One of the most enjoyable aspects of hearing a fairy tale is being introduced to some of the weirdest and wackiest characters imaginable. Some of the characters who made our list are very well-known, whereas others are quite obscure.
Read on, and enjoy this list of the five weirdest fairy tale characters from around the world!
The doctors in The Three Army Surgeons
In this fairy story that was published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in their 1812 compendium, “Children’s and Household Tales”, we meet three rather revolting characters.
The three army surgeons are, as the name suggests, members of the medical profession.
These doctors travel from village to village, offering their services to local folk. Each night they go to the local inn, and in exchange for free bed and board, each of them performs a grotesque yet intriguing physical feat.
The first doctor is able to cut off his own hand, and then reattach it like brand new. The second doctor can do the same trick, but with his heart. The third doctor can safely remove and reattach his own eyeballs! The secret to their chicanery is a salve that does the reattaching.
Unfortunately, one night the innkeeper’s cat EATS the hand, heart, and eyeballs. In order to cover up the cat’s thievery, a servant girl replaces the body parts (where they have been stored overnight in the larder) with the hand of an executed thief, the heart of a pig, and the eyeballs of a cat.
The unwitting doctors use their magic alve to reattach the foreign body parts the following morning. Sadly for the first doctor, he cannot help but to pickpocket everyone he meets. The second doctor goes rooting around in the mud and takes a liking to eating slops. The third doctor can’t stop chasing mice!
These three army surgeons deserve a place on this list not only for their weird trickery but also for their ensuing bizarre behaviour.
Rapunzel
This long-haired lass needs no introduction, given that her story is one of the most well-known of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales of all time.
Now whilst it is not her fault that she is imprisoned in a tower by an evil witch who masquerades as her mother, Rapunzel has earned herself a place on this list of weirdest fairy tale characters due to her one defining feature – her hair.
Rapunzul’s hair is so long that it reaches all the way to the ground, from the window of her tower above. This beggars believe, given that in real life, no-one’s hair grows that long nor that fast (Rapunzel is only 12 years old when the witch sends her to the tower).
The witch uses the poor girl’s hair to climb up the top each day, to bring Rapunzel food. Would a ladder not be a better choice, for the safety of all involved? All mockery aside though, as we all understand there is never anything commonsensical about fairy tales, as much of their content is allegorical in nature.
Another thing that makes this long-haired heroine more than a little odd is that her mother has cravings for a particular type of lettuce when she is pregnant with Rapunzel. This lettuce is today known by its scientific name, Rapunculus.
So essentially, Rapunzel is named after some salad greens!
The wolf in Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood is a European fairy tale in the oral tradition hailing from France, Germany, and Russia. Both Charles Perrault and the Grimm Brothers recorded their own versions of this cautionary tale in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively.
The wolf from Little Red Riding Hood is one of the most well-known antagonists in fairy tale lore. He spies a young girl in the woods, and dreams up a dastardly scheme in order to devour her.
This ‘big bad’ wolf pretends to be Little Red Riding Hood in order to gain entry into her grandmother’s house, then promptly eats her. He then dons the old woman’s nightgown and night-cap, crawls into her bed, and awaits Little Red Riding Hood to come to the door. Once inside, this villainous lupine convinces the girl to hop into bed with him, where he devours her as well.
The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood deserves a place on this list of weirdest fairy-tale characters because of his desire to dress up in an old woman’s clothing! He could have quite easily eaten the protagonist in the woods, without going to all the trouble of playing dress-ups, so it would seem that he had a thing for ladies apparel!
Rumplestiltskin
Fairy tale fans once again owe a debt of gratitude to the Grimm Brothers for recording this strange fairy tale in their 1812 edition of fairy stories for children.
In this tale, a king offers to marry a beautiful young girl on the condition that she spins a roomful of straw into gold on three successive nights, then he will make her his queen.
Knowing that she cannot achieve this impossible task, she weeps at her spinning wheel. Suddenly, a strange little man appears, and offers to spin the straw into gold for her. The girl has nothing of value to give him in return, so the man suggests that she give him her firstborn child, and they strike a deal.
The king, delighted to find the gold, marries the girl. She gives birth to a girl. The little man appears, and demands the child as per their agreement. The queen begs for mercy and the little man tells her that if she can guess his name, then he will not take the child.
The queen sends messengers to every corner of the kingdom to find the little man. Eventually, one of them comes upon a little house behind a mountain, where he discovers the little man singing and dancing, and laughing about the fact that he will soon take the queen’s child from her. During this song, he reveals his name to be “Rumplestiltskin”.
When Rumplestiltskin appears to take the child, the queen reveals his name to him. He jumps up and down on the floor in a rage, then disappears through the floorboards never to be seen again.
Rumplestiltskin belongs on this list of weirdest fairy tale characters because of his abilities as an alchemist, his suspicious requests, his mysterious disappearance, and his bizarre name!
The Boy Who Drew Cats
The Boy Who Drew Cats is a Japanese fairy tale that was translated to English by Patrick Hearn, and published in his 1898 compendium entitled “Japanese Fairy Tales”.
This story revolves around a little boy who, because he is so weak and frail, cannot work on his father’s farm so he is sent away to a religious temple
When he arrives, the boy develops the strange and compulsive habit of drawing cats everywhere. He defaces sacred books, and the pillars and screens of the temple. The boy is caught, and he is exiled.
The wanders for some time before stumbling upon another temple, which is abandoned. Again succumbing to his compulsion to draw cats everywhere, he finds some ink and a brush and draws huge cats all over the screens of the temple. Then he finds a safe place and falls asleep.
There happens to be a terrifying goblin-rat in the temple, hence why the boy finds it abandoned. He is awoken to the sounds of screaming. When he creeps out of his safe place, he discovers the corpse of the goblin-rat. He turns around to look at his cat drawings, and sees that their mouths are dripping with blood.
The boy in this story belongs on this list of weird fairy tale characters because he clearly has some very magical artistic abilities, and he is also something of a graffiti artist!
References:
“Boy Who Drew Cats, The” (article). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Who_Drew_Cats. Accessed 2nd August, 2021.
“Little Red Riding Hood” (article). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood. Accessed 2nd August, 2021.
“Rapunzel” (article.) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel. Accessed 2nd August, 2021.
“Rumplestiltskin” (article). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpelstiltskin. Accessed 2nd August, 2021.
“Three Army Surgeons, The” (article.) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Army_Surgeons. Accessed 2nd August, 2021.
