The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are among the best-loved and most famous in all of literature. What reader is not familiar with the stories “Little Red Riding Hood, ” “Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, ” “Cinderella, ” “Sleeping Beauty, ” “Rapun- zel, ” “Rumpelstiltskin, ” or “Tom Thumb”? Derived from folktales that had been part of the oral storytelling tradition for centuries, these stories are acknowledged as literary landmarks that transcend their time and culture.
Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales collects more than two hundred fairy tales set down by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early decades of the nineteenth century. In these wonderfully entertaining stories, frogs transform into handsome princes, serving girls become princesses, clever peasants outwit disdainful nobles, evil queens and stepmothers are revealed for the nasty folk they are, innocents learn to beware of predators, kings learn valuable lessons from their wiser servants, the poor outshine their betters, animals talk like people, virtue is rewarded, and bad behavior is punished.
Illustrated with the artwork of Arthur Rackham , Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales is a cornucopia of magical stories that will appeal to readers of all ages.
About the author
The Brothers Grimm—
Jacob (1785-1863) and
Wilhelm (1786-1859)—set out to make careers as lawyers, but found themselves more attracted to literature, poetry, and folktales. With the publication in 1812
of Children’s and Household
Tales, a collection of folktales from the oral traditions of several countries, they became recognized as the preeminent scholars and translators of fairy and folktales.