The Grimm brothers were from Germany. They collected German folktales and published them in 1812 in a book called Children’s Tales. The title is very misleading, because most of the stories were far too scary for children. Many stories end with one, some, or all of the characters dying terrible deaths. The endings of the stories are so horrible (and ridiculous), they’re almost funny—who thought up such terrible endings?

You’ve probably heard of many Grimms’ fairy tales, such as “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” and “Snow White.” Here’s one with a truly terrible ending that very few people have ever read. Read it and see what you think.

A mouse, a bird, and a sausage all lived happily together in a little house. Each had a job. The bird flew to the forest every day to collect wood for the fire. The mouse fetched the water from the well. He started the fire and set the table. The sausage cooked all the meals.

The sausage was a great cook. He would chop the vegetables, drop in the meat, and stir the stew. He even flavored the stew himself. He would climb into the great pot over the fire and stir the stew around himself. It gave the stew a great sausage flavor and didn’t harm him at all.

One day, the bird met another bird on his trip to fetch wood.

“Fetching firewood is the hardest work of all,” mocked the other bird. “Why must you do it? Your friends are making a fool out of you!”

This made the bird feel so bad, he returned home without any wood. He then announced to his friends that he would no longer gather wood. To make it fair, the friends drew lots. The sausage got the job of fetching the wood, the mouse would now cook, and the bird’s job was to fetch the water from the well.

Early the next morning, the sausage went out to the forest to collect wood. A long time passed and he didn’t return. After a few hours, the others got worried. The bird flew out to find him. But he saw a dog walking in the place where the sausage should have been.

Can you guess what happened to the sausage? That’s right. The dog ate him. Do you know any dog that can resist a sausage?

The bird brought home the wood for the fire himself. He told the mouse what happened. They were both very sad. But they decided to look on the bright side and go on with life as usual. The bird set the table. The mouse stirred the stew. Then he climbed up into the stew just like the sausage used to do.

Can you guess what happened to the mouse? Mouse stew. That was the end of the mouse.

The bird hadn’t seen what happened to his furry friend. When he went looking for the mouse around the stew pot, he bumped some burning wood out of the fireplace. This lit the whole house up in flames. The bird took his bucket and went to get water to put out the fire, but he fell down the well with the bucket. Can you guess what happened to the bird? He drowned in the well.

Great story! Just kidding. 

The end.