I’d arrived at that place in “The Juniper Tree,” by the Brothers Grimm, where the stepmother offers her young stepson an apple, then cuts off his head. She uses as her knife the sharp-edged lid of the trunk into which the boy leans to select the piece of fruit she’s promised him. Next, she sits the boy’s body in a chair by the door, and balances his head on his neck, tying a red kerchief around his wound. When the boy’s young sister returns home and sees her brother sitting with an apple in his lap, she asks for one also. The stepmother instructs the young girl to go ask her brother for his apple. “If he won’t give it to you, slap his cheek.” The girl does as she’s told. When her brother does not answer, she slaps his cheek, causing his head to fall off and roll on the ground. Overcome with horror, she runs to her stepmother. “See what you’ve done? You’ve killed him,” chastises the stepmother. “But I’ll protect you,” she reassures. “Nobody needs to know.”
