A few times a week, over my lunch break, I will record, edit, and publish one of the original 250 fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm and translated to English by Dr. Jack Zipes.
This Brothers Grimm tale follows a huntsman who receives a wishing cloak and a heart that produces gold. He's then betrayed by a witch and her daughter, who steal his gifts. Abandoned, he discovers magical lettuce that transforms people into donkeys, which he uses to exact his clever revenge, culminating in forgiveness and an unexpected marriage.
An extremely cocky prince goes out to adventure in the world, and it seems to pay off for him when a friendly lion defends him from a troublesome giant. The story ends with an awkward usage of the color black equating being cursed.
Three traveling journeymen agree to a strange request from the devil.
Seven guys from southern Germany set out across the world to have adventures.
Three surgeons brag they know all there is to know about surgery when in reality they have a magic salve. Their boasts come back to haunt them.
A stubborn child is killed by the lord, and apparently only a spanking can give him peace.
A wounded soldier is dismissed by an uncaring king. He finds a magical friend and gets revenge.
A poor wandering tailer robs and kills a fellow traveller.The victim’s last words were “the bright sun will bring it to light”. It took many years, but eventually, with the help of the bright sun, the tailor’s crime became known.
An unassuming little tailor correctly answers a princess’s riddle and is then entitled to marry her, but he must first spend a night with a bear.
A young prince is kidnapped by foreign king and must pass a series of challenges. If he fails, he will be put to death, but if he succeeds, he will win one of the king’s daughters for his bride.
A farmer drops a turnip seed and it grows into a tree that reaches all the way up into heaven. So, naturally, he climbs it.
With the aid of a magical gun, a huntsman tricks and kills three evil giants. In doing so, he wins the hand of a princess.
Warning! This story contains offensive racial stereotypes from another era, and is not suitable for all audiences. A journeyman apprentice is granted magical items and powers after being kind to a dwarf, but he later uses them to toment a jew he meets along the road.
A beloved boy dies, and returns to tell his mother to stop crying.
A farmer and his wife give birth to a son who is half boy, and hedgehog. He grows up to play the bagpipes, ride a rooster, and inherit a kingdom.
Two craftsmen, one a tailor and the other a shoemaker, one good and the other bad, travel together through the country.
A miller is nearing retirement age and has no family to pass his mill down to. He tells his three hired men that whichever goes out into the world and brings back the best horse can have the mill. One of them, a very simple man, finds a magical cat along the way.
Three very short and sad tales (fragments, really) about toads.
Good-hearted but dim-witted people get taken advantage of by greedy people.
A cautionary tale about having a magic item but forgetting how to use it.
A chronicle of the short war between the animals that walk and the animals that fly.
A desolate soldier is given a proposition by the devil: live for seven years like a beast and be set for life, or forfeit his soul. The soldier passes the challenge and finds a wife in the process, but the devil also comes out a winner.
A down and out discharged soldier gets hired on to become the Devil’s assistant. He serves well enough for seven years, and is well paid for his service.
A student discovers a mean spirit in a glass bottle. He outsmarts the spirit, and once he sets the spirit free, he is rewarded with a magical item that sets him and his poor father up for life.
A farmer asks a doctor how he too could become a doctor. The doctor gives him a sarcastic response, but the farmer follows it anyway. He then lucks into fame and fortune.
A King lies dying, and only the hard to find Water of Life can save him. His three sons, two wicked ones and one younger good one, go out to find it. Along the way, everyone gets what they have coming.
Three sisters marry a king and two of his ministers. The new queen births three children, but her two sisters conspire to throw the babies into the river. They are rescued by a fisherman, and with the help of a magical bird, all is made right.
A farmer’s wife and a priest have an affair, and the farmer’s neighbor helps him learn the truth.
A king is impressed by a farmer’s daughter’s cleverness.
After a princess is accidentally turned into a raven, and woodsman faces many challenges to break her from the spell.
