So, yeah, that’s the end of this insane tale! When Elle said she wanted to illustrate this one I went back and reread the tale. I was mortified and in stitches laughing, then feeling guilty about it. I think this just illustrates how crazy some of the Grimm tales can be sometimes. Of course, Elle did an amazing job in bringing it to life as well, absurdity and all.
Monday starts a new tale, Snow White and Rose Red, illustrated by Gina. This will be the first long tale Gina has illustrated since The Farmer’s Clever Daughter. She’s done a bunch of the shorter ones, of course. See you then!
Awww I don’t know wether to laugh or cry about this tale overall.
YEAH!!!! I can’t wait for Monday! hehehe!
OH GOD I HAVE A CRAMP FROM LAUGHING!!! Am I a bad person D:?
Well… now’s he’s dead too. :(
Great job Elle! You really caught the story with that last panel :)
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA for Snow White and Rose Red!!! SO EXCITED AND THANK YOU!!! Can’t wait to add this to my Erstwhile book collection when you print :)
Well this was all quite humorously depressing
…I was told this tale wouldn’t be all that good. This is…just what.
It always did make me laugh, in a black-humor kind of way, that the original Grimm story ended with, “And then everyone was dead.” This is one of those stories that seems sad at first but then is so absurd and ridiculous that it loops around to comedy, in my opinion!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrossesTheLineTwice
I think Elle’s art really pushes this from “rocks fall, everyone dies” to hilarious. In prose, you can picture a stream large enough to drown a lion. The fact that this is more like the babbling brook from Robin Hood: Men in Tights had me in stitches.
Haha, I barely remembered this one until I read this comic, but I loved it. Elle’s art was cute and the story was kinda sad and funny at the same time.
Also: Yay, Snow White and Rose Red! Another one of my favorites! Can’t wait ’til Monday!
Hen chokes everybody dies
I’ve always loved this tale because of the complete absurdity. It sounds like something some exasperated parents made up when their kids wouldn’t stop bugging them to tell them a story as a delay tactic for postponing bedtime. “You want a story? Fine. Here you go.” And then the kids never ask for a story again. And the Bros. Grimm collect it and pass it on to other exasperated parents — a hidden gem amidst all the other tales that can be told under less exasperating conditions. :)
So yes, I find this story darkly hilarious. And I can’t even begin to express how much I love how it is perfectly illustrated here. Thanks for tackling this odd little tale. :)
“Hen chokes everybody dies” is the new official phrase, I think.
I too nearly died when reading a translation of the Grimms’ take upon this.
“… And dug a grave for her and laid her in it, and made a mound above it, on which he sat down and fretted until he died too, and then every one was dead.”
Omg… there are really strange tales <.< This was one too hard to understand anything!!
I remember reading Snow White and Rose Red when I was little, but can't remember the plot, I guess it will be another good one to read :)
Wow. What a waste of perfectly good chicken. A family could have stewed that rooster and had a good meal. Instead, it fretted away on top of a grave.
So excited! Snow White and Rose Red is one of my favorites!
I was in stitches, too. The version I was reading also had the “and then everyone died” ending, and I fell over laughing. It was one of the most perfectly screwed up endings.
Moral of the story> Don’t be selfish. If you are everyone will die.
^This is perfect. Hilarious, and slightly true. I’ve watched a number of sci-fi shows that could be boiled down to this same moral.
Other morals:
Don’t bother with giving the dead proper burials.
Dedication is no substitute for proper medical training and knowing how to swim.
Basic infrastructure, such as bridges and well-paved roads, is important.
If someone doesn’t survive something, don’t count on others surviving the same thing. And don’t place others in a position of relying on you surviving the same thing.
Burial at sea and other forms of water burial are perfectly respectable traditions.
No force in the world is more destructive than a god who’s out to kill everyone.
Sometimes it’s best to just move on.
Elle’s portrayal of expressions is always wonderful. The poor little rooster looks _so_ cutely distraught the whole time.
…Okay, just for the record:
Well? This is all your fault.
Damn straight. I hope some people come and drain all the water and when it dries up, they tear it apart and replace it with something. Like a farm.
A well told tale, but I think there is a good reason why most of us didn’t hear this one when we were kids.
To paraphrase the well-used German fairy tale ending, “And if they haven’t died, they’re still there.”
OMG! Thank you for choosing that tale next! It was one of my favorite stories when I was younger! Can’t wait to see the illustrations :3
Directed by Joss Whedon.
Nothing should ever be directed by Joss Whedon. Ever.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
“All by myself, Don’t wanna be all by myself, anymore.” Perfectly sums this one up.
This is such an absurd tale, if this tale wasn’t illustrated so adorably, I would not have felt so sorry for that rooster as I did.
Anyhow, Can’t wait for Snow White and Rose Red.
This was true love.
Dang. That’s heavy. And also hilarious. Well told, I hadn’t read that one before and was avoiding wikipedia style summaries until it finished here. Somehow I doubt it would have come across as oddly, gravely humorous if I had read it first in plain script than it did with me first reading it here in Erstwhile.
Great job ladies! I look forward to the next story!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!! You made me cry!!!!
Snow White and Rose Red was one of my absolute favorites from when I was a child!!!
And yet…still a better ending than Mass Effect 3.
Then everyone was dead… such a morbid tale
Everyone Dies: The Comic
This must have been the Grimm equivalent of a Gary Jennings novel.
This has been No-Morale Theatre’s production of “The Little Hen”. Good night, and remember that prescription pill-overdose is just as effective as a gun, and less messy.
…This story was both hilarious, and depressing at the same time…
Sweet lord. Does anyone else realize that she actually did share something? Because she certainly found death on that mountain. Shared it with fucking everyone. Well played Grimm
Why couldn’t the lazy Bride just stand up and get her own wreath?