How the Grimm Brothers Saved the Fairy Tale | Humanities How the Grimm Brothers Saved the Fairy Tale By Jack Zipes | HUMANITIES, March/April 2015 | Volume 36, Number 2 The young son of a Lord extends kindness to a caged man in “The Wild Man.” —Illustration © Andrea Dezsö A desperate young man makes a bargain for his soul in “The Devil in the Green Coat.” —Illustration © Andrea Dezsö An impoverished King sells his youngest daughter to an enchanted whale in “The Three Sisters.” —Illustration © Andrea Dezsö “Hans My Hedgehog,” the name given to an unlikely son, tends his pigs with his trusty rooster.

—Illustration © Andrea Dezsö A donkey prince learns to play the flute and find happiness in “The Little Donkey.” —Illustration © Andrea Dezsö When a princess loses her golden ball in the pond, she makes a deal with a frog in “The Frog King, or Iron Henry.” —Illustration © Andrea Dezsö Two hundred years ago, two young German librarians by the names of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published a collection of tales that would become one of the most influential works of folklore in Germany, Europe, and eventually the world. Between 1812 and 1857, seven editions of their tales appeared, each one different from the last, until the final, best-known version barely resembled the first. Given that the first edition has recently been honored in bicentenary celebrations throughout the world, it is perhaps a good time to reexamine what we think we know about the original tales of the Brothers Grimm. The stories the Brothers Grimm first collected are brusque, blunt, absurd, comical, and tragic, and are not, strictly speaking, “fairy tales.” In fact, the Grimms never intended the tales to be read by children.

The tales are about children and families and how they reacted to the difficult conditions under which they lived. The Grimms thought the stories and their morals emanated naturally from the German people in an oral tradition, and they wanted to preserve them before the tales were lost forever. In gathering the tales, the Grimms made a unique contribution to folklore, and their Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children and Household Tales) is even listed by UNESCO in its Memory of the World Registry. It was in large part their first edition, published in two volumes in 1812 and 1815, that inspired folklorists in Europe and Great Britain to gather tales from their oral traditions to preserve as part of their cultural heritage. This first edition is wholly unlike the so-called definitive edition of 1857. In the process of publishing seven different editions over forty years, the Grimms made vast changes in the contents and style. The stories in the first edition are closer to the oral tradition than the tales of the final, which can be regarded more as a literary collection, because Wilhelm, the younger brother, continually honed the tales so that they would resonate with a growing literary public.

Their books would become second in popularity only to the Bible in German-speaking lands. By the twentieth century, they would become the most famous collection of folk and fairy tales in the western world. When Jacob (b. 1785) and Wilhelm (b. 1786) began collecting folk tales and songs at the beginning of the nineteenth century, they were precocious students at the University of Marburg, still in their teens. They grew up quite fast, plagued by money problems and caring for their siblings—their father died in 1796, leaving the once middle-class family in poverty. Their situation was further aggravated by the rampant Napoleonic Wars. Jacob interrupted his studies to serve the Hessian War Commission, although Wilhelm passed his law exams and found work as a low- paid librarian in the royal library. In 1807, Jacob lost his position with the War Commission, when the French occupied Kassel, but he was then hired as a librarian for the new King Jérome, Napoleon’s brother, who now ruled Westphalia. Amidst all the upheavals, their mother died in 1808, and Jacob and Wilhelm became fully responsible for their three younger brothers and sister.

Despite difficult personal problems and meager financial support from 1805 to 1812, the brothers proved themselves to be innovative scholars in the new field of German philology by publishing articles and books on medieval literature. In fact, they would be surprised to learn that they are more famous today for their tales than for their superb philological studies, which include pioneering work on German sound shifts, and the founding of the voluminous German Dictionary in 1854. But it was their training in philology and the demands that they placed on themselves as researchers that assisted their collecting and editing the tales. In 1808, their friend, the romantic poet Clemens Brentano, asked them to collect all types of folk tales so he could use them in a book of literary fairy tales. In 1810, they sent him fifty-four texts, which they fortunately copied. Fortunately, because Brentano then lost the manuscript in the Ölenberg Monastery in Alsace and never used the Grimms’ texts. When they realized that Brentano was not going to use the tales, they decided, upon the advice of another romantic writer and mutual friend, Achim von Arnim, to publish their collection.

It had grown to eighty-six tales, which they published in 1812, and then another seventy, which they published in 1815. What compelled the Grimms to concentrate on old German epics, tales, and literature was a belief that the most natural and pure forms of culture—those which held the community together—were linguistic and based in history. According to them, modern literature, even though it might be remarkably rich, was artificial and thus could not express the genuine essence of Volk culture that emanated naturally from experience and bound the people together. Therefore, all their efforts went toward uncovering stories from the past. In their preface, the Grimms explained their interest in the culture of the common people, and their intention in recording their tales: “It was perhaps just the right time to record these tales since those people who should be preserving them are becoming more and more scarce. . . . Wherever the tales still exist, they continue to live in such a way that nobody ponders whether they are good or bad, poetic or crude. People know them and love them because they have simply absorbed them in a habitual way. And they take pleasure in them without having any reason.

This is exactly why the custom of storytelling is so marvelous.” In short, the Grimms’ first collection was shaped as an archaeological excavation and as a book for adults and for scholars. Their tales were not to be classified as children’s stories, not even today. Although the young Grimms had not entirely formalized their concept of folklore while they worked on the publication of the first edition, they held to their original principle: to salvage relics from the past. They intended to trace and grasp the essence of cultural evolution and to demonstrate how natural language, stemming from the needs, customs, and rituals of the common people, created authentic bonds and helped forge civilized communities. This is one of the reasons why they called their collection of tales an educational manual (Erziehungsbuch), for the tales recalled the basic values of the Germanic people through storytelling. The Grimms wanted to bequeath the oral tales to the German people, not realizing that these tales would assume relevance in all cultures. Though the tales can be considered part of a German nationalist movement in the nineteenth century, they were also related to tales from many other nations, and this relationship accounts for their international appeal today.

Turning to the tales of the first edition, a reader might notice that many of the stories such as “The Hand with the Knife,” “How Some Children Played at Slaughtering,” and “The Children of Famine,” have nothing to do with fairies or happy endings. Instead, these are stark narratives about brutal living conditions in the nineteenth century. For instance, “The Children of Famine” begins this way: Once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters, and they had become so poor that they no longer had even a piece of bread to put in their mouths. Their hunger became so great that their mother became unhinged and desperate. Indeed, she said to her children, “I’ve got to kill you so that I can get something to eat.” In another haunting tale, “The Godfather,” a poor man in need of a godfather unknowingly chooses the devil, who may eat him after a visit to the devil’s house of horrors. These tales were omitted in later editions. Some tales, such as “Puss in Boots,” “Bluebeard,” “Princess Mouseskin,” and “Okerlo,” were also omitted because they were con-sidered too French to be included in a German collection.

Though it is impossible to clarify fully why certain tales were deleted or placed in footnotes in later editions, we do know that “Death and the Goose Boy” was omitted because of its baroque literary features; “The Strange Feast,” because of its close resemblance to “Godfather Death”; “The Stepmother,” because of its fragmentary nature and cruelty; and “The Faithful Animals,” because it came from the Siddhi-Kür, a collection of Mongolian tales. From the first edition in 1812/1815 to the final one in 1857, the Grimms received numerous versions of tales already in their collection and new tales from strangers, friends, and colleagues, and they often decided to replace one tale with another version, to delete some of the tales, or to include variants in their footnotes. In contrast to the final 1857 edition, most of the tales in the first edition are shorter and sparser. They have a rawness that was later to be refined.

For example, “Rapunzel” is embellished a great deal in the final edition: First Edition Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife who had been wishing for a child for many years, but it had all been in vain. Finally, the woman became pregnant. Now, in the back of their house the couple had a small window that overlooked a fairy’s garden filled with all kinds of flowers and herbs. But nobody ever dared to enter it. Seventh Edition Once upon a time there was a husband and wife who for quite some time had been wishing in vain for a child. Finally, the dear Lord gave the wife a sign of hope that their wish would be fulfilled. Now, in the back of their house the couple had a small window that overlooked a splendid garden filled with the most beautiful flowers and herbs. The garden, however, was surrounded by a high wall, and nobody dared enter it because it belonged to a sorceress, who was very powerful and feared by all. Aside from adding a Christian motif and substituting a sorceress for a fairy, Wilhelm Grimm also concealed a later scene in the first edition when Rapunzel reveals that she apparently had sex with the prince and was impregnated by him.

Other differences in the editions show: In the first, Snow White’s mother, not her stepmother, wants to kill the beautiful girl out of envy. The terse tale called “The Wild Man,” in which a mysterious powerful king helps a boy who has helped him escape from a cage, is embellished and transformed into a very long elaborate tale with the title “Iron Hans.” The wild man in the 1812 version is more kind than the stern Iron Hans, who determines the young man’s destiny in a coming-of-age story. Likewise, “The Devil in the Green Coat” is given a new title, “Bearskin,” and a totally new beginning and meaning. In the 1812 tale, the Grimms portrayed an oppressed, timid young man, abandoned in the woods by his brothers. He accepts the devil’s green coat that will enable him to survive for seven years if he doesn’t shave or clean himself. In the much longer 1857 version there are echoes of the Napoleonic wars: The protagonist is a discharged and homeless soldier who is treated poorly by his family and then turns to the devil for survival.

All of the tales in the first edition bear the marks of their diverse storytellers who believed in the magic, superstitions, and miraculous transformations of the tales. It may be difficult for us to understand why this is the case, but for the storytellers and writers of these tales, the stories contained truths about the living conditions of their times. The tales in the first edition were collected not from peasants, as is commonly believed, but mainly from literate people whom the Grimms came to know quite well. Evidence shows that these people often obtained their tales from illiterate or anonymous informants. Even if they did not know their informants, the Grimms came to trust almost everyone who contributed to their collection. It is this mutual trust that marks the tales as something special and endows them with a certain humanity, what Germans call Menschlichkeit, and it is this mutual trust among folklorists in the nineteenth century that marks it as the golden age of folk and fairy tales. The tales in the first edition set a certain standard that collectors began to follow and still follow even today.

Though brusque and raw, the Grimms’ tales of the first edition still resonate with us today because they indicate how we can transform ourselves and our conditions to live in a better world. As philologists, collectors, translators, researchers, editors, and mediators, the Grimms worked in the hope that their tales would benefit us in unimaginable ways, and, indeed, it is this hope that can still be felt when we read and listen to their tales. About the Author Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. His three most recent books are: The Golden Age of Folk and Fairy Tales: From the Brothers Grimm to Andrew Lang (2013), The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (2014), and Grimm Legacies: The Magic Power of the Grimms’ Folk and Fairy Tales (2015), and this article is based on material from his books. He received an NEH fellowship for his work on the origins of European fairy tales. Andrea Dezsö is a visual artist and associate professor of art at Hampshire College.

Keywords Journeying through South America, Alexander von Humboldt sought nothing less than "the unity of nature." By Anna Maria Gillis Famed translators Pevear and Volokhonsky reach another milestone. By Kevin Mahnken Frankness and plain speaking made Carl Sandburg a celebrity. By Danny Heitman In studying the sea, we are returning to our beginnings. By John R. Gillis What accounts for Emerson's endurance as a writer? By Danny Heitman Grimm Brothers' Home Page Grimm Brothers' Home Page Major individual works of Wilhelm Grimm . The Grimms' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms Fairy Tales) compiled, translated, and classified by D. L. Ashliman. (This is a separate file, and opens in a new window.) Grimms' Fairy Tales in English , an Internet bibliography. (This is a separate file, and opens in a new window.) Studies of specific tales . Electronic texts of the Grimms' tales and legends. Journals and Encyclopedias. Web sites associated with academic journals and reference works that often include articles about the Grimms' tales.

Return to: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales) compiled, translated, and classified by D. L. Ashliman. D. L. Ashliman's folktexts , a library of folktales, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology. Chronology of their life 1785 . Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm is born January 4, 1785, in Hanau, Germany, son of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm (a lawyer and court official) and his wife Dorothea Grimm, née Zimmer. 1786 . Wilhelm Carl Grimm is born February 24, 1786, in Hanau, Germany, son of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm and Dorothea Grimm.

The children of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm and Dorothea Grimm Friedrich Hermann Georg Grimm (1783-1784) Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785-1863) Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786-1859) Charlotte (Lotte) Amalie Hassenpflug, neé Grimm (1793-1833) Georg Eduard Grimm (1794-1795) 1791. The Grimm family moves to Steinau. 1796 . Philipp Wilhelm Grimm, father of eight Grimm brothers and one Grimm sister, dies January 10, 1796, at the age of 44. Three of his nine children have preceded him in death. His oldest surviving child, Jacob, is 11 years old. 1798 . Jacob and Wilhelm move to Kassel, their mother's home city, to enter secondary school. The 13 and 14 year old boys will live with an aunt. 1802 . Jacob begins his study of law at the University of Marburg. 1803 .

Wilhelm begins his study of law at the University of Marburg. 1806 . Jacob and Wilhelm, influenced by the folk poetry collection of Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, begin to collect folktales (Märchen). 1808 . Dorothea Grimm, mother of eight Grimm brothers and one Grimm sister, dies May 27, 1808, at the age of 52. In order to support his younger brothers and sister, Jacob takes a position as a librarian at Kassel. Wilhelm will follow soon. 1812 . The Grimm brothers publish volume one of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children' and Household Tales -- commonly known as Grimms' Fairy Tales), an unpretentious book containing 86 numbered folktales. 1814 . Volume two of Kinder- und Hausmärchen appears in print, pre-dated 1815, adding 70 stories to the previous collection. This famous work will see six additional editions during the Grimms' lifetime.

In its final version it will contain 200 numbered stories plus 10 "Children's Legends." It is destined to become the best known and most influential book ever created in the German language. 1816, 1818 . The Grimms publish two volumes of Deutsche Sagen, a collection totalling 585 German legends. 1819 . Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm receive honorary doctorates from the University of Marburg. Their scholarly work on linguistics, folklore, and medieval studies continues, resulting in many publications. 1825 . Wilhelm Grimm marries Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild, who -- together with other members of her family -- had provided the Jacob and Wilhelm with many of their best folktale texts. 1829-1830 . The Grimms resign their positions as librarians in Kassel and accept positions at the University of Göttingen as librarians and professors. 1837-1841 . Professors Grimm join five of their university colleagues in a formal protest against a constitutional violation of Ernst August, King of Hannover. The seven professors (Die Göttinger Sieben) are fired.

The Grimm brothers receive many offers for new positions, and finally accept appointments at the University of Berlin. 1842-1852 . The Grimms continue their scholarly work and political activities, but finally give up their formal appointments at the University of Berlin (Jacob in 1848, Wilhelm in 1852) in order to dedicate themselves to their own studies and research. 1859 . Wilhelm Grimm dies December 16, 1859, at the age of 73. 1863 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Brothers and Best Friends on the Fairy Tale Road | Librarypoint Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Brothers and Best Friends on the Fairy Tale Road By: Without Jacob and Wilhelm’s efforts to gather folk tales from their German homeland and making them popular worldwide, it’s unlikely we’d know Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, or Snow White. A Fairy Tale Childhood There were no wicked witches, ravenous wolves, or evil stepmothers in their lives, but there was plenty of drama. Jacob and Wilhelm came from a large family and were born in the village of Hanau.

Their father was a magistrate and town leader, and as long as he was alive the family lived comfortably. Their parents kept them to very high moral standards. Their father’s motto was: Tute si recte vixeris … “He cannot go wrong whose life is in the right.” Their family was genuinely religious, and they saw the hardships and good times in their lives as being a part of God’s plan. The children were expected to work hard and be good, and they succeeded in this. Their well-developed character became critically important after their father died of pneumonia when the boys were about ten and eleven years old. The family had to move out of the large house with servants to a much smaller house where everyone needed to do their share of ordinary work. There were no government programs to help the poor, so the boys’ mother had to rely on help from her relatives and their father’s small pension to keep the family fed. Though still a child in years, because he was the eldest boy Jacob was now considered the head of the household. He was expected to take care of the money and plan his future to make sure his mother and siblings would be financially secure.

The family believed the boys were smart and could do well with more education so they sent them to the lyceum (high school, also known as a gymnasium) in nearby Kassel. This was the first time the brothers were away from home, and they struggled at first. Their early teachers had not prepared them well for a rigorous high school. Their new teachers treated them rudely in the beginning. Most all the other boys came from well-to-do families and had better early schooling. They certainly had more pocket money and time to spend on fun than the Grimm brothers. Jacob and Wilhelm had to do extra work to catch up to the other students. But they succeeded and soon the teachers began to respect their efforts. The Grimm brothers were inseparable at school and for most of the rest of their lives. The got up at the same time in the morning. They took their breaks together. They studied together. They went to sleep at the same time. Though the closest of friends, the brothers were very different people. Jacob, the eldest, was serious, introverted, and active. Wilhelm was outgoing and talkative, but he suffered from asthma and was not physically strong.

After graduation, their mother wanted them to study law so they applied to the University of Marburg . As he was a year older, Jacob went first. He was turned down when he first applied not because he was a poor student but because he didn’t belong to the right level of society. The university was in the kingdom of Hesse, and the rulers had decreed that since there were too many students applying for the university, only those in the legally defined top seven levels of society could attend. Jacob Grimm, as the son of a magistrate, fell into the eighth level of society so the university refused to accept him no matter how good a student he was. His mother wrote a letter to the Hessian ruler asking for special permission for her son to attend. This was granted, which was good for Jacob’s future but hard on the brothers as it was the first time they had ever been separated. Back in Kassel, Wilhelm became seriously ill and was confined to his room for six months. He was not allowed to read or write, but he was allowed to sketch, and every day his friend Paul Wigand, the son of a university professor, would come to talk with him and keep him company.

When he went back to class he not only caught up on the work he missed but advanced beyond what most students were taught in a year. Soon he was ready to join Jacob in Marburg. A Favorite Teacher At Marburg, Wilhelm and Jacob were joined by their friend Paul, who almost didn’t get in either because of his lower social status. The boys were especially impressed by a young professor, Friedrich Karl von Savigny . This professor didn’t give dry lectures and expect the students to copy down and memorize lists of facts. He encouraged them to expand their thinking and gave the brothers access to his library. In those days, free public libraries were not an option so access to these books opened up new worlds for the Grimms. The professor taught them the careful research methods they would use later on when collecting their stories. He taught them the importance of German history and ideas and how these studies were as important as the Greek and Roman studies they learned at the university. They met other writers at who were interested in their country’s heritage at the professor’s house. Later on these writers would claim that they got the Grimms started on their path to fame.

The following year, Professor von Savigny went to Paris to conduct research at their national library, and he soon wrote to ask Jacob to join him as his assistant. This meant dropping out of law school and putting off the day when he could be a real support to his family, but Jacob’s mother and aunt agreed to let him do it. War Comes to the German States When Jacob returned from his work in Paris, the best job he could find was as a clerk in the Hessian War Office. It was boring work, but as Napoleon was on the march with his French army with an eye towards conquering Hessen-Kassel it would soon be important work. When the French took over, Jacob continued working at what was now the French War Office, but he heard about a much better and much less boring position in the royal library. There was new “royalty” in town, as Napoleon Bonaparte had put his youngest brother Jerome on the throne of Westphalia, which included Hesse. Jerome and his queen had about 12,000 books in their library, and they were not very interested in reading. The only other people who were allowed to use the books were the librarian and his assistant: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

All too soon Wilhelm developed serious heart problems that demanded he not just stop work but also go to the city of Halle find special treatment. Electric shock therapy was just one of the many torturous treatments he received. When he wasn’t getting strange therapies, he was poring through old books looking for folktales and spending time with his old friends. The folktales they gathered filled a real need with the German people. Having been conquered by the French, they were very interested in preserving their history and their ways of life. Although their first book of folklore, Household Tales was written with an eye towards scholarship, it found another audience with parents and children throughout the land. The Grimms gathered stories--and not just from their library books. They also went out and found storytellers who remembered time-polished tales. These people might be housewives—Wilhelm’s wife Dortchen passed on stories she knew—craftsmen, or servants. They asked their friends for help, too. Paul Wigand, their old friend from their school days, had taken a job as a magistrate which meant he saw a lot of interesting people who had committed crimes in the course of his daily work.

Jacob asked him to interview the criminals and take down their “robber songs, superstitions, and sayings” exactly as they said them. Friend though he was, Paul was not very forthcoming with folklore material. It was brothers’ early preference for writing down the exact way that stories were told that made them different from most others who recorded stories during this period. The Grimms wanted the stories told as they had been for years by mostly uneducated people. Jacob and Wilhelm did not want them dressed up with fancy language or rewritten to make them poke fun at political figures as other writers had done. Some of these stories were considered to be too violent for children. The brothers tried to explain to their critics that although many of the stories appealed to children, Household Tales was not really created for them. It was created for the brothers’ fellow scholars and to help preserve the German heritage. But in years to come, some of those early stories would appear in later editions of the book significantly changed to make them more acceptable to children and their parents. A few of the more violent tales were dropped entirely. Happily Ever After Older brother Jacob never married. It was outgoing Wilhelm who married Dorothea Wild, the daughter of a pharmacist in Kassel.

By the time they wed, they had known each other for fourteen years. Dortchen, as she was nicknamed, couldn’t marry sooner because she had to stay at home for years and help raise her younger brothers and sisters. The couple had several children, and Jacob lived with them and proved to be a loving and caring uncle. The Grimms became world-famous and after a time teaching at the University of Gottingen, they went to live in Berlin. The German people were very proud of the Grimms. As leading citizens, they attended parties with royalty. On their birthdays, people would come to their house to serenade them. Other famous storytellers, such as Hans Christian Andersen, would travel to Berlin to meet them. Besides folk tales, the brothers also collected legends based on true events. They began work on an important dictionary which gave not just the definitions of German words but also showed how they were used. Jacob and Wilhelm only completed a small portion of the multi-volume work before they died. The brothers who worked hard and lived with “their path in the right” were mourned by people the world over. Today, many tourists come to Germany to follow the Fairy Tale Road .

They see many of the places where the Grimm brothers lived and were inspired to write down their tales. A Grimm Timeline 1785 Jacob Grimm born on January 4 1786 Wilhelm Grimm born on February 24 1796 Their father, Philipp Grimm dies 1798 Jacob and Wilhelm go to the lyceum in Kassel 1802 Jacob goes to the University of Marburg 1803 Wilhelm joins his brother at the University 1806 Jacob takes a job as secretary of the Hessian War College 1808 Their mother, Dorothea Grimm, dies.

Jacob becomes librarian to King Jerome Bonaparte 1812 Volume one of Household Tales is published 1825 Wilhelm marries Dorothea Wild 1830 The brothers take jobs at the University of Gottingen 1837 “The Protest of the Gottingen Seven” makes the brothers political heroes 1841 The brothers move to Berlin 1854 Volume 1 of their German Dictionary is published 1859 Wilhelm dies on December 16 1863 Jacob dies on September 20 Information appearing in this timeline is drawn from Donald R. Hettinga’s excellent book, The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy . A good choice for younger readers is The Brothers Grimm, by Raymond H. Miller. Both books may be checked out from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Photo Credits: Message Boards Message Boards The website you are about to visit is ProGenealogists®, operated by TGN Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Ancestry. Search for content in message boards Names or keywords Grimm - Family History & Genealogy Message Board Subject Guillermo A.

Grimm ( View posts ) Posted: 16 Dec 2000 3:14AM GMT Classification: Query Edited: 19 Jul 2003 4:05PM GMT Surnames: Grimm The brothers, Wilhelm and Carl, were not writers of Fairy tales. They were historians and philologists. They traveled extensively throughout central and western europe studying the local folclore and traditions. They wrote their findings and this was the basis for the Grimm's Fairy Tales. They also became famous for their contribution to the german language. They actually developed the rules of phonetic of the german language. These are known as Grimm's Law. In germany, they are considered distinguished citizens, on account of both of the contributions mentioned above. I am a direct descendant of the brothers and live in Mexico, where I was born. I have been to Hanau and have a photograph of myself in the main square of Hanau, in front of a statue of the brothers, right there on the main square.

What did the Brothers Grimm Write| Biography, Stories n Fairy Tales Some of the famous Brothers Grimm works include: Little Red Riding Hood The tale of Little Red Riding Hood was about a young girl in a hooded red cloak who wanted to visit her ailing grandmother yet she faced a perilous threat from a wolf. The story was originally written by Perrault but was modified by the Grimm brothers. It has been adapted in plays, books and most recently a dark themed Hollywood movie. Snow White The tale of a princess forced away by an evil queen has captivated audiences for hundreds of years. Snow White showed the effects of greed, vanity, jealousy and naivety in human beings. It also showed major human traits through dwarfs with very distinct personalities. It was adapted into one of the most famous Disney movies of all time in 1937 and continues to be seen in Disney theme parks today. Cinderella Another tale of vanity, oppression and jealousy was shown in the form of Cinderella. This was the dream of every adolescent young girl; to be rescued from poverty and oppression by a handsome monarch. This was also adapted into a Disney movie but the concept was much older than the Grimm brothers or Perrault himself.

The first form of the story dates back to the first century BC. Rapunzel This story also showed oppression yet it showed elements of beauty. A young girl is trapped in a tall tower with no way to descend but by using her hair. Only others can climb or descend but she has to remain at the top. The story has been adapted into many storybooks and was recently adapted into a Disney animated movie named ‘Tangled’. Sleeping Beauty Also remembered as the story of Briar Rose, this tale showed a beautiful maiden in enchanted sleep waiting through the tides of time to be rescued by her true love. This story has always enchanted girls throughout time and was adapted into several movies and books which also included another Disney title. Rumpelstiltskin As with most Grimm tales, this tale also showed the ‘damsel in distress’ scenario. A young girl is imprisoned by a goblin-like miller for weaving gold out of hay. The tale has been adapted into many books and assumed many variants across borders e.g. Tom Tit Tot in England and Gilitrutt in Iceland. It was also adapted into several animated features. Hansel and Gretel Most children dream of heaven to be made of candy and delicious eatables.

Hansel and Gretel translated that fantasy into a tale which revolved around family relations, cruelty and the fact that evil can lurk in the most beautiful of places. The story was written in many different books and many cartoon movies were created alongside its plot. The Elves and the Shoemaker This tale showed with great subtlety, how fantasy creatures such as elves, made use of their efforts to help a poverty stricken shoemaker and his wife. The imaginative boundaries of this tale were vast and it is still adapted into modern day cartoons. The Frog Prince Beauty is only skin deep and lies only in the eyes of the beholder. This story showed how a frog turns into a handsome prince when kissed by a princess. The tale also nurtured every little girl’s dream of finding a prince in a place that they expect the least to do so. The story appeared in several books and was referred to in the recently produced animated movie, Shrek. Did They Really Write all These Memorable Tales? Like most figures in literary history, the Grimm brothers also face skepticism over a hundred years after their demise.

Although they are remembered as some of the best story tellers in European history, some critics argue that their works were mere collections of past folklore and legend which was later compiled and framed as an inception. It is true that some of their tales were influenced by folklore and many were tales which were originally drafted by Perrault. However, they did not regurgitate the tales of old. They revamped the old stories to make them appealing to the new generation and drafted several new ones and published it as a collection in what we know as Grimm’s Fairy Tales; the finest collection of fairy tales that we know of today. Brothers Grimm: Religious Elements in Fairy Tales | Holylit - AG Religion & Literature Site Notice/Impressum Brothers Grimm: Religious Elements in Fairy Tales The Grimm Brothers’ Children’s and Household Tales (aka Grimms’ Fairy Tales) are still famous all over the world. From 1806 on, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm started collecting fairy tales from pre-existing literature as well as from their circle of friends and acquaintances. The ‘fairy tale’ that the brothers travelled all throughout the countryside in order to collect these tales is not true though.

Rather, they let people send different stories to them and they then subsequently worked over the given material. The first volume of the first edition was published in 1812 (86 stories); the second volume (70 stories) followed in 1815. The Siebte Auflage letzter Hand appeared in 1857. In two sessions of our seminar with Professor Renger and Professor Brittnacher we tried to discover the religious aspects in Grimms’ Fairy Tales, particularly in tale number 3 Mary’s child (German Marienkind). This tale is full of Christian elements: we encounter the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity, angels, and, in a way, even God himself (in the form of rain). The narrated tale also tells the reader about the proper meaning of Christianity: Someone falls into sin, does not admit his fault, and is therefore condemned, but shortly before death admits his fault and thereby receives forgiveness. What happens here, however, is not the commonplace happy ending of “and they lived happily ever after…” that is normally associated with fairy tales. Why not?

If we take a closer look at the narrative line, we notice that the contrasting forces that we normally associate with fairy tales are missing: the good and the bad. What we have here actually is the initiation of a young girl. Her bliss is not related to the contrast of good and bad, but to the appreciation of a confession: only when the girl admits at the stake that she opened the forbidden door does Mother Mary arrives from heaven to redeem her. The comparison with an older version of the fairy tale Marienkind, by Friederike Mannel 1809, shows the difference more clearly: Here we do not find Mother Mary in person but a beautiful woman dressed in black. The young girl also does not find the Holy Trinity behind the forbidden door, but four other women dressed in black. In addition, the girl chooses her penalization by herself: dumbness. Here we find the opposite force in the shape of the malevolent mother-in-law. The black lady, furthermore, will save the girl from a certain wrongful death. This version fulfils the elements attributed to traditional fairy tales. Of course the different stories have been interpreted in many directions.

Among others, different psychologists have seen in the Marienkind either a story about a deficient integration of the id and its consequences or a tale about the damnability of lies and the good example of the confession. But what the Brothers Grimm provides us with is, in fact, a kind of religious story, in which different genres are mixed (cf. the Aarne–Thompson tale type index Verzeichnis der Märchentypen). So we do not get a pure fairy tale, but rather a fairy tale mixed up with a moral Christian demand, which might lay claim to more understanding of already forgotten virtues. 21.11. + 28.11.2013 / Verena Düntsch

Question: What is the surname of the famous German brother fairy tale writers, Jacob and Wilhelm?
Answer: Grimm