If you’re looking for a sweet, peaceful tale to help you drift off to slumberland, don’t choose one of the stories from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The stories collected by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 1800s often paint a cruel life as many generations of central Europeans knew it. In collecting and writing down the Germanic folktales, the brothers were attempting to preserve a part of German history. They had no idea that their stories would entertain so many future generations. Grimm’s Fairy Tales contains over 209 stories including “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Rapunzel.”
When the brothers saw the delight their tales gave young readers, they along with editors began tweaking their stories. The tales became sweeter and moral, but the heart of the stories was never removed. Jakob and Wilhelm studied the law and held university positions. But they will always be remembered for the tales that have produced a few goose bumps in all of us.