Retold from: The Brothers Grimm

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German scholars who collected and published “Children’s and Household Tales”, one of the best-known fairy tale books in the world.

Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859) were born in Hanau and worked side by side for almost their whole lives: in Kassel, in Göttingen and later in Berlin. They were linguists who studied the history of the German language and began the great “German Dictionary”. The brothers gathered fairy tales as a living folk heritage, listening to storytellers, acquaintances and friends.

The first volume of “Children’s and Household Tales” (Kinder- und Hausmärchen) came out in 1812 and the second in 1815. The brothers kept adding to the book and rewriting it all their lives, and the last edition published in their lifetime, in 1857, already held 200 tales. In 2005 their own copies, with handwritten notes, were added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

Here you can read “The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Mother Holle”, “King Thrushbeard”, “Happy Hans”, “The Fisherman and His Wife” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”, and for the youngest listeners “The Shoemaker and the Elves” and “Sweet Porridge”.

Stories

• 

  Rumpelstiltskin

  A miller boasts that his daughter can spin straw into gold, and now only one thing can save her: the strange name of a tiny little man.

  Ages 6–86 min readMagic

• 

  Snow White

  A jealous stepmother tries three times to get rid of Snow White, but kind dwarfs and a lucky stumble save the girl.

  Ages 6–89 min readMagic

• 

  Little Red Riding Hood

  Little Red Riding Hood left the path to pick flowers, and a sly wolf beat her to Grandma’s house. A Brothers Grimm tale about the price of not listening.

  Ages 6–88 min readCourage

• 

  Hansel and Gretel

  Lost in the forest, a brother and sister find a witch’s gingerbread house, where clever Gretel saves Hansel, and white pebbles and a duck lead them home.

  Ages 6–89 min readCourage

• 

  The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats

  The Wolf ate chalk and dusted his paw with flour so the kids would open the door, but the smallest hid in a clock, and Mother Goat saved them all.

  Ages 2–54 min readAnimal stories

• 

  King Thrushbeard

  A proud princess mocks every suitor, then spends a month with a wandering fiddler and learns for herself how much someone else’s laughter stings.

  Ages 6–87 min readFeelings

• 

  The Fisherman and His Wife

  A poor fisherman lets a magic flounder go, and his wife Ilsebill keeps asking for more, until she wants to give orders to the sun itself.

  Ages 6–88 min readMagic

• 

  Happy Hans

  For seven years of work Hans earns a lump of gold, then on the way home he swaps his goods for worse and worse ones, and each time he is delighted.

  Ages 6–87 min readFables

• 

  The Twelve Dancing Princesses

  An old soldier in an invisibility cloak follows twelve princesses through magic groves and finds out where they wear out their shoes every night.

  Ages 6–87 min readMagic

• 

  The Shoemaker and the Elves

  Someone secretly makes boots for a poor shoemaker at night; before Christmas he and his wife discover who, and make the tiny helpers warm gifts.

  Ages 2–54 min readWinter

• 

  Mother Holle

  Hardworking Olenka jumps into a well after her spindle, meets Mother Holle, whose featherbed makes it snow, and comes home covered in gold.

  Ages 6–87 min readWinter

• 

  Sweet Porridge

  A kind old woman gives a girl a magic pot, but her mother forgets the word that stops it, and porridge floods the whole town.

  Ages 2–54 min readMagic

• 

  The Bremen Town Musicians

  Four old animals set off for Bremen to become musicians, but along the way they find something even better: a home and friends.

  Ages 6–87 min readFriendship