The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (6 page)

In many respects the unknown original tales in the present republication of the first edition read like startling “new” tales that are closer to traditional oral storytelling than the final collection of 210 tales in the 1857 edition. This is not to minimize or discredit the changes that the Grimms made but to insist that the history of the Grimms' tales needs to be known to fully comprehend the accomplishments of the Grimms as folklorists. In every edition of their tales, they began with “The Frog King,” also known as “The Frog Prince,” and ended with “The Golden Key.” The reason they did this is, in my opinion, because “The Frog King”—and there are two different versions in the first edition—is an optimistic tale about miraculous regeneration, love, and loyalty and signals to readers that the tales in the collection will bring hope to readers and listeners despite the conflicts filled with blood and gore. The final tale, “The Golden Key,” is highly significant because it leaves readers in suspense and indicates that tales are mysterious treasures. We just need the right key to discover and appreciate them. In this respect, however, the tales that are to be rediscovered and will become known are never the end of our quest to understand the mysteries of life, only the beginning. And so it is with the unknown original tales of the Brothers Grimm. They are only the beginning.

Notes

1
. See Franz Schultz,
Die Märchen der Brüder Grimm in der Urform
(Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft, 1924); Joseph Lefftz, “Die Märchenhandschrift der Brüder Grimm im Kloster Ölenberg,”
Elsassland
4 (1924): 361–65; Joseph Lefftz, ed.,
Märchen der Brüder Grimm. Urfassung nach der Originalhandschrift der Abtei Ölenberg im Elsaß
(Heidelberg: Schriften der Elsaß-Lothringischen
Wissenschaft, 1927); and Heinz Rölleke, ed.,
Die älteste Märchensammlung der Brüder Grimm. Synopse der handschriftlichen Urfassung von 1810 und der Erstdrucke von 1812
(Cologny-Geneva: Fondation Martin Bodmer, 1975).

2
. Reinhold Steig and Herman Grimm, eds.,
Achim von Arnim und die ihm nahe standen
, vol. 3 (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1904): 237.

3
. Ibid., 269.

4
.
Kinder- und Hausmärchen gesammelt durch die Brüder Grimm
[1812/1815, Erstausgabe], ed. Ulrike Marquardt and Heinz Rölleke, vol. 2. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986): viii–ix.

5
. André Jolles,
Einfache Formen: Legende/Sage/Mythe/Spruch Kasus/Memorabile, Märchen/Witz
. (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1958): 243. Reprint of the 1930 edition.

6
. See Heinz Rölleke, ed.,
Es war einmal . . . Die wahren Märchen der Brüder Grimm und wer sie ihnen erzählte
, illustr. Albert Schindehütte (Frankfurt am Main: Eichorn, 2011).

NOTE ON THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION

The present translation is based on
Kinder- und Haus-Märchen. Gesammelt durch die Brüder Grimm
, 2 vols., Berlin: Realschulbuchandlung, 1812/15. With the exception of the commentary on children's beliefs, the evidence for the
Kindermärchen
, and the scholarly notes, my translation is the first complete English translation of the Grimms' first edition. Those readers who know German and are interested in the complete German commentary and notes can readily obtain them in any reliable German reprint of the first edition. As for the scholarly notes to the tales, I have provided a thorough summary of each note to indicate sources, and I have also translated the variants of tales that I thought were important. These notes reveal, in my opinion, how knowledgeable and erudite the Grimms were at a very young age.

I have endeavored to capture the tone and style of the different tales by translating them into a basic contemporary American idiom. My main objective was to render the frank and blunt qualities of the tales in a succinct American English. Eleven of the tales were published in different German dialects, and since it is practically impossible to match these dialects in American English, I did my best to reproduce the brusque manner of the narratives. As I have emphasized in my introduction, the Grimms' tales, though diverse and not their own, share an innocent and naïve morality that pervades their works. It is this quality that I have tried to communicate in my translation.

VOLUME I

PREFACE TO VOLUME I

When a storm, or some other catastrophe sent from the heavens, levels an entire crop, we are relieved to find that a small patch, protected by tiny hedges or bushes, has been spared and that some solitary stalks remain standing. When the sun shines once again and favors them, they will continue to grow alone and unnoticed. No sickle will cut them down too early so they can be stashed in a large silo, but late in the summer, when they are ripe and fully grown, some poor and pious hands will come searching for them. Ear upon ear will be carefully bound in bundles, inspected, and attended to as whole sheaths. Then they will be brought home and serve as the staple food for the entire winter. Perhaps they will be the only seed for the future.

This is how it seemed to us when we began examining the richness of German literature in earlier times and then saw that nothing much had been preserved from that richness. Even the recollection of that treasure had been lost, and only folk songs and those innocent household tales are all that has remained. The places by the stove, the hearth in the kitchen, stone stairs leading to the attic, holidays still celebrated, pastures and woods in quiet seclusion, and above all the undisturbed imagination have been the hedges that have protected the tales and have allowed them to be transmitted from one generation to another.

Now that we have reexamined our collection of tales, we'd like to offer our present reflections. In the beginning we thought that a great deal had
perished, and only the tales that we knew already were the ones that had remained, and that variants, as is usually the case, were also told by other people. But on the lookout for everything that really
was still there
from these poetic stories (
Poesie
), we also wanted to get to know these other versions, and it turned out, however, that there was much more new material than we had realized. Even though we were not able to make inquiries at places very far from us, our collection grew from year to year, so that, after approximately six years have flown by, it now seems rich to us. At the same time we realize that we may be missing a great deal, but we are pleased by the thought that we possess the most and the best tales. Aside from a few exceptions that we have noted, almost everything has been collected from oral traditions in Hesse and Main and in the Kinzig regions of the Duchy of Hanau, where we grew up, and that is why pleasant memories are attached to each and every tale. Few books like ours have originated with such pleasure, and we would like to express our gratitude publicly once again to everyone who has participated in our work.

It was perhaps just the right time to record these tales since those people who should be preserving them are becoming more and more scarce. (Of course, those who still know them know a great deal, but people die away, while the tales persist.) Indeed, the custom of storytelling is on the wane just like all the familiar places in homes and gardens are succumbing to an empty splendor that resembles that smile when one speaks of these tales, a smile that appears lavish and yet does not cost very much. Wherever the tales still exist, they continue to live in such a way that nobody ponders whether they are good or bad, poetic or crude. People know them and love them because they have simply absorbed them in a habitual way. And they take pleasure in them without having any reason. This is exactly why the custom of storytelling is so marvelous, and it is just what this poetic art has in common with everything eternal: people are obliged to be disposed toward it despite the objections of others. Incidentally, it is easy to observe that the custom of storytelling has stuck only where poetry has enjoyed a lively reception and where the imagination has not yet been obliterated by the perversities of life. In that same regard we don't want to praise the tales or even defend them against a contrary opinion: their mere
existence
suffices to protect them. That which has managed to provide so much pleasure time and again and has moved people and taught them something carries its own necessity in itself and has certainly emanated from that eternal source that moistens all life, and even if it were only a single drop that a folded leaf embraces, it will nevertheless glitter in the early dawn.

The same purity runs through these tales that brings out the wonderful and blessed qualities of children. The tales have the same sky blue, flawless, shining eyes (in which small children love so much to see themselves
¹
) that no longer grow while the other parts of their bodies are still tender, weak, and too awkward to be put to use on the earth. Most of the situations in the tales are so ordinary that many readers will have encountered them, but like all actual things in life, they continually appear new and moving. Parents have no more food, and, in desperation, they must cast their children from their home. Or a harsh stepmother lets her stepchildren suffer
²
and would like to see them perish. Then there are some siblings abandoned in the desolate forest. The wind terrifies them, and they are afraid of the wild animals; yet, they faithfully support each other. The little brother knows how to find his way back home, or if he is transformed into an animal through magic, the little sister guides him in the forest and gathers foliage and moss for his bed, or she silently sits and sews a shirt for him made out of star flowers that destroy the magic spell. The entire cast of characters in this world is precisely determined: kings, princes, faithful servants, and honest tradesmen—especially fishermen, millers, colliers, and herdsmen, who are closest to nature—make their appearance. All other things are alien and unknown to this world. Also, similar to the myths that speak about a golden age, all of nature in these tales is vibrant; sun, moon, and stars are approachable; they give gifts and let themselves be woven into gowns. Dwarfs work in the mountains and search for metals. Mermaids sleep in the water. Birds (the doves are the most beloved and the most helpful), plants, and stones, speak and know how to express their sympathy. Even blood cries out and says things, and this is how the tales already exercise their rights where later storytelling strives to speak through metaphors. This innocent familiarity of the greatest and the smallest has an indescribable endearing quality to it, and we tend to prefer the conversation of the
stars with a poor deserted child in the forest than the sound of the music in the spheres. Everything beautiful is golden and strewn with pearls. Even golden people live here. But misfortune is a dark power, a monstrous, cannibalistic giant, who is, however, vanquished, because a good woman, who happily knows how to avert disaster, stands ready to help. And this type of narrative always ends by opening the possibility for enduring happiness. Evil is also not anything small or close to home, and not the worst; otherwise one could grow accustomed to it. Rather it is something terrible, dark, and absolutely separate so that one cannot get near it. The punishment of evil is equally dreadful: snakes and poisonous reptiles devour their victims, or an evil individual must dance to death in red-hot iron shoes. There is much that also carries its own meaning within itself: a mother gets her real child back in her arms after she manages to cause the changeling, which the elves had substituted for own child, to laugh. Similarly, the life of a child begins with a smile and continues in joy, and as the child smiles in its sleep, angels talk to the baby. A quarter of an hour each day is exempt from the power of magic when the human form steps forth freely as though no power can completely enshroud us. Every day affords individual people moments when they can shake off everything that is false and can view things from their perspective. On the other hand, the magic spell is also never completely vanquished. A swan's wing remains instead of an arm, and when a tear is shed, an eye is lost with it. Or worldly intelligence is humbled, and the fool, mocked and neglected by everyone, gains happiness only because of his pure heart. These features form the basis that enables the tales to readily provide a good lesson or a use for the present. It was neither their purpose to instruct nor were they invented for that reason, but a lesson grows out of them just as a good fruit grows from a healthy blossom without the involvement of mankind. It is in this that all genuine poetry proves its worth because it can never be without some connection to life. It rises from life and returns to it just as clouds return to their place of birth after they have watered the earth.

This is how the essence of these tales seems to us—naturally they resemble all folk tales and legends in their outward appearance. They are never set and change from region to region and from one teller to another; they faithfully
preserve the same source. In this regard they distinguish themselves from the original
local folk legends
, which are tied to real places or heroes of history, and which we have not included here, even though we have collected many and are thinking of publishing them some other time. We have sometimes provided several versions of one and the same tale because of their pleasant and unique variations. Those tales that are less important have been included in the notes. In general, however, we have collected the tales as faithfully as we could. It is also clear that these tales were constantly reproduced anew as time went on. This is exactly the reason why their origins must be very old. Some of them have left traces in Fischart and Rollenhagen
³
that we have noted and that prove and indicate the tales are almost three hundred years old, but it is beyond any doubt that they are even older than that even if lack of evidence makes direct proof impossible. The only, but certain, evidence can be derived from the connection with the great heroic epics and the indigenous animal fables, but this is naturally not the place to go into detail, and anyway, we have said some things about this in the notes.