bavarian tales were still around. If you recall, he published three whole volumes. So why were we so enamored by the Grimm Brothers Rapunzel, but not Franz's wolf princes? Well, some scholars argue that it simply boils down to presentation. The Grimm Brothers edited the stories that they collected. They sanded down the rough moments and softened the most violent blows. They were fairly palatable, other than a few bad spots, like that moment when birds plucked out the eyes of Cinderella's evil stepsisters. But their stories have been accused of being far too altered from their original versions. Scholars have claimed that their fairy tales were so bland that there was no German culture left in them. Others have criticized them for interpreting their male characters as strong and brave, while focusing more on the beauty and virtue of their female characters. By contrast, Franz left everything in his stories. He recorded them just as they were told to him, and even wrote them in their original local Bavarian dialects. That meant that sometimes his stories meandered or didn't always make sense. Even so, this raw form of storytelling has made his fairy tales a true piece of history. And that's exactly what made Jacob Grimm admire him so much. In 1885, Grimm wrote, Nowhere in the whole of Germany is anyone collecting folklore so accurately, thoroughly, and with such a sensitive ear. He then went on to tell the king of Bavaria that the only man who could continue his and his brother's work after their deaths was Franz. In the end, Franz Xavier von Schonver was the one fairy tale collector that Jacob Grimm truly respected. But the world has only remembered their stories, and we've forgotten Franz's. But maybe in another century and a half, perhaps Franz will be just as celebrated. Fairy tales are a powerful look into our past. They show us what entertained the folks who came before us, what they valued and what sort of lessons they deemed necessary to pass on. But I think today's tour has made it clear that above all else, they weren't sanitized and safe. So maybe to wrap things up for today, for our final of three stories, we should visit a tale with a happier conclusion. And I have just the one to share. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.