Grimm's Fairy Tales [Crane]

by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, Lucy Crane (Translator)

The Brothers Grimm rediscovered a host of fairy tales, telling of princes and princesses in their castles, witches in their towers and forests, of giants and dwarfs, of fabulous animals and dark deeds. This selection of their tales was made and translated by Lucy Crane

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 1998

About the author

German philologist and folklorist Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm in 1822 formulated Grimm's Law, the basis for much of modern comparative linguistics. With his brother Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786-1859), he collected Germanic folk tales and published them as Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812-1815).

Indo-European stop consonants, represented in Germanic, underwent the regular changes that Grimm's Law describes; this law essentially states that Indo-European p shifted to Germanic f, t shifted to th, and k shifted to h. Indo-European b shifted to Germanic p, d shifted to t, and g shifted to k. Indo-European bh shifted to Germanic b, dh shifted to d, and gh shifted to g.

This jurist and mythologist also authored the monumental German Dictionary and his Deutsche Mythologie .

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last week I finished reading the fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen and I thought it was nice to now read this collection with the tales by Grimm. Mostly because I'm more familiar with the Grimm tales and was curious how many new ones I'd discover.

Well, it turns out there were quite a few tales I never really heard about and then quite a few I might have heard once or twice, but not that often. And just like with Andersen there were also quite a couple that made absolutely NO sense to me.

Reading so many fairy tales back to back also helps to recognize themes and story elements. It's clear that both Andersen and Grimm were not that rarely inspired by the same kind of tales. The details might be different, but the overall theme wasn't.

Just like some tales in this collection just seemed to be different versions of the same story. Sometimes there were simply a few too many elements a little too alike. It's quite clear that those stories have been passed on orally with once in a while details changed, forgotten or meshed up.

[Alejandra Vicente · Rating 2 out of 5]

Todos conocemos historias de los atemporales Hermanos Grimm, aunque puede que muchas de ellas no tengan las mismas dulces pinceladas que nos acompañaban de niños antes de dormir. Esta recopilación de cuentos pretende mostrarnos esas versiones dejando atrás los finales edulcorados, es decir, los verdaderos relatos de estos recopiladores de historias populares.
Si bien es cierto que podrían parecernos mucho más macabras otras interpretaciones de autores como Delarue, no recomendaría su lectura para la etapa infantil. La crueldad y sanguinolencia está presente en la mayoría de historias, todas ellas cargadas de una fuerte función moralizante. Al fin y al cabo, en la época en la que se difundían, su público abarcaba un mayor rango de edad.
Por otro lado, es importante señalar que esta versión se encuentra escrita en inglés, con un nivel de vocabulario y de gramática bastante elevado. Por tanto, si todavía no dominas esta lengua, mi consejo es que busques una alternativa lingüística más asequible. Entre las trabas con las que nos podemos topar debemos señalar el uso de estructuras arcaicas que rompen con el inglés estándar estudiado en escuelas.
Profundizando un poco más en la obra, podemos descubrir innumerables personificaciones, tanto de objetos como de animales (en ocasiones llegando a ser estos antropomórficos). La rima y la repetición también son elementos abundantes, incluso entre historias que comparten trama, final o ,incluso, párrafos.
Pese a que no es una lectura que marcará tu vida, un punto a favor es la oportunidad de ver desde una perspectiva de vista diferente las ya conocidas fábulas y cuentos de los Hermanos Grimm y aprender otros totalmente desconocidos. Después de él, no volverás a recordarlos de la misma forma y, si lo miras bien, podrás sorprender a tus conocidos con elementos que jamás imaginarían.

[ahatterandahare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women are disloyal, dumb and sneaky (unless they’re witches).
Men are complacent,dumb, and selfish (unless they’re incredibly lucky)
The stories are funnier and gorier than I even imagined. And that fed right into my dark humour passion. I know it’s probably not meant to be as funny, but some of the left turns that you didn’t know how we went from a dude hacking down a tree, to him being followed around the houses with a golden goose and ends with him being king.
Overall stories are nice even though it took me a while to get used to the format and some of the words. My favourite tale is Snow White.

[Nadia | Mon Vàng Vàng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.25/5 stars
The very first one brought me to the magical fairy tale world, and reading this tppk me back to those happy, innocent time, my lovely childhood.
Someone might eventually said quite few times to me that I couldn't grow up if keeping reading fairy tales and children's books, I'd repeat to them time after time that there were plenty lessons to learn just by reading them all and Grimm's stories were the evidence for what I need. Maybe as a child or a full grown-up fairy tales somehow unrealistic because of their always-happy-endings but that what made them called fairy tales. And through all different characters, we found out that all those happy endings came to people who were kind, intelligent, having a warm heart and not ever underestimate anyone in your life, aren't those the lessons we told the children to learn and behave? And yet it was all shown just by stories who were called fairy tales.
Every story brought its own messages about life and I'm happy to be discovered more and more of those lessons hidden in every tiny detail. Except buiding such monotone personalities for their stories (which somehow annoyed me sometimes while reading this but also opportunities for other fairy tales retellings/insprirations to develop), this book is truely a healing and also bring hope to life.

[Graeme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always liked folklore, myth and fantasy but was not so keen on "fairy tales," as most have been sanitised for a twentieth century audience. Not so with Grimms' collection. These stories stick closely to the original folklore on which they are based. There are plenty of well-known "classics" such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel, but dozens of others which I did not know before. Both kinds are exceedingly dark which, I suspect, most children would prefer to the modern versions. I certainly did.

One criticism is that there is a lot of repetition. Several of the stories are about beautiful, well-mannered and hardworking daughters of widowers who are faced with evil stepmothers (often witches) who want them dead to make way for their own ugly, rude and lazy offspring. These inevitably end with justice being done at the end of the tale after hardship throughout.
There were also a few with three brothers seeking their fortune. The tales usually have the two eldest as wastrels but the youngest, who nobody expected anything of, is the only one to do well for himself.
I think these show the way of the world when the stories were written. Women often died in childbirth so stepmothers were common and I'm sure many a child was treated unfairly by them and longed for justice. And, in a world where eldest sons inherited all while younger ones might become destitute, stories of them turning their misfortune into success would go down well.

Others in the collection are bleaker, with robbers and ne'er-do-wells getting away with their crimes. I must admit that I preferred these, if only because it made a refreshing change from the usual happy ending.
There are also some comic tales which I really enjoyed. Hans in Luck, and Prudent Hans for example. Both about an idiotic boy who, by his own stupidity, loses all he has.

The low points were the few stories which seemed to me to be nonsense. For example, The Death of the Hen which I found dull and, if it was making a point, it was lost on me.

Overall an enjoyable read. If you like fairy tales, and are not put off by a darker edge, then these are for you.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are fun little fairytales, I'm glad I read this to finally know I have read the original Grimm versions of these fairytales, many of which I have heard variations of (and we see adapted in Disney etc). Individually they are interesting, but I've given this 2 stars for the reading experience- it was a real slog to get through this book, taking me over a month, because I was just never in the mood to read more than one or two at a time! Even though they are all very short, some of them were mind numbingly repetitive or drawn out for no reason. Some had a moral behind them, but many left me thinking "what on earth??" Additionally because this is a collection of folktales there were many stories with the same plot points or events, and of course the tropes we all know well- surprise surprise: step mother's suck and pretty lovely girls are the best! Although this was broken up by some of the more absurd or darkly humerous tales I'd never heard before. This would have been better to study in a class to be able to fully appreciate the origins, morals and tropes within each tale, or read over a long time one story at a time.

[Lee Wainwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

As we know, folk tales tell human truth, a fact editorial asides (infrequent here) emphasise. For example the curt conclusion to the story in which the cat traitorously eats all of the cream from the hoard she was meant to be sharing with the mouse, and finally also eats the mouse: 'And that is the way of the world.' Or the response of the miller to the wolf's request to disguise its paws; he is afraid and does what he is told, 'And that just shows what men are.' And in Tom Thumb: 'Indeed there is nothing but trouble and worry in this world!' I grew up with these stories (my grandmother and mother are German) and they taught me a realistic view of the world, but at the same time a fantastical one. They are beautiful.

[Alex Simeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was quite a great read!

stories i enjoyed: Clever Grethel, Hans in Luck, The Goose Girl, The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, Clever Else, The Fisherman and His Wife, Snow White, Roland, The Brother and The Sister, Faithful John, The Gallant Tailor, The Straw, The Coal and the Bean, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Mother Hulda, Old Sultan, The Three Spinsters, The Dog and the Sparrow, Prudent Hans, The Robber Bridegroom and The Six Swans

[Cuppa Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* As usual with collections, enjoyed some more than others but felt there were too many repeats of the same stories in this collection. Did love how brutal they were though!

[Sharon Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some were familiar, some were new to me, some of the traditional ones did not follow the story line I am familiar with. I read one or two at bedtime and enjoyed them very much.

[Elene · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rabbit's Bride, Clever Grethel, The Raven, The Frog Prince, Faithful John, The Twelve Brothers, The Fisherman and His Wife, The Gallant Tailor, Cinderella, The Six Swans, Snow-White, Roland.