Grimms Tales

I really enjoyed these stories, but I was surprised that I knew most of the ones in the anthology for our class. I hadn’t realized how much of childhood story-time I’d absorbed. I was also surprised that some of them were by the Grimms Brothers and not authored by Hans Christian Anderson. I guess it makes sense that both of them would tell similar stories since these fables were popular folk tales. It seems like all of these stories are meant to be tools. Whether they advise, warn, or just try to get a laugh out of the audience, each of them seems to have a central message. Like in the tale of Clever Grethel: it’s better to have an ingenious servant than an honest one. That isn’t a very moral moral, but it is (was) practical housekeeping advice. I liked that each of these tales had some form of sensible wisdom or entertainment value to offer to its audience. I think that’s why they get re-done/ re-told and have a sort of timeless quality about them.