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Grimm Tales Made Gay
A comic rendering in verse of well-loved Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, each ending with a moral and full of puns. The titles of the tales themselves make another verse.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1902
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 24, 2021
Fine example of turn-of-the-century dry wit
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This review is from: Grimm Tales Made Gay (Kindle Edition)
Most of the one and two star reviews should be ignored as they are simply complaints based on the reviewers' misperceptions, lack of education and mistaken expectations. This book was published in 1902, long before the word gay was hijacked. It contains no sex of any kind, not even innuendos or double entendres. Nor is there anything vulgar, profane or crude. Instead it contains rhyming versions of several familiar fairy tales with amusing and/or odd twists to the tales. It reminds me just a little of some of the quirky humor in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Many of the rhymes were originally published in Harper's Magazine, The Century, Life, The Smart Set, The Saturday Evening Post and The Home Magazine. They were not written in Ancient English, Old English or a foreign tongue as some reviewers have complained. Though I suppose to some of those who have passed through our modern public education system, they may as well have been. This review is from the free Kindle e-book released March 30, 2011.
Verified Purchase
This review is from: Grimm Tales Made Gay (Kindle Edition)
Most of the one and two star reviews should be ignored as they are simply complaints based on the reviewers' misperceptions, lack of education and mistaken expectations. This book was published in 1902, long before the word gay was hijacked. It contains no sex of any kind, not even innuendos or double entendres. Nor is there anything vulgar, profane or crude. Instead it contains rhyming versions of several familiar fairy tales with amusing and/or odd twists to the tales. It reminds me just a little of some of the quirky humor in Rocky and Bullwinkle. Many of the rhymes were originally published in Harper's Magazine, The Century, Life, The Smart Set, The Saturday Evening Post and The Home Magazine. They were not written in Ancient English, Old English or a foreign tongue as some reviewers have complained. Though I suppose to some of those who have passed through our modern public education system, they may as well have been. This review is from the free Kindle e-book released March 30, 2011.
March 15, 2011
No, not that gay. The older meaning of the word gay. You know, like Gay Paree.
Though, I'm not entirely sure if that is the correct meaning of the word here either.
Carryl takes several well know tales, drawing from Grimm, Andersen, and Arabian Nights, and retells them in a rather funny if saticial way.
For instance, Beauty and the Beast ends far differently than you would think. Though I liked it. His Little Red Riding Hood is equally as funny. Some of the stories are misses, for instance his retelling of Aladdin, which is very politcally incorret by today's standards.
Though, I'm not entirely sure if that is the correct meaning of the word here either.
Carryl takes several well know tales, drawing from Grimm, Andersen, and Arabian Nights, and retells them in a rather funny if saticial way.
For instance, Beauty and the Beast ends far differently than you would think. Though I liked it. His Little Red Riding Hood is equally as funny. Some of the stories are misses, for instance his retelling of Aladdin, which is very politcally incorret by today's standards.
December 15, 2020
First: Gay as in jolly, not homosexual.
Very funny, charming and clever verse retellings of Grimm fairy tales.
Got it free on Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org).
Very funny, charming and clever verse retellings of Grimm fairy tales.
Got it free on Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org).
October 6, 2014
Another reviewer who was mislead by the title.
August 15, 2017
Not worth it.
I expected something more along the lines of the fairy tales we all know. I was sorely disappointed. I would not recommend this book.
I expected something more along the lines of the fairy tales we all know. I was sorely disappointed. I would not recommend this book.
December 27, 2024
Funny book but definitely not gay…
June 12, 2013
Oh dear, I don't even know where to start with this one.
Guy Wetmore Carryl wrote Grimm Tales Made Gay in 1902. It's essentially what it says on the tin - it took Grimm fairy tales, known for being dark and depressing (though that's not quite as true as people think) and made them fun and light and happy! In fact, he set them all to rhyme and provided humorous morals. How could it go wrong?
For starters, it was written by a white man in 1902. I understand that I shouldn't hold this against him, 1902 was a different time, etc. etc., but as a person reading this in 2013, 111 years later, most of the lessons are horrifying. "The best women are dumb!" "Women are a burden on their men!" "Women who disobey their husbands deserve to have their heads chopped off!" "A woman who doesn't speak at all is preferable to a woman who literally has diamonds and pearls fall out of her mouth every time she speaks!" "People who learn things are terrible!" "An ugly woman is never a reward!" Look, I get that in America in 1902, these were acceptable things to say. But that doesn't make them any less problematic. Just because something was okay once doesn't make it okay now, especially because the ideas that are put across are ideas that you still see today in popular culture that look to demean anybody who is clever, or female, or, really, not a part of the majority, whatever it is.
Read this book if you want to; I picked it up because it was free and I wanted something easy to read. But this just seems lazy to me, in all aspects. There was lazy writing (a lot of the rhymes make absolutely no sense), lazy ideas, and lazy implementation of the morals. There are ways to make the Grimm fairy tales funny. This book should largely serve as a lesson for what not to do.
PS - That said, if you're going to read this book, or if you're curious, read "How the Babes in the Wood Showed They Couldn't be Beaten" - aka the first one. It still has problems, but it's really the only one worth reading.
Guy Wetmore Carryl wrote Grimm Tales Made Gay in 1902. It's essentially what it says on the tin - it took Grimm fairy tales, known for being dark and depressing (though that's not quite as true as people think) and made them fun and light and happy! In fact, he set them all to rhyme and provided humorous morals. How could it go wrong?
For starters, it was written by a white man in 1902. I understand that I shouldn't hold this against him, 1902 was a different time, etc. etc., but as a person reading this in 2013, 111 years later, most of the lessons are horrifying. "The best women are dumb!" "Women are a burden on their men!" "Women who disobey their husbands deserve to have their heads chopped off!" "A woman who doesn't speak at all is preferable to a woman who literally has diamonds and pearls fall out of her mouth every time she speaks!" "People who learn things are terrible!" "An ugly woman is never a reward!" Look, I get that in America in 1902, these were acceptable things to say. But that doesn't make them any less problematic. Just because something was okay once doesn't make it okay now, especially because the ideas that are put across are ideas that you still see today in popular culture that look to demean anybody who is clever, or female, or, really, not a part of the majority, whatever it is.
Read this book if you want to; I picked it up because it was free and I wanted something easy to read. But this just seems lazy to me, in all aspects. There was lazy writing (a lot of the rhymes make absolutely no sense), lazy ideas, and lazy implementation of the morals. There are ways to make the Grimm fairy tales funny. This book should largely serve as a lesson for what not to do.
PS - That said, if you're going to read this book, or if you're curious, read "How the Babes in the Wood Showed They Couldn't be Beaten" - aka the first one. It still has problems, but it's really the only one worth reading.
Read
August 15, 2012Grimm Tales Made Gay is a bit misleading tittle. I thought tales will be funny and cheerful but some of them were more grim than original. ( How the Babes in the Wood Showed They Couldn't Be Beaten )
Carryl's fairy tale How Little Red Riding Hood Came to Be Eaten spoiled for me all fun of reading this book. However it shouldn't be forgotten that book was published 1903.
Carryl's fairy tale How Little Red Riding Hood Came to Be Eaten spoiled for me all fun of reading this book. However it shouldn't be forgotten that book was published 1903.
November 25, 2014
Suck
The book was slow it made no sense to me and calling it a Grimm tales made gay. Lol Only thing that made this book a gay story is that it will make you laugh but not the way you want it to. Thank goodness if was free because I ask 4 my money back.
The book was slow it made no sense to me and calling it a Grimm tales made gay. Lol Only thing that made this book a gay story is that it will make you laugh but not the way you want it to. Thank goodness if was free because I ask 4 my money back.
June 24, 2011
The rhymes were cute but it was too pun-y for me.
May 3, 2014
Not at all what I thought it was going to be, but a cute read.
Want to Read
June 24, 2013epub version
August 29, 2013
Got this on my kindle, which had no real description of what it was about. I was hoping for a stories like Cinderella falling for the princess at the ball, but I was sorely disappointed.
March 23, 2014
mildly amusing, but not really my thing
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews