Samuel DenHartog's Blog: The Road to 1,440 - Posts Tagged "grimm-fairty-tales"

When most people think of fairy tales, names like "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Little Red Riding Hood" come easily to mind. These stories have been told to generations of children, adapted into plays, films, and picture books, and translated into nearly every language. But what is often forgotten is that neither the Brothers Grimm nor Charles Perrault invented these tales. They were collectors, not original authors, gathering stories that had already lived long lives in oral tradition. Their role was to write them down, shape them for publication, and, in doing so, help preserve and transform folklore for future generations.

The Brothers Grimm: Scholars of the German Spirit

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were German scholars, born in the late 18th century, who originally trained in law and linguistics. Their passion for the German language, culture, and identity led them to collect folk stories from across the German-speaking world. In 1812, they published the first volume of their now-famous collection Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales), followed by a second volume in 1815. Over the next four decades, they revised and expanded the collection through multiple editions.

Despite the title, their early editions were not necessarily intended for children. The tales were often dark, violent, and morally complex. Over time, the Grimms softened the content and added Christian values, romantic motifs, and moral clarity to better suit families and educational use.

Many of their stories came from local informants, including neighbors, middle-class acquaintances, and even Huguenot families of French descent living in Germany. This blend of sources means that not all of their "German" fairy tales were strictly German. Still, they viewed the stories as part of a shared cultural heritage, reshaping them into readable, cohesive narratives in standard German, thus helping to forge a sense of national identity.

Charles Perrault: The Gentleman of the Fairy Tale

More than a century before the Grimms began collecting stories, Charles Perrault published his own set of tales in 1697 under the title Histoires ou contes du temps passé ("Stories or Tales of Times Past"), subtitled Contes de ma mère l’Oye ("Tales of Mother Goose"). Perrault was a French author and member of the Académie Française, writing during the glittering court life of Louis XIV. His tales were drawn from older oral traditions, just like the Grimms', but were polished to suit the literary salons of Paris, especially appealing to the fashionable and educated women of the time.

Perrault's collection includes many of the best-known stories in Western fairy tale tradition:

* Cendrillon ("Cinderella")
* La Belle au bois dormant ("Sleeping Beauty")
* Le Petit Chaperon rouge ("Little Red Riding Hood")
* Le Chat botté ("Puss in Boots")
* Barbe Bleue ("Bluebeard")
* Riquet à la houppe ("Ricky of the Tuft")

Perrault’s versions are elegant and often end with explicit moral lessons. In his "Little Red Riding Hood", for example, there is no rescue—the girl is eaten—and the story closes with a warning to young women about trusting strangers. His "Cinderella" includes the now-iconic fairy godmother, glass slipper, and pumpkin carriage, all features absent from the Grimm version.

Comparing Grimm and Perrault

Although some of the same story types appear in both collections, the tone, structure, and moral focus differ. Perrault’s tales were meant to entertain and instruct the upper classes, while the Grimms sought to preserve what they saw as the soul of the German people. The Grimms often avoided Perrault’s literary versions, choosing instead to adapt stories from oral storytellers, chapbooks, and folklore passed through word of mouth.

For example:

* The Grimms' "Aschenputtel" ("Cinderella") features no fairy godmother. Instead, the heroine plants a magical tree on her mother’s grave, and birds help her dress for the ball. Her stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit the slipper, and in the end, birds peck out their eyes as punishment.
* In the Grimms' "Rotkäppchen" ("Little Red Cap"), a huntsman saves both grandmother and child by cutting open the wolf. Perrault’s tale has no such redemption.
* "Sleeping Beauty" in the Grimms’ version ends with the kiss and awakening. Perrault’s version continues with a second half involving the prince’s ogress mother attempting to eat the princess and her children.

Despite these differences, both Perrault and the Grimms contributed immeasurably to the preservation of fairy tales. They selected, edited, and rewrote the stories for their respective audiences, changing elements along the way to suit cultural norms and expectations. Neither claimed to have invented the tales, but both transformed them. Their versions became so influential that they now seem like the originals, though in truth, each story has countless variations across regions, languages, and centuries.

The Legacy of the Collectors

It is important to understand that fairy tales are part of a living tradition. They evolve with each telling, shaped by the teller, the listener, and the times. Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm did not invent "Cinderella" or "Sleeping Beauty" or "Little Red Riding Hood". They recorded versions of stories that had already been told around firesides, in kitchens, and on village roads for generations.

By writing them down, they preserved these tales for posterity. By adapting them, they ensured the stories would resonate with new audiences. And by compiling them into books, they helped turn oral tradition into literary canon.

In the end, both Perrault and the Grimms remind us that fairy tales are not fixed things. They are mirrors of the cultures that carry them, always retold, always reshaped, and always alive.