50 Fun Facts About Brothers Grimm

What were the first names of the two Grimm brothers?

Jacob was born in 1785 and Wilhelm in 1786; a younger brother illustrated the children's editions.

In which town were the Grimm brothers born?

It lay in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel; the family moved to Steinau when Jacob was six.

What is the German title of the Grimms' famous collection, first published in 1812?

Children's and Household Tales; it grew from 86 stories to more than 200 across seven Large editions.

How many tales were in the first volume of the Grimms' collection in 1812?

A second volume of 70 more followed in 1814, and the final 1857 edition ran to more than 200.

How many tales did the seventh and final 1857 edition contain?

That was 200 numbered folk tales plus a handful of legends.

What was the profession of the Grimms' father, Philipp Wilhelm Grimm?

His death from pneumonia in 1796 plunged the family of nine children into poverty.

How old was Jacob when his father died, forcing him to assume adult responsibilities?

Their grandfather 'continually exhorted them to be industrious'; the aunt paid for their schooling in Kassel.

Which university did the brothers attend, needing a dispensation to study law due to their status?

It had about 200 students; the Grimms were excluded even from tuition aid.

Which law professor awakened the brothers' interest in history and philology?

Through his circle they met the romantic poets and Herder's idea of Volkspoesie.

How did Wilhelm describe the family's poverty in a letter to his aunt around 1806?

Jacob left his studies to work for the Hessian War Commission to support them.

What job did Jacob take in 1808 that gave the brothers time for research?

Wilhelm later joined him as a librarian in Kassel; the pay was poor but the free time was ample.

At whose request did the brothers begin collecting folk tales in 1807?

He wanted them for a third volume of Des Knaben Wunderhorn, then ignored the 53 tales they sent him.

What are the 53 Grimm tales found in an Alsace church in 1920 known as?

It is the earliest surviving version of the collection and was published in 1927.

Whom did Wilhelm marry in 1825?

She had told the brothers several tales; Jacob never married and lived in the household all his life.

Which two famous tales did Wilhelm's in-laws and their nursery maid tell the brothers?

Many tales came from middle-class or aristocratic acquaintances, not the peasants of legend.

The first English translation recast storyteller Dorothea Viehmann as a peasant named what?

She was actually of French descent and middle-class.

Grimm informants such as Marie Hassenpflug were of what ancestry, explaining the French flavour of some tales?

They probably knew the French salon tales published in Paris in 1697.

After 1819, what did Wilhelm begin writing in addition to editing the collection?

Children had not originally been considered the primary audience; he also added didactic elements to existing tales.

What did Wilhelm edit out of 'Rapunzel' after the first edition?

Critics had complained that not all the tales were suitable for children.

To make the tales sound more German, French-derived words like 'Fee' and 'Prinzessin' were replaced with what?

A prince became a Königssohn, a king's son.

In the Grimms' original 'Snow White', who orders the huntsman to kill the girl?

The queen wants the child's lungs and liver to eat, and meets a gruesome end at the wedding.

How does the queen die at the end of the Grimms' 'Snow White'?

The scene takes place at Snow White's wedding.

In the Grimms' 'The Frog Prince', what does the princess do to the frog instead of kissing him?

The kiss is a later softening.

In 'The Goose Girl', what punishment is inflicted on the treacherous servant?

Such cruelty may reflect the medieval culture the tales came from.

How many Grimms' editions appeared from 1812 to 1864, Large and Small combined?

Seven Large editions with scholarly notes, and ten Small editions for children.

How many tales did the children's 'Small edition' contain?

Its illustrations added Christian touches such as a holy book by Red Riding Hood's grandmother's bed.

Which younger Grimm brother illustrated the Small editions?

He drew Cinderella's mother as an angel; Jacob had paid for his art-school studies.

The brothers moved to which university town in 1830 after being passed over in Kassel?

Jacob became professor and head librarian and Wilhelm a professor, teaching the new discipline of German studies.

Which well-regarded work did Jacob publish in 1835?

Wilhelm meanwhile prepared the third edition of the fairy tales.

Why did the brothers lose their university posts in 1837?

With five colleagues they defied Ernest Augustus, who had dissolved parliament; Jacob was deported to Kassel.

What name was given to the group of professors, including the Grimms, dismissed in 1837?

Three of them, including Jacob, were deported from the Kingdom of Hanover.

What lifelong project did the jobless brothers begin in 1838?

The Deutsches Wörterbuch gave a history of every word; its first volume did not appear until 1854.

When was the Grimms' Deutsches Wörterbuch finally completed?

It ran to 32 volumes; the brothers had reached only the letter F.

Per Jack Zipes, what was 'symbolically' the last dictionary word Jacob worked on?

Wilhelm had died in 1859 and Jacob became increasingly reclusive, working until his own death in 1863.

Which Prussian king gave the brothers posts at the University of Berlin in 1840?

The Academy of Sciences also gave them stipends to continue their research.

After the revolutions of 1848, Jacob became a prominent member of which body?

Their political hopes for a unified Germany soon dwindled.

How many German legends did the brothers publish in the two volumes of Deutsche Sagen (1816-18)?

It sold poorly and was not translated into English until 1981.

Which Irish author's Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland did the Grimms translate?

They published it as Irische Elfenmärchen.

Which French author's 1697 salon tales did the Grimms include in their first collection?

Perrault had claimed his tales came from the common people to justify them, though many were original.

How many sibling tales does the collection contain, which Zipes sees as reflecting the brothers?

Many follow the same arc: lose a home, work hard, find a new one.

According to the article, the Grimms' collection ranks second in Germany only to which book?

By the 1870s the tales were on the Prussian school curriculum.

How did the Nazis treat the Grimms' collection?

In occupied Germany after the war the book was banned for a period.

Whose 1976 book The Uses of Enchantment renewed interest in the tales' 'therapeutic value for children'?

Educators had spent the century arguing over whether the violence should be sanitised.

Into roughly how many languages has the Grimms' collection been translated?

120 different editions are on sale in the US alone.

Which 1937 Disney film does Zipes read as the triumph of innocence over oppression?

Sleeping Beauty followed in 1959, in the middle of the Cold War.

Which fantasy film imagines the pair as con artists fleecing superstitious peasants until they meet a real curse?

In Ever After they instead learn that Cinderella was true; the TV series Grimm makes their descendant a detective.

The Grimm-Zentrum, named for the brothers, is the library of which institution?

It holds a large portion of the brothers' private library.

Which two 'warning tales' does Linda Dégh cite as written to frighten children into behaving?

Von Arnim had wanted a warning subtitle; the brothers added a cautionary introduction instead.

Which composer provided the brothers with the tale Gevatter Tod (Godfather Death)?

Wilhelm kept up a long correspondence with her.

On what date did Wilhelm Grimm die in Berlin?

An infection killed him; Jacob outlived him by almost four years.