Myth-Folklore Unit: Grimm (LibriVox)

Overview. There are four different Grimm units taken from four different English-language sources. This selection is the one that has free audio recordings from LibriVox (Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm) for all of the stories. You will find some familiar stories here such as The Frog Prince and Rapunzel, along with Sleeping Beauty (called "Briar Rose" in this version), plus the marvelous Musicians of Bremen. There some classic fairy tales here too, such as the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, plus several comical tales, like the story of The Straw, The Coal, and the Bean who set out on a journey together, or The Mouse, The Bird and The Sausage who decide to set up house together as roommates. There are also animal tales featuring the trickster fox, as well as the story of the valiant willow-wrens and their tiny insect allies who fight a war against the bear and his animal army. The fox plays a role in that story too, but he is "outfoxed" by the birds and insects this time!

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

Story Length. This unit consists of 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 (Librivox). 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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Free audiobook available!

READING A:

1. The Frog Prince
2. Rapunzel
3. The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean
4. The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage
5. The Travelling Musicians
6. Clever Elsie
7. Briar Rose

READING B:

1. The Queen Bee
2. The Twelve Huntsmen
3. Jorinda and Jorindel
4. The Fox and the Horse
5. The Twelve Dancing Princesses
6. The Turnip
7. The Willow-Wren and the Bear

(illustration by R. Anning Bell)