Title Grimm's Fairy Tales Author J.L.C & W.C. Grimm Illustrated By Arthur Rackham Publisher CRW Publishing - 2004 First Printing 1812
	Title Grimm's Fairy Tales Author J.L.C & W.C. Grimm Illustrated By Leonard Weisgard Publisher Nelson Doubleday - 1954 First Printing 1821
	Category Children Warnings None Main Characters Many Main Elements Fairies, Elves, Wizards, Witches, Anthropomorphic

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Grimm's Fairy Tales

You will be familiar with many of the tales, such as Snow White, or Little Red Riding Hood, but I'm sure you'll also find some you've never heard of before. There are so many tales, these two books probably don't even cover them all.

The Brothers Grimm started the work of compiling a collection of folk and fairy tales for an Italian wanting to publish them. So they spoke to old retired soldiers, farmers in distant villages, old women, and anyone else they could find who had a tale to tell. And here I thought all the stories sprang from their own imaginations! But when the time came to hand them over, the Italian man had lost interest in the project, so Jacob and Wilhem published what became their most famous work! Interesting how things turn out. They'd still have been famous, for having started the first comprehensive German dictionnary for example, but certain would not have been a household name.

The first book I listed above is an English translation of the German original. The second appears to have a different collection of stories, thus most likely is just a compilation and not a direct republishing of any specific book.

It was interesting, as I had just recently read the tales of Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault, to see the similarities between many of the stories. And when you look deeper into some of them, you will find that stories such as Cinderella (Perrault) or Aschenputtel (Grimm) have their origins in ancient times, whether it be Greece or even Egypt.

I can't imagine any child growing up without trying to guess Rumplestiltskin's name, or wondering how Rapunzel will escape the evil witch who keeps her prisoner. And of course, will the prince find out to whom the glass slipper belongs?