Today, I went to Trinoma, to do a special order at Fully Booked, and while I was there. I also grabbed a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, soft-bound copy only. As I have mentioned before I was so hooked with the Grimm NBC tv series that ended last year. I needed to familiarize myself with the stories from the tales of the Grimm brothers, and I also want to re-read good stories from my childhood.
The book that I bought was entitled, "Grimm's Fairy Tales", a Puffin Classics book. They actually have a lot of classic titles. I have various collections of English classics before, from other English and American publishing companies such as Collins, Bantam (they are known for their cheaper price), Dover, etc.
The truth about Grimm's fairytales, it is not really a good read at first. In an article written by Jesse Greenspan in History.com, "Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's collection of folktales contains some of the best-known children's characters in literary history, from Snow White, and Rapunzel to Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Yet the brother's originally filled their book, which became known as 'Grimm's Fairy Tales,' with gruesome scenes that wouldn't be out of place in an R-rated movie. It has also a more 'adult' content. Only later, as children became their main audience did they take out some of the more adult content. There stories were further sanitized as they were adapted by Walt Disney and others." I was not aware of the truth behind Grimm's fairy tale, it is only now that I've researched it that I became aware.
Some info about the brothers Grimm that I got from my book. The brothers are Germans. They are from Germany. Their full name is Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, and Wilhelm Carl Grimm. They were born in Hanau, Germany on January 4, 1785 and February 24 1786. They lived in the old German state of Hesse. Jacob never married but his brother did. They are both well-educated. Their father Philipp Wilhelm Grimm was a lawyer. They were also known for the compilation of German folk lore and oral traditions. They died in Berlin Germany.
This book that I bought is complete and unabridged. At first I was sad because I thought this book didn't carry one of my favorite fairy tale which is Cinderella. But its included, the title is Ashputtel or Aschenputtel meaning, "digging in the ashes." This one is the original story and not the 'Disneyfied' one. Actually, there are a lot of version of Cinderella, the Chinese even has their version called Ye Xian. I have seen the cartoon wayback. I have started to read a few story from this book. The first story that I read is 'Hans in Luck.' I needed to look into a deeper analysis of the story to understand it fully. Honestly, while reading it, I think the main protagonist is kinda stupid, exchanging something that has value, into a more not so valuable. But I was wrong, for the moral of the story is that the more possessions you have the more troubles there will be. (Got this from the blog of Wesly Yiu) I think maybe this book is suited for adults. Because if the story is gruesome, or maybe there are parts that are not suitable for children to read. Like I said I just wanted to be familiarize with the stories that the Grimm's brother made, and to better understand the tv series that I'm watching. This is just for entertainment purposes only. There are a lot of available Grimm's Fairy Tales at Fully Booked, hard-bound. I just didn't buy it because its a bit expensive, and I am contented with a soft-bound, pocketbook. This is one book that will keep you awake at night, maybe it will also give you the sweetest dreams.
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