Grimm's Fairy Tales

The most famous collectors of fairy tales are the Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859). This free amazon kindle book contains all of the 200 Grimm's tales and 10 children's lessons in easy to read English. Many people think that fairy tales are just for children and that adults can get nothing worthwhile or practical from them. These people forget that fairy tales are akin to myths, legends, parables, many sermons, and Midrash. They are tales with messages. Many are unnatural, magical, otherworldly; but these aspects help capture the listeners' imagination and help them remember many details so that even though they may not fathom them immediately, they will recall them later, sometimes just subconsciously, and get the practical lessons. Let's take a familiar story, Rapunzel. Parents surrender their child to an enchantress in exchange for a large supply of a delightful edible plant called rapunzal. While the parents willingly give up their daughter, the enchantress wants her just for herself. She calls her Rapunzel after the food. She places her in a tower with no doors and a window. Rapunzel has very long hair. When the enchantress want to go see her, she calls to Rapunzel to let her hair out the window and she climbs up the hair to her room. A prince happens by and sees this. When the enchantress goes away, he calls to Rapunzel, who thinks he is the enchantress, and climbs up her hair. Soon Rapunzel is pregnant, the enchantress discovers the liaison, she blinds the prince, and cuts Rapunzel's hair to stop the prince from ascending to her. Rapunzel finds a way to build a rope so that she can descend, and does so. She cries when she sees that the prince is blind and her tears restore his sight, and she and the prince live happily ever after. What does this story tell its readers? Note that the parents' willingness to give up their only child because of the mother's craving for a delicacy is remarkably similar to the biblical story of King David's lust for Bat Sheba and both are similar to the daily act by people giving up something important because of momentary cravings; such as good health for a hamburger. What is the enchantress? Couldn't she simply be the laws of nature? What does the hair signify? Ever since the beginning of time people thought that some special power exists in hair. The Greek warrior Spartans wore their hair long for this reason, so did the biblical Samson. What is the significance of the prince and climbing up the hair? What is the meaning underlying the use of rope instead of hair? Does it suggest getting rid of superstitions (about hair) and using intelligence? What practical lesson is there in the idea that the tears opened the prince's vision? These are just a few of the many questions that can be asked about this simple fairy tale, questions that show that the story has lessons.

This is an ebook edition of Margaret Hunt's 1884 translation of the *complete* Brother's Grimm (i.e., the 211-tale "large edition," intended for adults and scholars). As such, the language is slightly archaic, and the text itself is lengthy, with the tradeoff that this version does contain the entire collection of stories in the forms the Grimms gave them. Thus,expect the language to be slightly different from what you might remember reading before ("Little Red Riding Hood" is here "Little Red-Cap") and the stories may contain more crudity, violence, and (occasionally) anti-semitism than the versions most people are familiar with. Similarly, several stories normally expurgated from later editions (i.e., "The Jew Among Thorns") are present in this collection. There's no indexed table of contents, so you'll have to use the kindle's "find" feature to jump to specific stories, and there are some typographical/transcription errors, etc.. It also doesn't appear to contain the Grimm's or Hunt's scholarly footnotes. Still, this is a great overall grab for a free kindle ebook, and probably perfect for lunch-break reading and the like. A little context: The Brothers Grimm were the first to make a significant scholarly attempt to collect the "original" versions of traditional folk tales, as told by ordinary people. They didn't always adhere perfectly to that dictum -- some of the stories they collected from print sources and educated, middle-class tale-tellers, not just the "common folk" -- but they were in many ways the first scholarly folklorists. They were also German nationalists, and their collections were intended to help foster a sense of German national identity and "German virtues." Because the Grimms did edit their stories somewhat, and because many of these are traditional stories that exist in many versions in many nations, there are often versions that are "earlier" and more primal than the ones here. If you find yourself wanting more, I'd recommend you look up works by Charles Perrault or Andrew Lang; Perrault's tales pre-date the Grimms' and are often more violent (i.e., Red Riding Hood gets eaten); Andrew Lang's post-date the Grimms and are intended for children, but both should be out of copyright and available in free online editions.

I loved this book of the brothers grim what more is to say then the of grim tales are great

It is interesting to read some of these "fairy tales" as an adult. It's fun to remember stories from your childhood, and wonder "How did these violent tales become children's stories anyway?"

My puppy ate a miniature collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales that I can no longer find. I purchased this to replace my original. It was packaged well, the binding is beautiful and it contains a vast amount of stories that I'm looking forward to revisiting.

The book is high quality. It has beautiful gold edges and a ribbon bookmark attached. The illustrations are old-fashioned and perfect for the stories. The binding is sturdy and the book has a good heft. It's a perfect gift.

An older lady remembered being read these stories as a child. Some of the stories are hard to find. She was pleased when I gave her this book which included even those hard to find stories. Nicely bound with gold page edges.

This book is a delight from Barnes and Noble leather bound editions. The book itself is a true stand out edition to add to anyone’s bookshelf. It contains all the well known favourite stories and contains some lovely illustrations. The end papers are nice and the gold spray paper edges do give the book a special appeal. I’m adding it to my collection of the leather bound books from Barnes and Noble. It’s a true keepsake and would be lovely for anyone to receive as a gift.

O livro tem um tamanho razoável, mas é menor do que eu esperava para o grande conteúdo que possui. A letra tem um tamanho bom para leitura. Possui imagens em preto e branco e imagens coloridas. Nas fotos estão imagens do conto "Hansel and Gretel" (João e Maria). Estou muito satisfeito com o produto, mal posso esperar para ler. Posteriormente eu penso em editar essa avaliação falando sobre a versão dos contos, se estão conforme o original, que são bem mais "grotescos" que suas versões apresentadas pela Disney, ou se são versões mais palatáveis para crianças atuais.

A beautiful book for a lifetime of reading. It was gifted to me and then I gifted a copy to someone else. it’s just a classic book.

Livre magnifique de "Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection", arrivé intact. La couverture est sublime, la tranche est en bordure dorée et un joli marque-page à ruban de soie est intégré au livre. Belle objet de décoration et de collection. Les contes de fées de Grimm rassemblent une centaines de contes établis par Jacob et Wilhelm Grimm au début du XIXe siècle, dont certains des contes de fées les plus appréciés et les plus célèbres de toute la littérature: "Le petit chaperon rouge" "Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains", "Cendrillon", "La Belle au bois dormant", "Raiponce", "Rumpelstiltskin" ... Issus de contes populaires qui faisaient partie de la tradition de la narration orale depuis des siècles, ces histoires sont reconnues comme des repères littéraires qui transcendent leur époque et leur culture. Cette édition présente également dix légendes pour enfants rarement vues et les illustrations en couleur d'Arthur Rackham. Je recommande!

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