This article is a bit weird: even the Grimms sanitized their own stories to appeal to wider audiences, it seems like people in the 19th century didn't think their original editions were suitable for children. The first edition didn't even get translated into English. Reworking fairy tales for different audiences likely is as old as fairy tales- after all, these were ostensibly originally orally transmitted.

They're fairy tales. There is no canonical version. Stories repeated by the fireside do not have original authors. Neither the Grimms or the Germans they got the stories from have a monopoly on what the correct version of the story is.

The original published versions weren't meant for children in the first place:

> “The original edition was not published for children or general readers. Nor were these tales told primarily for children. It was only after the Grimms published two editions primarily for adults that they changed their attitude and decided to produce a shorter edition for middle-class families. This led to Wilhelm’s editing and censoring many of the tales,” he told the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/12/grimm-brothers...