Grimms' Fairy Tales

The Brothers Grimm (die Brüder Grimm or die Gebrüder Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (1785-1863) and Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786-1859), were Hessian academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore during the 19th century. They were among the first and best-known collectors of German (and European) folk tales, and popularized traditional oral tale types such as "Cinderella" ("Aschenputtel"), "The Frog Prince" ("Der Froschkönig"), "The Goose-Girl" ("Die Gänsemagd"), "Hansel and Gretel" ("Hänsel und Gretel"), "Rapunzel", "Little Red Riding Hood" ("Kleine Rotkäppchen"), "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" ("Der Wolf und die Sieben Geißlein"), "Rumpelstiltskin" ("Rumpelstilzchen"), "Sleeping Beauty" ("Dornröschen"), and "Snow White" ("Schneewittchen"). Their classic collection, Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen) was published in two volumes; the first was in 1812 and the second was in 1815.

The brothers were born in the town of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel (now Germany) and spent most of their childhood in the nearby town of Steinau. The rise of Romanticism during the 18th century had revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the Grimms and their colleagues represented a pure form of national literature and culture. The Brothers Grimm established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. In addition to collecting and editing folk tales, the brothers compiled German legends. Individually, they published a large body of linguistic and literary scholarship. Together, in 1838, they began work on a massive historical German dictionary (Deutsches Wörterbuch) which, in their lifetimes, they completed only as far as the word Frucht (fruit).

Many of the Grimms' folk tales have enjoyed enduring popularity. The tales are available in more than 100 languages and have been adapted by filmmakers including Lotte Reiniger and Walt Disney, with films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty. During the 1930s and 40s, the tales were used as propaganda by the Third Reich; later in the 20th century, psychologists such as Bruno Bettelheim reaffirmed the value of the work, in spite of the cruelty and violence in original versions of some of the tales which the Grimms eventually had sanitized.

Included Fairy tales: The golden bird - Hans in luck - Jorinda and Jorindel - The travelling musicians - Old Sultan - The straw, the coal, and the bean - Briar Rose - The dog and the sparrow - The twelve dancing princesses - The fisherman and his wife - The willow-wren and the bear - The frog-prince - Cat and mouse in partnership - The goose-girl - The adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet - Rapunzel - Fundevogel - The valiant little tailor - Hansel and Gretel - The mouse, the bird, and the sausage - Mother Holle - Little Red-Cap [Little Red Riding Hood] - The robber bridegroom - Tom Thumb - Rumpelstiltskin - Clever Gretel - The old man and his grandson - The little peasant - Frederick and Catherine - Sweetheart Roland - Snowdrop - The pink - Clever Elsie - The miser in the bush - Ashputtel - The white snake - The wolf and the seven little kids - The queen bee - The elves and the shoemaker - The juniper-tree - The turnip - Clever Hans - The three languages - The fox and the cat - The four clever brothers - Lily and the lion - The fox and the horse - The blue light - The raven - The golden goose - The water of life - The twelve huntsmen - The king of the golden mountain - Doctor Knowall - The seven ravens - The wedding of Mrs Fox - The salad - The story of the youth who went forth to learn what fear was - King grisly-beard - Iron Hans - Cat-skin - Snow-white and Rose-red.