Myth-Folklore Unit: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

Overview. There are four different Grimm units to choose from, each taken a different English-language version. This selection (from Dan Ashliman's Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales) features both familiar and unfamiliar stories, although I am guessing these are mostly less familiar stories. If you want to read the Grimm versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, or The Elves and the Shoemaker, you will find those stories here, and you will also find some other fabulous stories: there is the mysterious murder mystery in The Singing Bone, along with lots of animal stories, including some great animal tricksters (Cat and Mouse in Partnership, The Hare and the Hedgehog), plus a classic fairy-tale story, The Seven Ravens. Finally, there is some Bible-based folklore here, with the story of Eve's Unequal Children, which is about the life of Adam and Eve after they are expelled from Paradise.

Language. This is a contemporary English prose translation of the Brothers Grimm, so it should not pose any real difficulties.

Story Length. The stories in this unit are all single-page stories.

Choosing Between Units. There are four different Grimm units: the Ashliman and LibriVox units contain shorter, less familiar stories (and the LibriVox one has audio recordings), while the Crane and Hunt units contain longer, more familiar stories.

Navigation. You will find the table of contents below, and you can also use this link to see the story posts displayed on two pages total: Grimm (Ashliman). Click "Older Posts" at the bottom of that page to see the second page.

Additional Resources. There is a Grimm Index page for all the fables in the four Grimm units in this course, and you can use this link to see the four different Grimm units listed on a single page.

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READING A:

1. Cat and Mouse in Partnership
2. The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids
3. The Seven Ravens
4. Little Red Cap
5. The Singing Bone
6. The Elves
7. Herr Korbes
8. Old Sultan
9. Rumpelstiltskin

READING B:

1. The Fox and the Cat
2. The Little Lamb and the Little Fish
3. Simeli Mountain
4. Lazy Heinz
5. The Duration of Life
6. Death's Messengers
7. Eve's Unequal Children
8. The Gifts of the Little People
9. The Hare and the Hedgehog
10. The Peasant and the Devil

(The Seven Ravens, by H. Vogel)