Märchen-Sammlung
1900
Before the Brothers Grimm softened their tales for Victorian sensibilities, they collected stories raw and unsettling. This anthology presents the earliest versions of the world's most famous fairy tales, direct from the 1812 and 1815 publications. Here, Cinderella's stepsisters mutilate their feet to fit the slipper. The Frog King cracks open the princess's skull with a single blow. Snow White's mother orders the huntsman to bring back her daughter's lungs and liver. These are not the bedtime stories you remember. They are folk tales transcribed from oral tradition, retaining the violence, cunning, and moral ambiguity of centuries of fireside telling. The brothers would spend four decades sand away these rough edges, but here the stories remain as they were first captured: wondrous, cruel, and utterly unforgettable. Whether you think you know these tales or have never encountered them, this collection reveals why they have haunted human imagination for two hundred years.
Editions
X-Ray
“Mirror, mirror, here I stand. Who is the fairest in the land?””
— Unknown
“He who helped you when you were in trouble ought not afterwards be despised by you””
— Unknown
“They were indeed great rascals, and belonged to that class of people who find things before they are lost.””
— Unknown
“He who is too well off is always longing for something new.””
— Unknown
“In the olden days, when wishing still worked, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest daughter was so lovely that even the sun... was struck with wonder.””
— Unknown
“Lina said to Fundevogel: 'Never leave me, and I will never leave you.' Fundevogel said: 'Neither now, nor ever.' Then said Lina: 'Do you become a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it.””
— Unknown
“Some men are born to good luck: all they do or try to do comes right”
— Unknown
“A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, and about the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that every night one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o'clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch; and at midnight he too fell asleep, and in the morning another apple was gone. Then the third son offered to keep watch; but the gardener at first would not let him, for fear some harm should come to him: however, at last he consented, and the young man laid himself under the tree to watch. As the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a bird came flying that was of pure gold; and as it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak, the gardener's son jumped up and shot an arrow at it. But the arrow did the bird no harm; only it dropped a golden feather from its tail, and then flew away. The golden feather was brought to the king in the morning, and all the council was called together. Everyone agreed that it was worth more than all the wealth of the kingdom: but the king said, 'One feather is of no use to me, I must have the whole bird.””
— Unknown
“Then her envious heart had peace, as much as an envious heart can have.””
— Unknown
