Page 145 - Red Feather Book 2

About the Author. The Grimm Brothers
FoR hundreds of years children all around the world have grown up listening to the Brother Grimms’ fairy tales, just like the one you just read in this unit, but do you know who the Grimm brothers were?
Jacob Karl Grimm was born on January 4, 1785, in Hanau, Germany. His brother, Wilhelm Karl Grimm was born on February 24, 1786. They were the oldest of six children. They were not only brothers but also great friends.
Their father, Philipp Wilhelm, was a lawyer and served as a town´s clerk in Hanau, he died in 1796 and Jacob was left as head of the family even though he was only a child.
Jacob and Wilhelm studied law and went to school together in Kassel, Germany. In 1825 Wilhelm married Dorothea Wild and had three children, Jacob
never wed, he lived in his brother home most of his life.
The Grimm brothers spent many years collecting folktales told by villagers, peasants and friends around Germany, they even had a favorite storyteller named Dorothea Viehmann. They listen to these stories and put them in writing giving them their own style. These later became their famous fairy tales. Their first volume “Children’s and Household Tales” was published in Berlin in 1812, this collection became known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
In 1830 they moved to Gottingen in Hanover where Jacob was a professor and librarian and Wilhelm an under librarian. Wilhelm later became a professor at the university. In 1837 they were exiled from Hanover for being part of a group of professors who were protesting against the acts of King Ernest Augustus. The brothers had to return to Kassel.
In 1838 they began working on a German dictionary, sadly they both died before the final edition. Wilhelm died in 1859 and Jacob in 1863.
The Grimm brothers are among the best known storytellers, some of their work include famous stories such as Cinderella, The Frog and the Prince, Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and of course the White Snake. Walt Disney Animation Studios have adapted many of the Grimms’ fairy tales.
142 The Red Feather Literature Second Course