The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (5 page)

Here it is important to stress that the tales of the first edition are often about “wounded” young people, and many of them were told to illustrate ongoing conflicts that continue to exist in our present day. For instance, the tales frequently depict the disputes that young protagonists have with their parents; children brutally treated and abandoned; soldiers in need; young women persecuted; sibling rivalry; exploitation and oppression of young people; dangerous predators; spiteful kings and queens abusing their power; and Death punishing greedy people and rewarding a virtuous boy. While many of these tales were a few hundred years old before they were gathered and told by the Grimms' informants, they bear the personal and peculiar marks of the storytellers themselves, who kept them in their memory for a purpose. Despite the unusually different styles of each of the tales—and eleven were told and written down in the local dialect—they are all notable because of their terse and frank qualities. As I have already stressed, these tales were not told for children, nor can they be considered truly children's tales, though children heard them, and some perhaps read them. If anything, they are
about
children, as can be seen in “How Some Children Played at Slaughtering,” “Death and the Goose Boy,” or “The Stubborn Child.” The beginning of “Good Bowling and Card Playing” is indicative of the spirit and perspective of many tales: “Now, there was a young man from a poor family who thought to himself, ‘Why not risk my life? I've got nothing to lose and a lot to win. What's there to think about?' ”

Throughout all the tales of the first edition, there is what I call an “underdog” perspective. That is, there is almost always a clear hostility toward abusive kings, cannibals, witches, giants, and nasty people and animals. There is always a clear sympathy for innocent and simple-minded protagonists, male and female, little people, and helpless but courageous animals. Kings often renege on their promises or abuse and exploit their subjects, including their daughters, and they are either exposed, dethroned, or killed. The majority of the protagonists are innocents. Some are aristocrats, but most are farmers, tailors, servants, smiths, fishermen, soldiers, shoemakers, spinners, poor children, and little animals. Innocence is
never enough by itself to be rewarded. Innocence is always tested, and the protagonists must prove their integrity and demonstrate virtues such as kindness to be worthy of a reward, whether it be wealth, marriage, bliss, or peace. There are a number of tales in the first edition in which young men are called simpletons, such as “Simple Hans,” “The Simpleton,” and “The Poor Miller's Apprentice.” Inevitably, these bumpkins turn out to be much smarter than they appear, have a great deal of courage, and use their wits to overcome oppression. They achieve their goals through humility and kindness. This is also true of the tales about persecuted young women, such as “The Three Little Men in the Forest,” “Maiden without Hands,” “The Robber Bridegroom,” “Princess Mouseskin,” and “The Clever Farmer's Daughter.” Though patriarchal notions flourish in most of the tales, there are subversive tendencies that can be seen in the resistance of young women, who are not satisfied with their positions in life.

The Grimms' tales that are not their own enable other voices to be heard. Indeed, whether folk or fairy tale, the miraculous makes self-evident what is wrong in the “real” world. There is a wide spectrum of tale types and genres in the first edition of 1812/15—fables, legends, jokes, farces, animal stories, and anecdotes—that are connected to events of the times and the personal experiences of the tellers. The descriptions are bare; the dialogues, curt; and the action, swift. The storytellers get to the point quickly, and there is generally a fulfillment of social justice or naïve morality at the end. What is justly fulfilled in all these tales was certainly lacking at the time they were told and is still lacking today.

Some of these tales in the first edition were printed in the following six editions of
Kinder- und Hausmärchen
, but in much different versions and often with different titles. Others were deleted or were placed in the scholarly notes. It is difficult to explain why the Grimms made all these deletions and changes because the reasons were different or unknown. For instance, tales like “How Children Played at Slaughtering” and “The Children of Famine” were omitted because they were gruesome. “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Okerlo” were not reprinted because they stemmed from the French literary tradition. The same is true for “Simple Hans” because of its Italian origins. Some tales like “Good Bowling and Card Playing,” “Herr Fix-It-Up,” “Prince Swan,” and “The Devil in the Green
Coat” among many others were simply replaced by other stories in later editions because the Grimms found versions that they preferred or combined different versions. The changes made by the Grimms indicated their ideological and artistic preferences. For instance, in the 1812/1815 edition of “Little Snow White” and “Hansel and Gretel” the wicked stepmother is actually a biological mother, and these characters were changed to become stepmothers in 1819 clearly because the Grimms held motherhood sacred. In the first edition “Rapunzel” is a very short provocative tale in which the young girl gets pregnant. The 1819 version is longer, much more sentimental, and without a hint of pregnancy. Here are two examples of how Wilhelm changed the tales to accord with middle-class notions of taste, decorum, and style. The contrasts between the different versions are clear. The second version of “The Frog King,” which was called “The Frog Prince,” was deleted in all the following editions.

THE FROG KING, OR IRON HENRY
(1812)

Once upon a time there was a princess who went out into the forest and sat down at the edge of a cool well. She had a golden ball that was her favorite plaything. She threw it up high and caught it in the air and was delighted by all this. One time the ball flew up very high, and as she stretched out her hand and bent her fingers to catch it again, the ball hit the ground near her and rolled and rolled until it fell right into the water.

The princess was horrified, and when she went to look for the ball, she found the well was so deep that she couldn't see the bottom. So she began to weep miserably and to lament: “Oh, if only I had my ball again! I'd give anything—my clothes, my jewels, my pearls and anything else in the world—to get my ball back!”

As she sat there grieving, a frog stuck its head out of the water and said: “Why are you weeping so miserably?”

THE FROG PRINCE
(1815)

Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters, and in his courtyard there was a well with beautiful clear water. On a hot summer's day the eldest daughter went down to the well and scooped out
a glass full of water. However, when she looked at it and held it up to the sun, she saw that the water was murky. She found this very unusual and wanted to scoop out another glass when a frog stirred in the water, stuck its head up high, and finally jumped on to the edge of the well, where he spoke:

“If you'll be my sweetheart, my dear,
I'll give you water clearer than clear.”

“Oh, who'd ever want to be a nasty frog's sweetheart?” she cried out and ran away.

Then she told her sisters that there was an odd frog down at the well that made the water murky. The second sister became curious, and so she went down to the well and scooped a glass of water for herself, but it was just as murky as her sister's glass so that she wasn't able to drink it. Once again, however, the frog was on the edge of the well and said:

“If you'll be my sweetheart, my dear,
I'll give you water clearer than clear.”

“Do you think that would suit me?” the princess replied and ran away.

Finally, the third sister went, and things were no better. But when the frog spoke,

“If you'll be my sweetheart, my dear,
I'll give you water clearer than clear,”

she replied, “Yes, why not? I'll be your sweetheart. Get me some clean water.”

However, she thought, “That won't do any harm. I can speak to him just as I please. A dumb frog can never become my sweetheart.”

THE FROG KING, OR IRON HENRY
(1857)

In olden times, when wishing still helped, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which had seen many things, was always filled with amazement each time it cast its rays upon her face. Now, there was a great
dark forest near the king's castle, and in this forest, beneath an old linden tree, was a well. Whenever the days were very hot, the king's daughter would go into this forest and sit down by the edge of the cool well. If she became bored, she would take her golden ball, throw it into the air, and catch it. More than anything else she loved playing with this ball.

One day it so happened that the ball did not fall back into the princess's little hand as she reached out to catch it. Instead, it bounced right by her and rolled straight into the water. The princess followed it with her eyes, but the ball disappeared, and the well was deep, so very deep that she could not see the bottom. She began to cry, and she cried louder and louder, for there was nothing that could comfort her. As she sat there, grieving over her loss, a voice called out to her, “What's the matter, princess? Your eyes could move even a stone to pity.”

RAPUNZEL
(1812)

One day, a young prince went riding through the forest and came upon the tower. He looked up and saw beautiful Rapunzel at the window. When he heard her singing with such a sweet voice, he fell completely in love with her. However, since there were no doors in the tower and no ladder could ever reach her high window, he fell into despair. Nevertheless, he went into the forest every day until one time he saw the fairy who called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”

As a result, he now knew what kind of ladder he needed to climb up into the tower. He took careful note of the words he had to say, and the next day at dusk, he went to the tower and called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”

So she let her hair drop, and when her braids were at the bottom of the tower, he tied them around him, and she pulled him up. At first, Rapunzel was terribly afraid, but soon the young prince pleased her
so much that she agreed to see him every day and pull him up into the tower. Thus, for a while they had a merry time and enjoyed each other's company. The fairy didn't become aware of this until, one day, Rapunzel began talking and said to her, “Tell me, Mother Gothel, why are my clothes becoming too tight? They don't fit me anymore.”

“Oh, you godless child!” the fairy replied. “What's this I hear?”

RAPUNZEL
(1857)

A few years later a king's son happened to be riding through the forest and passed by the tower. Suddenly, he heard a song so lovely that he stopped to listen. It was Rapunzel, who passed the time in her solitude by letting her sweet voice resound in the forest. The prince wanted to climb up to her, and he looked for a door but could not find one. So he rode home. However, the song had touched his heart so deeply that he rode out into the forest every day and listened. One time, as he was standing behind a tree, he saw the sorceress approach and heard her call out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”

Then Rapunzel let down her braids, and the sorceress climbed up to her.

“If that's the ladder one needs to get up there, I'm also going to try my luck,” the prince declared.

The next day, as it began to get dark, he went to the tower and called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair.”

All at once the hair dropped down, and the prince climbed up. When he entered the tower, Rapunzel was at first terribly afraid, for she had never laid eyes on a man before. However, the prince began to talk to her in a friendly way and told her that her song had touched his heart so deeply that he had not been able to rest until he had seen her. Rapunzel then lost her fear, and when he asked her whether she would have
him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, “He'll certainly love me better than old Mother Gothel.” So she said yes and placed her hand in his.

“I want to go with you very much,” she said, “but I don't know how I can get down. Every time you come, you must bring a skein of silk with you, and I'll weave it into a ladder. When it's finished, then I'll climb down, and you can take me away on your horse.”

They agreed that until then he would come to her every evening, for the old woman came during the day. Meanwhile, the sorceress did not notice anything until one day Rapunzel blurted out, “Mother Gothel, how is it that you're much heavier than the prince? When I pull him up, he's here in a second.”

“Ah, you godless child!” exclaimed the corceress. “What's this I hear? I thought I had made sure that you had no contact with the outside world, but you've deceived me.”

The florid descriptions, smooth transitions, and explanations are characteristic of most of the tales in the 1857 edition. Wilhelm embellished and elaborated the tales with good intentions—to enhance their value as part of an educational primer. So, in the case of “Rapunzel,” he demonized a fairy by changing her into a sorceress and minimized gender and class struggle. Though the Grimms were politically “liberal” for their times, they shied away from printing tales that were too radical in depicting resistance to patriarchal authority and opposition to monarchs. This may be the reason why they eliminated tales like “The Tablecloth, the Knapsack, the Cannon, and the Horn,” in which a common man defeats a king and takes his daughter for his wife. On the other hand, the Grimms were very much disposed toward presenting the underdog in positive ways and toward publishing animal tales in which the weak almost always triumph over the strong who abuse their power. This can be seen in a major group of animal tales in the first edition, such as “The Wolf and the Seven Kids,” “The Sparrow and His Four Children,” “Old Sultan,” “Loyal Godfather Sparrow,” “The Fox and the Geese,” “The Wren and the Bear,” and “The Faithful Animals.” In many tales the protagonists who respect animals, birds, and fish and are kind to them are later helped by them. There is a strong
bond between humans and talking animals in the Grimms' collection. In general the Brothers show a predilection for collecting tales that focus on the cooperation of brothers, brothers and sisters, and humans and animals who work to overcome evil. It is striking how much this theme of cooperation among underdogs who work together to attain justice is central to the narratives in the first edition and often reinforced in the later editions of
Kinder- und Hausmärchen
. Unfortunately, many of the best tales in the first edition were excluded or shunned in later editions.