by Jacob Grimm
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS AND INFORMANTS
Wherever possible the dates and professions of the contributors have been indicated.
Achim von Arnim (1781–1831), important romantic novelist and short-story writer and close friend of the Grimms, who provided a contact to the Berlin publisher of the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen.
Clemens Brentano (1778–1842), romantic poet and writer of fairy tales, who encouraged the Grimms to collect numerous folk tales published in the first edition. The Grimms sent him a manuscript of approximately fifty-four tales in 1810 that they used and edited in the first edition of 1812/15. Brentano left the manuscript in the Ölenberg Monastery in Alsace, and it was first discovered in 1920.
Maria Anna (“Jenny”) von Droste-Hülshoff (1795–1859), member of the Bökendorfer Circle. She and her younger sister, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, one of the finest poets of the nineteenth century, were close friends of the von Haxthausen family. They were very familiar with all kinds of folk tales, and Jenny, who was very attached to Wilhelm, sent him numerous tales.
Johanna Christiane Fulda (1785–?), one of the sisters in the Wild family, who contributed a couple of tales to the collection.
Georg August Friedrich Goldmann (1785–1855), a personal friend and minister in Hannover, who sent the Grimms several different versions of tales from Hannover.
Anne Grant, author of Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland (1811).
Albert Ludwig Grimm (1786–1872), writer of fairy tales, teacher, and author of Kindermährchen (1808). No relation to the Brothers Grimm.
Ferdinand Grimm (1788–1845), the fourth of the five Grimm brothers, who often assisted the Grimms in their research and contributed one tale to the first edition. He was considered the black sheep of the family, held various positions, and published some books of popular literature.
Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–58), Baroque writer and poet, who published Der grosse Schau-Platz jämmerlicher Mord-Geschichten in 1649.
Hassenpflug family, a magistrate’s family in Kassel with a Huguenot background, very close friends of the Grimms. Dorothea Grimm married Ludwig Hassenpflug, and the Hassenpflugs as a group provided numerous tales for the Grimms, many of which stemmed from the French literary and oral tradition.
Marie Hassenpflug (1788–1856).
Jeanette Hassenpflug (1791–1860).
Amalie Hassenpflug (1800–1871).
Von Haxthausen family, whose estate in Westphalia became the meeting place for the Bökendorfer Circle. Contact was first made with the von Haxthausen family when Jacob made the acquaintance of Werner von Haxthausen in 1808. A warm friendship developed between the Brothers Grimm and most of the Haxthausens in the ensuing years. Most of the members of the family had a vast knowledge of folk literature. Ludowine and Anna von Haxthausen sent many dialect tales to the Grimms that were never published in any of the editions. These tales were found in the posthumous papers of the Grimms. The von Haxthausen sisters were intent on fulfilling the Grimms’ principle of fidelity to the spoken word.
Marianne von Haxthausen (1755–1829).
August von Haxthausen (1792–1866).
Ludowine von Haxthausen (1795–1872).
Anna von Haxthausen (1800–1877).
Ludovica Jordis-Brentano (1787–1854), a sister of the German romantic writer Clemens Brentano. She lived in Frankfurt am Main and provided the Grimms with two tales.
Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling (1740–1817), whose significant autobiography Heinrich Stillingsjugend (1777) and Heinrich Stillings Junglingsjahre (1778) contained tales that the Grimms used in their collection.
Friedrich Kind (1768–1843), German poet and librettist, who wrote the libretto for Carl Maria Weber’s opera, Der Freischütz.
Fräulein de Kinsky, a young woman from Holland, who contributed one tale to the first edition.
Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811), writer, poet, dramatist, and journalist, who published a version of “Wie Kinder Schlachtens mit einander gespielt haben,” in the Abendblatt (October 13, 1810).
Johann Friedrich Krause (1747–1828), a retired soldier who lived near Kassel and exchanged his tales with the Grimms for leggings.
Friederike Mannel (1783–1833), daughter of a minister in Allendorf, who sent several fine tales through letters to Wilhelm Grimm.
Martin Montanus (1537–66), writer and dramatist, who published Wegkürzer, a collection of comic anecdotes in 1557.
Johann Karl Augustus Musäus (1735–87), writer and author of one of the first significant collections containing adapted legends and folk tales, Volksmährchen der Deutschen (1782–87).
Johannes Pauli (1455–ca. 1530), a Franciscan writer and author of Schimpf und Ernst (1522).
Johannes Praetorius (1630–80), author of Wünschelruthe (1667) and Der abentheurliche Glückstopf (1669).
Charlotte R. Ramus (1793–1858) and Julia K. Ramus (1792–1862), daughters of Charles François Ramus, head of the French reform evangelical church in Kassel and friends of the Grimms in Kassel. They belonged to the circle of friends that provided the Grimms with numerous tales; they also put the Grimms in contact with Dorothea Viehmann.
Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810), famous romantic painter, who lived in Hamburg. He provided two dialect tales.
Friedrich Schulz (1762–98), author of Kleine Romane (1788–90). A popular writer whose full name was Joachim Christoph Friedich Schulz, and his story, “Rapunzel,” was published in volume 5 of Kleine Romane in 1790.
Hans Sachs (1494–1576), leader of the Nürnberg Meistersinger and prolific author of folk dramas, tales, and anecdotes.
Johann Balthasar Schupp (1610–61), satirical writer and author of Fabul-Hanß (1660).
Ferdinand Siebert (1791–1847), teacher and pastor in the nearby city of Treysa. He studied with the Grimms at the University of Marburg and later contributed several tales to the Grimms’ collection.
Andreas Strobl (1641–1706), author of Ovum paschale oder neugefärbte Oster-Ayr (1700).
Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815), wife of a village tailor in Zwehren near Kassel. The Grimms considered her to be the exemplary “peasant” storyteller.
Anton Viethen and Johann Albert Fabricius (1668–1736), authors of Beschreibung und Geschichte des Landes Dithmarschen (1733).
Paul Wigand (1786–1866), close friend of the Brothers Grimm, who studied with them in Kassel. Aside from “The Three Spinners,” Wigand contributed nineteen legends to the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen (1816–18).
Wild family, a pharmacist’s family in Kassel, who were all very close to the Grimm family. Wilhelm eventually married Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild, who supplied the brothers with numerous tales.
Dorothea Catharina Wild, mother (1752–1813).
Lisette Wild (1782–1858).
Johanna Christiane (Fulda) Wild (1785–?).
Margarete Marianne (Gretchen) Wild (1787–1819).
Marie Elisabeth (Mie, or Mimi) Wild (1794–1867).
Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild (1795–1867).
Martin Zeiler (1589–1661), Baroque writer, who published a version of “Wie Kinder Schlachtens mit einander gespielt haben” in Miscellen (1661).
NOTES TO VOLUMES I AND II
Since there is a fair amount of extraneous material in the Grimms’ scholarly notes, I have summarized what I consider to be the most substantial information and translated the variants to the tales. In addition, I have provided the names of the sources for each tale wherever possible. For readers interested in learning more about the Grimms’ informants and sources, I recommend the following books.
Rölleke, Heinz. “Wo das Wünschen noch geholfen hat.” Gesammelte Aufsätze zu den “Kinder- und Hausmärchen” der Brüder Grimm. Bonn: Bouvier, 1985.
———. Die Märchen der Brüder Grimm: Quellen und Studien. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2000.
———, ed. Es war einmal . . . Die wahren Märchen der Brüder Grimm und wer sie ihne
n erzählte. Illustr. Albert Schindehütte. Frankfurt am Main: Eichorn, 2011.
Uther, Hans-Jörg. Handbuch zu den “Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm: Entstehung—Wirkung—Interpretation. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
———. “Die Brüder Grimm als Sammler von Märchen und Sagen.” In Die Grimms—Kultur und Politik. Ed. Bernd Heidenreich and Ewald Grothe. 2nd rev. ed. Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag, 2008. 81–137.
Volume I
1. The Frog King, or Iron Henry (Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich). Source: Wild family.
There is a handwritten moralistic version that predates the 1812 story and can be found in the Ölenberg Manuscript of 1810. It was changed and edited by Wilhelm Grimm for the first edition of 1812. The Grimms considered this tale to be one of the oldest and most beautiful in German-speaking regions, and it was often given the title “Iron Henry,” named after the faithful servant. The Grimms refer to various versions from the Middle Ages and Renaissance in which a loyal servant binds his heart with iron straps so that it will not break when he learns his master has been cast under a spell. More important for the Grimms, however, was a Scottish version by John Bellenden in the book Complayant of Scotland (1548), published in 1801 by John Leyden. The Grimms included Leyden’s comment to “The Well at the World’s End” in their note because Leyden claimed to have heard fragments in various songs and folk tales. It reads as follows:
According to the popular tale a lady is sent by her stepmother to draw water from the well of the worlds end. She arrives at the well, after encountering many dangers; but soon perceives that her adventures have not reached a conclusion. A frog emerges from the well, and before it suffers her to draw water, obliges her to betroth herself to the monster, under the penalty of being torn to pieces. The lady returns safe; but at midnight the frog-lover appears at the door, and demands entrance, according to promise to the great consternation of the lady and her nurse.
“open the door, my hinny, my hart,
open the door, mine ain wee thing;
and mind the words that you and I spak
down in the meadow, at the well-spring!”
the frog is admitted, and addresses her:
“take me up on your knee, my dearie,
take me up on your knee, my dearie,
and mind the words that you and I spak
at the cauld well sae weary.”
the frog is finally disenchanted and appears as a prince in his original form.
In general, the Grimms were already very familiar with the Scottish and Celtic oral tradition of folk tales in 1812 and continued to give examples of these tales in their notes up through 1857.
2. The Companionship of the Cat and Mouse (Katz und Maus in Gesellschaft). Source: Margarete Marianne Wild.
The Grimms cite another tale in their notes about the Little Rooster and the Little Hen, who find a jewel in a dung heap. They sell it to a jeweler, who gives them a pot of fat in exchange, and the pot is placed in a cupboard. Gradually, the Little Hen eats the fat until the pot has been emptied. When the Little Rooster discovers this, he becomes so furious that he pecks the Little Hen to death. Afterward, the Little Rooster regrets killing the Little Hen, and so he buries her in a mound of dirt. But his grief is so unbearable that he eventually dies from it.
3. The Virgin Mary’s Child (Marienkind). Source: Margarete Marianne Wild.
The Grimms cite similarities to the legend about Saint Ottilie—in particular, how the story was recounted in Benedikte Naubert’s Neue Volksmährchen der Deutschen (New German Tales, 1789–93). In addition, they discuss the motif of the forbidden door, which one can find in numerous tales such as “Bluebeard” and “The Little Shroud” or in Giambattista Basile’s “Marchetta.” Finally, they provide an interesting variant, which reads as follows:
A poor man cannot provide for his children and goes into the forest where he intends to hang himself. All at once a black coach drawn by four black horses arrives, and a lady dressed in black climbs out of the coach and tells him that he will find a sack with money in a bush in front of his house. In exchange for this money he is to give her whatever is hidden in the house. The man agrees and finds the money. However, that which is hidden is the child in his wife’s body. And when the child is born, the lady comes and wants to fetch the baby. But since the mother pleads so much with her, the lady permits her to keep the child until she turns twelve. Then, however, she takes the maiden away to a black castle, where everything is splendid. The young girl is allowed to go wherever she wants and enter all the rooms except for one particular chamber. The maiden obeys for four years, but then she can no longer resist the torment of curiosity and looks through a crack in the door. She sees four ladies dressed in black, who are absorbed in reading books. At that moment her foster mother appears and frightens her. She takes the maiden and says to her: “I must banish you. What do you prefer to lose most of all?” “Speech,” the maiden answers. Then the lady slaps her on her mouth so that blood gushes forth, and the lady drives the maiden away. The young girl must spend the night beneath a tree, and in the morning a prince finds her, takes her with him, and marries the beautiful mute maiden against his mother’s wishes. When she gives birth to her first child, the wicked mother-in-law throws the baby into a river, splashes blood on the sick young queen, and claims that the queen had eaten her own child. This happens with two more children, and the innocent young queen, who cannot defend herself, is to be burned at the stake. She is already standing in the fire when suddenly the black coach comes, and the lady steps out. She goes directly into the flames, which die down. Finally, she walks up to the young queen and slaps her on the mouth, thereby returning the power of speech to her. The three other ladies dressed in black bring the queen’s three children, whom they had saved from the river. The mother-in-law’s treachery is revealed, and she is stuck into a barrel filled with snakes and poisonous vipers. Then she is rolled down a hill in the barrel.
4. Good Bowling and Card Playing (Gut Kegel- und Kartenspiel). Source: Based on a ballad in Philippine Engelhard’s Spukenmährchen (Ghost Tales, 1782).
This unusual story was replaced by “A Tale about the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was” in the 1819 edition.
5. The Wolf and the Seven Kids (Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geißlein). Source: Hassenpflug family.
The Grimms note that this tale has deep roots in France, and they cite Jean de La Fontaine’s fables, published between 1668 and 1694 as well as Gilles Corrozet’s earlier version “Le loup, la chevre et le chevreau,” in Les fables du très ancien Esope, mises en rithme françoise (1542), in which the wolf is never allowed to gain entrance into the house of the goats. However, the Grimms explain that this animal tale is much older and can be found in Ulrich Bonner’s Edelstein (ca. 1350). In addition, they trace the origins of the tale to the great tradition of fables in the Greco-Roman period.
6. The Nightingale and the Blindworm (Von der Nachtigall und der Blindschleiche). Source: Thomas Philippe-Légier, Mémoires de l’Académie celtique (1808).
The Grimms translated this animal tale and later omitted it from their collection because of its French origins.
7. The Stolen Pennies (Von dem gestohlenen Heller). Source: Margarete Marianne Wild.
8. The Hand with the Knife (Die Hand mit dem Messer). Source: Anne Grant of Laggan, Essays on the Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland (1811).
Jacob Grimm translated and adapted one of Grant’s folk tales (songs) and quotes her: “One of these (stories) that I have heard sung by children at a very early age, and that is just to them the Babes in the wood, I can never forget. The affecting simplicity of the tune, the strange wild imagery and the marks of remote antiquity in the little narrative, gave it the greatest interest to me, who delight in tracing back poetry to its infancy.”
9. The Twelve Brothers (Die zwölf Brüder). Source: Julia and Charlotte Ramus.
The Grimms cite Giambattista Basile’s “Li sette pa
lommielle” (The Seven Little Doves) in Il Pentamerone (1632–34).
10. Riffraff (Das Lumpengesindel). Source: August von Haxthausen.
11. Little Brother and Little Sister (Brüderchen und Schwesterchen). Source: Marie Hassenpflug.
The Grimms relate that they also knew a fragmentary version:
One day a brother and sister go into the forest, and since the sun is so hot and the trail so long, the brother becomes thirsty. Brother and sister search for water and arrive at a spring where there is a sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a tiger if he is a man, or a lamb if she is a woman.” Immediately the maiden says: “Oh, dear brother, don’t drink from this spring, otherwise you’ll become a tiger and tear me to pieces.” The brother responds by saying that he will wait until they reach the next spring even though he is suffering from thirst. However, when they come to the next spring, there is another sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a wolf.” Once again the maiden says: “Dear, oh dear brother, don’t drink, otherwise you’ll eat me.” And the brother replies: “Once more I shall control my thirst, but I can’t do this for much longer.” And they come to a third spring where there is a sign that reads: “Whoever drinks from me will become a golden deer if it is a man. If it is a maiden, she will become full grown and beautiful.” All at once the brother leans over and drinks and is changed into a golden deer. The maiden also drinks and becomes even more beautiful and all grown-up. Then she ties a rope around the deer and leads him away. The king sees the wonderful deer and has him captured. The maiden stays with him and is overheard one time by the king as she is speaking with the deer. He learns that she is the sister of the golden deer. Then the king marries her. However, the king’s mother is jealous and wants to ruin her life. She transforms the maiden so that she becomes ugly and has her killed, and she also has the deer slaughtered by a butcher. However, the maiden’s innocence is revealed. The mother-in-law is placed into a barrel with sharp knives and rolled down a hill.