Quote Originally Posted by schattentanz View Post
On a sidenote:
"Fairy Tale" translates in German into "Märchen", which is the diminutive of "Mahr".
The term "Mahr" describes a sinister creature of ancient folklore. That creature enters your house through your keyhole at night, resting on your body as you sleep inducing all kinds of Horrors into your dreams.
Another, probably better known name of the Mahr is "Nachtalb" (night elf).

The English language still knows this fellow: the nightmare.

This has nothing to do with cartography at all - but language is just soooooo interesting

Kind regards,
Kai
That is really interesting and makes a lot of sense when one considers that the original version of fairy tales were pretty bloody, gory, earthy affairs. I remember when I was in my thirties and Rumplestilskin happened to be on the television. I remarked to my mother how odd it was that he wanted the girl's first born child (what would a dwarf want with a small child?). My mum's very words, 'Has your expensive eduction taught you nothing? When the girl ran out of things to give him, she gave him the only thing she had left - her virginity.'

I think in the original version of Cinderella one of the ugly sisters chops off her toes so she can put the slipper on and when the prince finds out how they tried to cheat them, they were forced to wear red hot iron shoes until they danced themselves to death.

So yeah, the Fairytale / Nightmare crossover makes a lot of sense!