Does anyone remember the Big red book?

My dad had a a very old *red book that was a book of fairy tales; short stories that were pretty **grim and brutal, and not the Disney stuff that people think of when they hear "fairy tales". Two stories that stand out in my mind was

- About a boy who was a total brat, alwaysmisbehaving, and refusing to do stuff. It basicallyended with stuff like his school shirt floating away and him deperately grabbing it so he could put it on and his mother being instantly transformed into a frail, old, dying women by whatever force was punishing him for his misdeeds.

- Another story was about a girl who out on a peral necklace, and whenever she misbehaved or maybe it was because she stole it, the necklace became shorter and it started chojing her and she coukdn't take it off. I don't think she died in this story, but rather being taught a painful lesson by this necklace.

*It might have been two seperate books/volumes but itwas so long ago I'm not sure. I also thought it might have been Grimm's Book of Fary Tales, but I coukdn't find either of those stories in it when I checked.

**Back when fairy tales were meant to warn kids about the dangers of life as well as providing moral lessons, and not the romance "happily ever after" stories that we see today.

I wish online discussion wasn't so balkanized these days as it's very hard to find a place where I could expect to get a definitive answer on this. =\

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anonymous Other July 08, 2025 at 8:09 pm 0 0