# Fairy Tale Endings \[spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482 "2016-01-08T08:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482/1 "2016-01-08T08:54:52Z")
The ending to [The Girl Without Hands](http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm031.html) is as follows: > [@](#): > > The angel said to her, “Go into the next room with your child. Your husband has come.” > > She went to where he was lying, and the cloth fell from his face. > > Then she said, “Filled-with-Grief, pick up the cloth for your father and put it over his face again.” > > The child picked it up and put it over his face again. The king heard this in his sleep and let the cloth fall again. > > Then the little boy grew impatient and said, “Mother, dear, how can I cover my father’s face? I have no father in this world. I have learned to pray, ‘Our father which art in heaven,’ and you have said that my father is in heaven, and that he is our dear God. How can I know such a wild man? He is not my father.” > > Hearing this, the king arose and asked who she was. > > She said, “I am your wife, and this is your son Filled-with-Grief.” > > He saw her living hands and said, “My wife had silver hands.” > > She answered, “Our merciful God has caused my natural hands to grow back.” > > The angel went into the other room, brought back the silver hands, and showed them to him. Now he saw for sure that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them, and rejoiced, and said, “A heavy stone has fallen from my heart.” > > Then the angel of God gave them all something to eat, and then they went back home to his old mother. There was great joy everywhere, and the king and the queen conducted their wedding ceremony once again, and they lived happily until their blessed end. Because of the garishness of the story, or something, I question if I really grasp what this story _means_. What does it mean, folks? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482/2 "2016-01-08T20:19:58Z")
It means that the girl sacrificed herself to save her father, and in the end was rewarded. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482/3 "2016-01-09T05:28:33Z")
Ok, thanks. It seems like the imagery is echoing references that I may not be entirely on top of. It seems like the cloth falling off of the King’s face is an echo of something(s), but I don’t feel confident that I have all the possibilities at my fingertips. A son named Filled-With-Grief seems pretty loaded, though I wonder if I can map out the full spectrum of meanings. Her hands grow back. Apparently there is a version of the story where her hands do not grow back, silver hands is the best she does. How important is this detail? There are just 3 examples. I don’t feel like I grasp the full extent of this story… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482/4 "2016-01-09T08:51:48Z")
“Husband completely forgets wife” is a recurring theme; not very frequent thankfully as the reunion tends to be handed as if the author was running out of either inspiration or time (or both). I recently saw an Italian 1000 nights where the sultan turned out to be Aladdin and Scherezade his forgotten wife… and moving out of total schlock with bare midriffs, the little bit you quoted could be a Christened version of the story of Sita and Rama (which still may include bare midriffs but it’s not schlock). ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fairy-tale-endings-spoilers/742482/5 "2016-01-09T15:31:15Z")
Yeah, it doesn’t seem like the girl is so especially rewarded. The Devil pretty much screws up her whole life. She is never reunited with her family, she spends all those years separated from her husband, and her child ends up filled with grief, literally. Her hands grow back, and that’s nice, but it is many years, if not over a decade, later. If the girl is supposed to be the hero, it is hard to imagine being inspired to imitate her by this story.