Myth-Folklore Unit: Brothers Grimm (Crane)

Overview. There are four different Grimm units taken from four different English-language sources. This selection (from Lucy and Walter Crane's Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm) features longer stories, like the famous tales of Cinderella (called Aschenputtel in German) and Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves. There are also two other classic fairy-tale type stories: The Six Swans, the tale of a woman who is on a quest to free her brothers who have been turned into swans, and King Thrushbeard, the story of a proud princess who thinks she is too good for all the men who are seeking her hand in marriage. In the "not safe for children" category is the horrifying tale of The Robber Bridegroom, and also for grown-up audiences is the hilarious story The Fisherman and His Wife, along with the humorous tale of The Three Spinsters.

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

Story Length. This unit contains longer stories that are either two, three or four pages in length.

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: Brothers Grimm (Crane). 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. The Fisherman and His Wife
2. The Fisherman and His Wife (cont.)
3. The Fisherman and His Wife (cont. again)
4. The Fisherman and His Wife (end)
5. Aschenputtel
6. Aschenputtel (cont.)
7. Aschenputtel (end)
8. The Robber Bridegroom
9. The Robber Bridegroom (cont.)

READING B:

1. The Six Swans
2. The Six Swans (cont.)
3. The Six Swans (end)
4. King Thrushbeard
5. King Thrushbeard (cont.)
6. The Three Spinsters
7. Snow-White
8. Snow-White (cont.)
9. Snow-White (cont. again)
10. Snow-White (end)