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Study 070 - The Juniper Tree (Patreon)

Published:
2023-12-14 14:00:03
Imported:
2026-06
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Our month on Grimm's Fairy Tales continues with a disturbing tale of decapitation, cannibalism and shiny-happy songbirds: The Juniper Tree!

Special thanks to our reader: Greig Johnson! Don't forget to check out his Etsy shop!

We are reading this month's selections in The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, translated and annotated by Jack Zipes.

Non-Fifer musical selections: Nocturne No. 19 in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 1 by Frédéric Chopin | The Nutcracker, Op. 71, Act II, No. 12b, Divertissement. Coffee, Arabian Dance by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Get a load of Grimm's John Wick: The Dog and the Sparrow 

Next up: The Elves and Rumpelstiltskin

Comments

Crom Thews

Evil stepsisters. Evil stepmothers. I don't recall a single evil stepfather story. Is all the "evil" in these tales just based on inheritance issues?

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

Momotaro is a story with a similar beginning but goes in much happier directions if you're looking for something a little less child-killy-eaty and more child-friendly.

Mounty of Madness

When you listed all those literary examples of serving your enemies their loved ones, my mind went immediately to Southpark's Eric Cartman.

Corey Wittig

So glad you read this one because I recently was trying to remember (unsuccessfully) which Grimm story ended with the millstone crushing the mom. Haha (there are so many in the book that I forgot and hadn’t rediscovered it yet.) Can’t wait for the Nick Cave record about this tale!

Oleh R

I think stories like this, with all the eating of one’s own children, is perhaps society’s way of reconciling something quite common in the animal kingdom. Animals often kill/eat their own spawn for any number of reasons. Even historical (human) cultures have countless stories of human infanticide. Maybe these stories are our way of trying to wrap our brains around that impulse. Besides, what parent hasn’t felt cute aggression and said something like “I want to gobble you up!”

Aaron La Vene

That Juniper Tree is gonna need a lot of therapy

The Spider Incident

That story was WILD! It actually had me laughing at some points, not because it was funny, but because of how horrendous some of those things the stepmother did were. After the first few lines of the intro, I was actually starting to wonder if there was a mistake and last week's story was reposted under the new title.

Richard Horsman

When I read this I missed that the father had eaten all the son stew, so at the end when they went back in “and ate” I was a little taken aback. Is it still cannibalism if the cannibalized person has come back to life? Is it cannibalism if you eat your previously murdered self?

The Spider Incident

I have a friend who is an opera singer. I told her what you said about opera being "the home of nonsensical plots" and her response was simply "I mean it's true"

Jason Thompson

I’m trying to incorporate more fairytales into the fantasy RPG I’m writing but it’s tricky because most of them are fundamentally about domestic disputes. There’s crazy magic, but not as much epic plots or world building. So the question is how to involve PCs in these little dramas of inheritance and love and murder. It might work in a one shot but in a campaign structure it’s harder to imagine.

Mark Simmons

"As an adult, if you knock a kid's head off, you have a pretty good idea it was pre-cut." A totally normal thing to say, and an episode so delightful I died! But I got better. A couple of random observations... On juniper berries: Also the main flavoring ingredient of gin, a traditional beverage of my people. On parental grave trees: This comes up in the Grimm version of "Cinderella" as well. Rather than a fairy godmother, Cinderella gets her party bling from a tree that's grown up from her mother's grave, or in some versions via birds that sit in it. "Mom died but she came back as a magic wishing tree" must be one of those recurring motifs.

Rafe Ball

Maybe that millstone was made of the same exploding rock that they stuff the consoles with on Star Trek?

Stewart

If you want a really interesting look at fairy tales in pre-Revolutionary France, I highly recommend the first chapter of Robert Darnton's book The Great Cat Massacre. He covers some wild fairy tales in it, including one where a little girl has a doll that craps gold on command ("crap, crap, my little dolly); when a greedy neighbor steals the doll and tried to repeat the ritual, let's just say the results are rather more literal than he'd like. Anyway, a very fun read. The book from then on gets increasingly dry and academic before culminating in a dreadfully dull chapter about a massive Rousseau fanboy, but I can't recommend that first chapter enough.

Shana Carter

Did you know that Santa Claus has a cannibalism story? Well, St. Nicholas does: according to legend, around 1150 a butcher called Pierre Lenoir (or "Peter Black") killed three children, chopped them up, and put them in a barrel of brine. Seven years later, the hungry saint knocked at his door and asked for a meal, but unfortunately, the only food Pierre had in the house was the barrel of salted kiddies. In some versions, Pierre claims he has nothing to offer, while in others he actually serves St. Nicholas human flesh. Either way, St. Nicholas miraculously resurrects the children. It's believed that Pierre Lenoir is one of the inspirations for Père Fouettard ("Father Whipper" or "Father Flog"), a bearded, whip-wielding figure who, in the Lorraine region of France, accompanies Santa and punishes bad children. Merry Christmas!

Jim Cannon

The "black, white, red" color scheme is pretty common. Deirde of the Sorrows uses it, albeit wishing for a lover, not a child, but it crops up in lots of different places, sometimes when you least expect it.

Corey Wittig

It was great to “be there” when Chris found out about Dave Coulier and Alanis. Cut. It. Out.

Thunk

For research I've just tested this story on my six year old and she was very pleased with it. Captivated. She informed me she will not make a stew out of me when I die.

REO Jackwagon

Well at least he's a lovely bird and not an Ugly Bird.

Erik Jordan Phillips

Well now I’m struggling to come to grips whit why this was my favorite grim fairy tale growing up, because it’s seems to me like this might be the most heinous consequence-free, power fantasy a young man with a step mother could… never mind I got it.

Victoria

I have a baby niece named Juniper, I read this story thinking maybe it would be a sweet one to read to her—nope! Great as always. Cheers

Dan Pratt

Chad—did you take an Ambien 30 seconds before you signed off?