There always comes a time in a person's life when they learn that Walt Disney lied.
Originally, fairy tales were stories told orally in European cultures and targeted adults as much as children. In fact, it was only in the 19th century that they started to be associated with children's literature, when the stories began to be modified to be suitible for younger audiences. For instance, the Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children's and Household Tales after rewriting their stories once they had received complaints about the suitability of it being read to children - mostly, they crossed out sexual references in them. Although it wasn't just sexual themes that were crossed out, things such as rather gruesome punishments were, too (the witch in Snow White was punished by being forced to dance in red hot iron shoes until she died), among other things.
Beside the Grimm Brothers, another significant person in recording fairy tales was Charles Perrault in his book of Mother Goose fairy tales (it contained stories such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty). In the Victorian era, fairy tales had morals attached to them after being translated and compiled. Temperance in Cinderella, for example.
The original tales have had plenty interpretations ranging from being solar myths to being analysed according to Freud and Jung - none of which seem to have stuck definitively. Personally, I like the interpretation of the original fairy tales being a type of historical docummentation. Take the stepmother role, way back then women often died in child-birth so when the fathers remarried the children and their stepmother had to compete for resources.
I'd say that reading fairy tales is not for everyone, not like watching their Disney counterparts seems to be because they are a shocking read. However, it doesn't make them any less beautiful and you'll be all the more captivaded if you have a soft spot for folktales like me.
