The original collection of tales, that encompasses the foundation of what we base the majority of our present day lessons upon. In particular, Rumpelstiltskin was a story that struck me as very intense and dark for being a children story. The idea that Rumpelstiltskin is portrayed in a devil like fashion, and is the essence of evil, scares even me. In addition, the story contrasts normal gender roles, where the man is wise and the woman is weak and insignificant. Within Rumpelstiltskin, the roles are reversed, and the woman signifies strength and knowledge. To say the least, I enjoyed the origination of the tale. This allows for a better appreciation of the modern day spin-offs and satires.

I would recommend all the other tales within this collection book, and not just Rumpelstiltskin. They all are a bit darker and have a lesson to be learned in the end. The age group I would recommend would be from 10 and up because the themes are a bit darker and the concepts are lesson filtered compared to the modern day versions.