The linguist and folklorist Grimm Brothers, who managed to spread German folk culture all over the world with their fairy tale book, lived a life full of difficulties. Let’s take a closer look at who Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm, are, and see some of the tales they brought to world literature.
Tales are the first works that children meet with literature. These works contain the unique elements of each culture. Although there are countless fairy tales and countless characters that have been transferred from language to language throughout history in Turkish culture, the place of Grimm’s Tales, which has gained a worldwide reputation, is different for many people. Written by the Brothers Grimm, these tales German folklore stories.
Known as the Brothers Grimm Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm are actually folklorists and linguists. These brothers, who lived a life full of difficulties, brought to light the stories of German folk culture that were about to disappear as a result of their long work and made them known all over the world with the book they wrote. Let’s take a closer look at who the Brothers Grimm are and see some of the tales they brought to world literature.
Who are the Brothers Grimm, their lives and tales:
Who are the Brothers Grimm?
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, the eldest of the Grimm Brothers, was born on January 4, 1785, and Wilhelm Carl Grimm, the younger, on February 24, 1786. They were born in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. The father of the Grimm family, which has 6 children, was a lawyer and civil servant. After the death of the father and a few years later of the mother, the burden of the siblings fell on the shoulders of the eldest child, Jacob.
Both Jacob and Wilhelm were people who were interested in art and literature. To become a civil servant by following their father’s footsteps They studied law at the University of Marburg. During their university education, they met names such as Clemens Brentano, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, and Johann Gottfried von Herder, and they ignited the history, folk poetry and folklore fire in them.
The next period was very difficult for both the Brothers Grimm and Germany. The country was politically very turbulent. The Brothers Grimm began working in some public libraries during this period. Even if they barely made a living, the research they did during their time in the library ignited the fire in them and caused them to hit the road.
The Brothers Grimm explore German folk culture:
The Brothers Grimm embarked on a journey to get to know the German folk culture a little better, which they learned by reading books. Village by village, town by town, they toured the German borders and talked to the people. In conversations by the fire, they listened to folk tales that had sunk into oblivion and took notes on even the smallest details.
Folk tales are beautiful and funny, but not scientifically valuable. This is where it comes into play The linguist identities of the Brothers Grimm came into play. They also took note of the special accents, pronunciation styles, idioms and sayings of each region where they learned folk tales. Thus, the forgotten stories of German folk culture and even the culture itself emerged.
The Brothers Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, whose all these researches were published in 1812, Tales of Children and Kindergarten in Turkish; better known as Grimm’s Tales They collected them in a book called There are 211 fairy tales in the last edition of this book, which had 7 editions until 1857. When Jacob Grimm died in 1863 and Wilhelm Grimm in 1859, they left such a legacy behind them.
What nation does the Brothers Grimm fairy tale belong to?
The fairy tales announced to the whole world with the book written by the Brothers Grimm are a product of German folk culture. However, since we are talking about the past period, we are talking about the German folk culture as it is today. We have to think more broadly. From this point of view, Grimm’s Tales can be considered as the common heritage of all European nations at some point.
Some of the known Grimm Tales:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Cinderella
- Rapunzel
- Hansel and Gretel
- Bremen Town Musicians
- Sleeping Beauty
- Pied Piper of Hamelin
- The Frog Prince
- Red Riding Hood
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
In the well-known version of the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which has been adapted for the cinema and theater countless times, our princess young girl is envied by her stepmother, she is warned to run away instead of being killed by the hunter, and she goes and starts living with the dwarves. The stepmother finds out and gives our daughter a poisoned apple. Our daughter, who is thought to be dead, falls while being carried in her glass coffin and comes to her senses with the apple piece coming out of her throat. Hear this, the king sentenced his father to dance with hot iron shoes until his stepmother died.
Cinderella:
Although it has hundreds of different narratives, it is the most well-known version of the Cinderella tale. Our young daughter who was persecuted by her stepmother and step-sisters One day, with the help of a fairy, she goes to a ball and makes the prince fall in love with her. When it’s time to go home, he runs away, leaving one of his shoes behind. Prince checks this shoe on all the young girls of the country, finally finds our girl and gets married.
Rapunzel:
In the Brothers Grimm version of Rapunzel, a man constantly steals lettuce from the neighboring witch’s garden. When he is caught He agrees to give his newborn daughter to the witch. The witch takes the girl and locks her in a tower. Over the years, the girl grows, her hair grows. A prince passing by hears our daughter’s voice and climbs up to the tower to save our young girl by climbing her long hair.
Hansel and Gretel:
In the Brothers Grimm version of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, a woodcutter family decides to leave their children in the forest because they can no longer care for them. children hearing this they mark their way with white pebbles. Meanwhile, because they are hungry, they start to eat a house made of sugar. The witch who owns the house catches the children, just as she is about to throw them into the oven, she falls and dies. The children follow the stones back home and live happily ever after.
Bremen Town Musicians:
Those who ran away from home due to the persecution they saw and whose paths somehow crossed a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster On their way to found a music group, a band of thieves fires them and they live happily in that house.
Sleeping Beauty:
When the princess, who was the king’s daughter due to a witch’s curse, turned 16, He goes to sleep for hundreds of years because of a needle stuck in his hand. Hundreds of years later, a prince finds the sleeping princess and wakes her with a kiss. There are also different versions of the tale.
Pied Piper of Hamelin:
The people of the village, who agreed with a piper to get rid of the rats that raided the village, after the rats were gone. He doesn’t give the piper’s money. This time Kavalcı kidnaps all the village children by playing an enchanting melody. One of the children steals the pipe and thus saves everyone and allows the children to return to the village.
The Frog Prince:
As a result of a witch’s curse, a prince turns into a frog. Somehow a princess kisses this frog and he removes the curse on him and makes him become a handsome prince again. The tale has inspired many movies and animations.
Red Riding Hood:
While trying to bring food to her grandmother, the grandmother of our young girl, who went off the road, was eaten by the wolf and disguised as her He also tries to deceive her. Our young girl, who does not eat this trick, breaks the stomach of the wolf and saves her grandmother. There are also different versions of the tale.
Writer of the most beloved fairy tales of world literature Who are the Brothers Grimm We answered the question and talked about some of the best-known Grimm Tales. You can share the tales that you read as a child and that you cannot forget in the comments.