KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 10 -- Fairy tales have a way of beguiling us, pulling us deeper and deeper into their narratives and (sometimes) terrible tropes. Yet fairy tales also keep us captivated, romancing our better selves and promising better days to come.

Happy endings, they are called.

Of course, we might be thinking of the cleaned up, Disney-fied variants of stories such as the Sleeping Beauty or Little Red Riding Hood. The good ol' Brothers Grimm had altogether, well, grimmer versions for every childhood favourite of ours, usually involving more bloodshed and unsavoury meals.

Don't fret over which take of Snow White you might have inadvertently picked up at the bookstore and whether it's even safe for tender ears and innocent eyes (our...