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.
A rich merchant loses his riches, but a dwarf offers to restore them in exchange for a mystery item. That item turns out to be the merchant’s own son. Instead of becoming a slave to the dwarf, the boy manages to escape and have a number of adventures, including becoming king of a distant kingdom.
After eating an apple off their father’s favorite tree, three princesses are magically cursed to be deep undreground where they must pick lice off dragons. Three huntsmen brothers, while searching for the princesses, stumble upon a gnome who lives in those same underground caverns. The two wicked eldest brothers try to cheat the youngest out of the reward for rescuing the princesses.
A young farmer’s son, who was no bigger than a thumb, suckles at the breast of a giant and becomes a giant himself (and quite a bit ill-mannered, too). He then goes out to make his way in the world.
A meek princess is usurped by her servant and is forced to tend to the geese in silence. A talking horse witnesses the events and, despite being killed, helps bring the usurper to justice.
A story of enchantment with lions, dragons, griffins, talking doves, true love, gifts from the sun, moon, and the four winds, and more.
The Lord was travelling the world disduised as a simple man, as he often used to do. He was treated very differently by a rich man and a poor man, and each received an appropriate reward.
A hungry fox happens upon a meadow full of young, plump geese.
This is kind of a greatest hits remix story, involving a talking wish-granting golden fish, golden brothers with matching golden lillies and horses, travels through the wide world, a sudden marriage, and a witch in the woods who can turn men to stone. And they all live happily ever after.
A poor farmer uses homonyms to convince a rich farmer to let him marry the rich man’s daughter.
Hans, who must have been born under a lucky star, starts a journey with a nugget of gold the size of his head and is able to trade along the way until he ends up with what he really wanted most of all.
Hans has such a gambling problem, he continues his habit right into the afterlife.
A discharged soldier impresses St. Peter (who is disguised as a soldier). But as they travel together, St. Peter sours on the man. After having many adventured, the man arrives at heaven to find St. Peter barring the gates to him.
You can tell from the title that this isn't a happy tale, but it's worse than you think. The last line is "And then, everyone was dead." You have been warned.
A very short tale about children who are captured by, and then escape from, a creature at the bottom of a well.
A four year old boy must remind his parents to respect their elders.
A fashionable cook, who is also a bit of a lush, eats all of the dinner she was supposed to serve to her master and his guest, so she quickly has to think of a story to cover her deeds.
An evil cook learns what should have been an obvious lesson:don't kidnap a prince who has the power to make his own wishes come true.
The fox is extremely rude to the cat, but the cat gets her revenge thanks to a huntsman's dogs.
The fox continues to vex his cousins, the wolves.
The wolf bosses the fox around and constantly threatens to eat him. The cunning fox thinks up a few plans to trick the wolf into being caught by humans so he can finally live in peace.
In this very short tale, the wolf disbelieves the fox, and discovers that a man is a very strong creature indeed.
A disgruntled soldier assembles a team of extraodinary characters, who set out to make their way in the world.
Three sons go out into the world to earn their fortune, with only a rooster, a scythe, and a cat.
A witch lures young maidens to her forest castle and changes them into birds, which she keeps in cages. After capturing hundreds of maidens this way, the betrothed of her latest catch dreams of a way to free them all from the spell.
A man prays for guidance on a career for his son, receives a sign that he should become a thief, and so apprentices him out to a master thief.
A prince fails to keep his promise to marry a princess, instead becoming engaged to another. The spurned princess and eleven lookalikes disguise themselves as huntsmen and try to win him back.
A short tale where a hare kidnaps a maiden so he can marry her, she escapes, and he becomes sad.
In his grief over losing his beautiful wife, a king sets to marry his beautiful daughter, who reminds him of the wife he lost. She escapes, disguises herself, and hides in another king's castle. Before long, she is discovered by that king, who makes her his queen.
Unlike his clever brothers, a simple fellow is nice to a dwarf. His kindness gets repaid many times over, and he eventually becomes a king.
Three princes, the youngest a simpleton, are given a contest by their father to see who would become the next king. The two older brothers dismiss the youngest, but with the help of a magical toad, he wins the contest.
