"Picking up some fairy tales, huh?" said my friend Eli, the proprietor of my favorite bookstore, as I sidled up to the cash register."Yeah, I'm taking the kids camping, and they aren't quite old enough to read Poe to at the campfire. Proper fairy tales seem about right though, but I'm looking for the real ones -- translations, you know. None of that sanitized Disney stuff. You think either of these books will work?" At that point my six kids were ages twelve and under. Eli grinned at me and checked the two books in my hands. "You don't want those. Come here; I'll show you the book you want."That was how I came to own this version of the Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Eli was right; it is the version I wanted. These tales are so much more entertaining and rich than the happily ever after renditions that seem ubiquitous in children's picture books and popular films. The first night camping I read several to the kids and to my in-laws who had come with us. The kids, Uncles, aunties - all loved it (not so sure Grandma appreciated it), and now the kids insist that I drag it out again every time we camp and even the adults ask me if I'm bringing it along. The kids' favorites are A Tale About the Boy Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was, Rumpelstiltskin, and How Some Children Played at Slaughtering. That last one slightly horrifies me, actually, but the kids think it's hilarious. I append my own dictum, "NEVER DO THAT because I'll cry forever," to the end, which seems to amuse them even more as they roll their eyes and immediately request another story.These stories will not appeal to everyone. If you worry a lot about kidnappers, trampolines with no nets on them, people who ask too many questions, or your children getting the idea that cutting off your toes to fit into a fancy shoe to impress a prince is a great plan, you will probably hate these. Why do I like them? They are seedlings of imagination that plant in your brain and grow into all sorts of wonderful, bizarre things. They breathe in the wild, weird beauty of this world and exhale wonder. They tell of a world that never was, yet somehow feels just as familiar to us as our own. Rumpelstiltskin This Grimm Brothers tale is the story of a girl named Eloise. Her father was a miller who would boast and brag to every soul in town. One day he found himself in the king’s bakery bragging that his daughter Eloise was not only the most beautiful, but the most clever in the kingdom. He made up an elaborate lie saying that she could even spin straw into gold. When the king’s servant heard this he told the king and the king called for his daughter. He locked her up in a room demanding that she spin straw into gold or her father would be put in prison. Distraught, Eloise was hopeless, she could not spin straw into gold. Hope was lost until a funny little man showed up and said he could help her… but for a price. Is Eloise really the most clever girl in the kingdom? Read to find out. This classic tale has a character vs. character conflict. It seems at first that Rumpelstiltskin is helping Eloise but when she becomes queen they turn to enemies as she desperately tries to figure out his name to attempt to keep her first born baby. It is interesting that it is her father who created the whole mess in the opening of the story but then doesn’t appear even after the conflict is resolved. We spend this book feeling sorry for poor Eloise, her only way to get through the mess her father made is to put her trust in a deceitful and cunning little man who demands her most prized possessions. The text on the pages of this book resembles more of a chapter book in the way the paragraphs are laid out but the pages are full of pictures that blend into each other and the text. This well-known Grimm Brothers tale is sure to satisfy the any reader.
What do You think about Grimm's Fairy Stories (1901)?
The original fairy tales are Cray lulz not like the Disney movies.
—jean
I really enjoyed some of the stories, but others not so much.
—Clare
