Grimms’ Fairy Tales Volume I

The name “Grimm” has become synonymous with fairy-tales. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, university-trained philologists, also published scholarly works about mythology, linguistics and medieval studies; but it is for their collection of folk- and fairy-tales that they are remembered. ~~~~ As noted in Margaret Hunt’s Preface, the Grimms, in creating this extensive collection, “were not providing amusement for children, but storing up material for students of folklore.” They were not, of course, the authors of these stories, but rather collectors and editors of folk-tales, primarily from oral tradition, many passed down for generations, some possibly originating in antiquity. ~~~~ The tales “have a core that is capable of appealing, across historical periods and national affiliations, to the deepest reaches of human experience” [David Blamires, “Telling Tales”]. Some of the stories are sweet morality tales, and many are comic in tone, but brutality, horror, and cruel death exist here in full measure. Unlike most English translations, which were often groomed for children, Hunt’s (still considered by many to be one of the most faithful translations) retains much of the grittiness of the original tales.