Fairy Tales, like most children's stories, serve the purpose of entertaining the children as well as teaching lessons. The particularly gruesome stories such as the Handless Maiden or The Robber Bridegroom are intended to strike fear into children and compel them to behave properly. Though neither female characters in these stories ever did anything wrong, their purity and innocence is what prevented them from being chopped to little pieces or taken away by "Evil" men.
There is a very bold line between "good" and "evil" in these fairy tales. They are structured this way partly because in a child's mind, everything is very black and white. It is easy for them to understand the concept of good and evil. They are taught that if they behave badly they will be punished and that only by behaving well can they combat works of evil. The Handless Maiden was kept safe from the evil man because her water and tears washed her "clean". This cleanliness is a sign of her purity and shows that she is a "good" person. By being "good" she is protected from evil.
Her father is less strong and cuts off her hands for fear for his own life. The violence in this case is not so much a lesson on how to behave as it is an example of how giving in to evil results in tragedy. If children are taught to associate violence with evil they will hopefully be inclined to act properly and be "good".
These stories have become so universally known because they are simple stories which appeal to children everywhere. Children are more or less the same world wide. Aside from different upbringings, they think in relatively the same manner. They are usually easily entertained and like to reread the same stories over and over. They like knowing the ending to their favorite stories. All of the Grimm Fairy Tales have happy endings which is also appealing to children. Though they wrap themselves up quickly and have resolutions that don't necessarily make sense, children around the world enjoy them.
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