11 h 21 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 279 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 279 pagesAbout this book
Beyond the forest’s edge, hunger, envy and magic turn ordinary lives into trials of courage.
In Grimms' Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm gather German folk stories where danger lives close to home. Hansel and Gretel face the forest after their family leaves them there. Snow White flees her stepmother’s jealousy. Aschenputtel, the Grimm Cinderella, lives among ashes and longs to go to the festival.
This collection brings together Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin and The Frog Prince, alongside lesser-known tales. These stories are short, direct and often harsh. Kindness meets cruelty; cleverness challenges greed. A queen questions her magic mirror, and a little man offers help that always comes at a price.
What you’ll discover
- Forests full of danger Follow children beyond the safety of home, where fear demands quick thinking and courage.
- Kindness among the ashes Meet Aschenputtel, whose patient goodness endures cruelty and keeps her longing for the festival alive.
- Magic with a price Encounter Rumpelstiltskin, whose gift for spinning straw into gold comes with demands of his own.
- Wits against greed Discover tales where cleverness matters, foolishness has consequences, and wanting too much brings trouble.
- Familiar tales, darker fears Look beyond familiar enchantments to the hunger, jealousy and cruelty that drive these stories.
Who will love it
For readers who love folklore, enchantment and dark fantasy, and anyone who knows these tales from films and picture books and wants the darker versions. Parents and teachers will find stories of kindness, cleverness, courage and magic.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Hunger drives children into the forest
- Envy turns beauty into a danger
- Goodness is tested and then helped
- Cleverness, greed and foolishness have their rewards
- Danger, justice and the lessons underneath
- How the brothers gathered and shaped the tales
Who’s who
- HanselA poor woodcutter's son who thinks fast and tries to find a way home when his family leaves him in the forest.
- GretelHansel's sister, who goes with him into the forest and must find her own courage when danger comes.
- Snow WhiteA king's daughter, as fair as snow, who must flee her stepmother's jealousy and find a safe home.
- The QueenSnow White's stepmother, who owns a magic mirror and cannot bear to be second in beauty.
- AschenputtelThe Grimm Cinderella, a kind girl kept among the ashes who stays faithful to her dead mother and longs to go to the festival.
- Little Red CapA girl in a red cap who carries food to her grandmother through the forest and meets a wolf.
- RumpelstiltskinA strange little man who can spin straw into gold and always asks a price for his help.
- The Brave Little TailorA small, quick-witted tailor who wins fame by a boast and has to live up to it.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 21 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 279 pages: 10,95 USD when you start free, 17,95 USD on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 279 pages: 17,95 USD when you start free, 24,95 USD on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Grimms' Fairy Tales
by Jacob Grimm; Wilhelm Grimm · 1812
Children enter the forest, queens consult magic mirrors, and kindness and cleverness face dangers close to home.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Grimms' Fairy Tales is a collection of German folk and fairy tales gathered by two brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They were scholars of language and old literature, and they began collecting in the early 1800s.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Hunger drives children into the forest
Many of the Grimm tales begin with poverty, and Hansel and Gretel is the plainest case. A woodcutter lives at the edge of a great forest with his two children and their stepmother. There is almost no bread left. The stepmother says the family will starve unless the children are taken deep into the woods and left there. The father hates the idea, but he gives way.
Hansel overhears the plan, and he is the first of the tale's clever children. He slips out at night and fills his pockets with white pebbles. Next morning, as the family walks into the trees, he drops them one by one along the path. When the parents leave, the children wait for the moon and follow the shining stones home. The tale shows how quickly a child in these stories must learn to think.
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What is Grimms' Fairy Tales about?
It is a collection of German folk and fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin. They show poor families, cruel stepmothers, clever heroes and magic, and they mostly end with the good rewarded and the bad punished.
Are Grimms' fairy tales true stories?
No. They are folk tales passed on by word of mouth and retold by the brothers. The first volume appeared in 1812. They reflect real fears of the time, such as hunger and abandonment, but the events are not history.
Why are Grimms' fairy tales so dark?
They come from a harsh rural world of hunger, disease and early death. The tales name these dangers openly, and they punish wrongdoers severely. The brothers softened some details over the years, but much of the darkness stayed.
The author
Jacob Grimm
1785–1863 · German folklorist and philologist
Jacob Grimm was born in Hanau, Germany, in 1785 and died in Berlin in 1863. He was a linguist, jurist and mythologist. With his brother Wilhelm, he published fairy tales from 1812 and German Legends in 1816–1818. He also wrote German Grammar and worked on a German dictionary.
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