Disney has adapted many stories into iconic and pop-culture-defining films, but their most recognized genre is the fairy tale. This vast genre encompasses stories primarily for children that contain fantastical imagery, archetypal characters, recurring symbolism such as the numbers 3 and 7, and often center around important life lessons. Some of the most iconic examples of Disney’s fairy tales include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, each of which retains the timeless magic of the original tales while updating the characters and story for modern values.

However, when one looks at Disney’s animated canon, they’ll find that less than one-third of the company’s animated classics are based on fairy tales. It’s quite unfortunate because thousands of fairy tales are begging for the company to put their spin on them. This list will highlight those fairy tales that we can’t believe remain untouched by Disney. There won’t be a ranking; instead, we aim to shine a light on these stories and theorize why the House of Mouse hasn’t done anything with them.

10

Donkey Cabbages

Magic items and transformations abound.

A huntsman gives charity to an old woman, who repays him by pointing him towards a flock of ravens fighting over a cloak that can grant wishes. He shoots one raven to get the others to flee and eats its magic heart, which causes a gold coin to appear under his pillow every night. He loses these gifts to a witch and her daughter, but soon stumbles upon patches of magical cabbages that can transform people into donkeys and back into humans.

Donkey Cabbages has a solid foundation to expand into a greater narrative, particularly surrounding the huntsman, the witch, and her daughter as characters. It also features numerous beloved fairy tale clichés, including acts of kindness or cruelty being rewarded or punished more severely than expected, as well as animal transformations. Given that the changes are easily reversible, Disney’s writers could have some fun weaving the transformation elements into the story, perhaps through infiltration missions or wacky chase scenes.

9

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Remember to always pay the piper

In the 13th century, the town of Hamelin suffers an infestation of rats. A man dressed in multicolored clothes appears and offers to get rid of the rats in exchange for a generous sum of money. Using his magic flute, he lures the rats out of town, but when the townsfolk refuse to pay him, he vows revenge.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a simple but poignant tale about keeping true to your world and that, when all is said and done, you have to pay the piper for his service or suffer the consequences. There are a lot of ways Disney could adapt the story, such as expanding what happens after the Piper takes his revenge by luring the children of Hamelin away like he did the rats. The narrative could follow the children who were left behind, which offers the chance for characters with disabilities to take center stage.

8

Rumpelstiltskin

A little man offers miracles for a price

When a miller makes a false claim that his daughter can spin straw into gold, the king locks her in a tower to perform the miracle overnight or be put to death. A small imp-like man then appears and offers to help the girl in exchange for her possessions. The king decides to marry her if she can repeat the miracle, but with nothing else to offer the imp, the woman is forced to bargain with her firstborn child.

Rumpelstiltskin is perhaps one of the best-known fairy tale characters thanks to his silly name, the Faustian bargain, and the evocative image of spinning straw into gold. Imagine what Disney’s animators could do with such an image after seeing some of the gorgeous transformative sequences in films like Frozen and Encanto. As for Rumpelstiltskin himself, he has appeared as the villain in DreamWorks’ Shrek Forever After, but the magical trickster is a versatile archetype, so Disney could easily make their version unique.

7

The Frog Princess

A Russian Czar decides that it is time for his three sons to marry, and tells them to lose an arrow from their bows. Whichever woman finds the arrow is to be their bride, and the Czar will test them to see if they will be good matches. The youngest finds that a frog has claimed his arrow, but she performs well in the trials, revealing herself to be a maiden under a spell.

The Frog Princess bears little in common with the similarly named Frog Prince, instead focusing first on the competition, then on a more harrowing journey to break the curse. This unique approach lends itself perfectly to Disney’s creativity, from depicting the challenges in humorous and extravagant ways to important lessons about not underestimating someone based on appearance. The story also includes Baba Yaga, one of the most famous witches in folklore, whom Disney could easily bring to life with a larger-than-life personality and terrific animation.

6

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Riding on bears and rescuing kidnapped husbands

A white bear comes to a Norwegian family and offers to make them rich if he can marry their youngest daughter. She eventually agrees, and the bear takes her back to his castle, where every night he transforms into a man and sleeps in her bed, but she never sees his face. She eventually glimpses him using a candle given by her mother, but he is whisked away by a witch to marry her daughter, forcing the heroine to embark on a perilous journey to rescue him.

Famed ex-Disney animator Don Bluth had plans to adapt East of the Sun, West of the Moon, but it never materialized. It’s a shame because the story has a bit of everything: epic quests, evocative imagery like a young maiden riding a bear, fantastical locations, trolls, and triumph over impossible odds. Disney could have a lot of fun adapting this one, especially if they were to make musical sequences for when the heroine meets the four winds and the kingdom of trolls.

5

The Seven Ravens

A quest to rescue cursed siblings

When seven boys are unable to collect water for their ill sister, their father, enraged, curses them into ravens who fly off. When she gets better, the sister decides to seek out her missing brothers and bring them home. She asks for help from the sun, moon, and the stars, though she will have to make a tough sacrifice to restore them.

The Seven Ravens has the bones for a great quest story that follows the hero’s journey. The sister’s determination to bring her brothers home demonstrates heroism born not from physical strength, but of love and a desire to mend what is broken, which offers a classical alternative to how many female characters are depicted in today’s media. The inclusion of the celestial bodies as characters also allows for the use of some creative imagery and personalities, especially if Disney chooses to keep the moon’s desire for human flesh.

4

Brother and Sister

The power of sibling love

After their father dies, a brother and sister are made into servants by their wicked stepmother until they decide to run away. Unfortunately, the stepmother is a powerful witch who enchants every water source in the woods, causing the brother to turn into a deer when he drinks from one. His sister builds a house to live with him in the forest, but years later, a king comes upon them while hunting and wishes for the sister to be his Queen.

Brother and Sister is a story focused on the power of familial bonds, which Disney is no stranger to representing in their films. However, they tend to focus on same-sex sibling bonds, like in Lilo & Stitch or Frozen, or family as a unit, like in the criminally underrated Meet the Robinsons. This fairy tale shows the power of a brother-sister bond, something rarely seen in animation. The brother’s transformation into a deer, and his sister remaining by his side, can also serve as an allegory for living with a family member with a disability.

3

Prince Lindworm

Not all dragons fly

A queen seeks the advice of a wise woman to have children, and is told to seek out two roses, one red and one white, and eat one. The queen ends up eating both, and later gives birth to twins: the elder is a lindworm (a serpentine dragon with two legs) and the younger a regular human. When the younger prince matures and wishes to marry, the lindworm demands that, as the eldest, a bride be found for him first.

Dragons have had an impressive history in film, and Prince Lindworm is a story that presents one of their lesser-seen designs that can shake things up from the majestic winged fire-breathers audiences are used to. The Lindworm is also a fascinating character whose actions and motivations are both understandable and horrific, which offers a lot of different ways his character can be written. The method by which he is eventually given human form is pretty creative as well, demonstrating how varied the solutions to fairy tale problems can be.

2

Trusty John

A loyal servant until the end

As an elderly king lies on his deathbed, he tasks his servant, John, with ensuring that the prince does not go into a specific room. Unfortunately, the new king does as he wishes and is smitten by the portrait of a beautiful princess he finds inside. John does what he can to help the king marry her, but on the way home, he overhears from three ravens that horrible calamities will befall the couple, and should anyone try to stop them, they will turn to stone if they reveal the truth.

Trusty John feels tailor-made for Disney to deliver an iconic animated duo between John and the young king. Though he is a servant, John goes above and beyond in his efforts to keep his sovereign safe, and the king trusts him despite how strange his actions are. All the writers need to do is expand on their personalities, perhaps with some contrasting or complementary traits, and the rest basically writes itself.

1

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs

An impossible task with curious turns

The local king learns that a newborn peasant child is prophesied to marry his daughter, and so he does all that he can to kill him. When these plans fail, he presents the boy with an impossible task: go to hell and collect three hairs from the Devil’s head. During his quest, the boy comes upon two towns whose magical fountain and tree are no longer working, and a man cursed to ferry people across a river.

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs already has a proper three-act structure, so it wouldn’t be that big of a leap to turn it into a film. It even comes with two antagonists, the king and the Devil, which could give Disney a chance to return to its roots of iconic villains. It also has plenty of options for fun side-characters, such as a group of bandits who take pity on the boy, and the Devil’s Grandmother, who helps him collect the hairs. The dark subject matter might have once put off the studio, but today’s sensibilities are far better suited to explore a more complex story.

NEXT: 10 Best Movies That Prove Fairy Tales Are Timeless