What do you think of when you read the title, “The Grimm Brothers”? My guess is you imagine a volume of fairy tales, including popular favorites like Snow White, Cinderella, Rapuzel, or Hansel and Gretel. But how did those stories come to be? Who are the famous brothers behind the fairy tales?
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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm 1847 By Hemann Biow, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons |
Jacob Grimm was born in January 1785, and his brother Wilhelm was born in February 1786. They were the 2nd and 3rd oldest of nine children, three of whom died as infants. When Jacob was six years old, his father accepted a position as city magistrate in Steinau, Germany. From 1791 to 1796, the Grimms lived in a nice house, with servants, a carriage provided, and tutors for the children.
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Grimm house 1791-1796 Photo by Alexander Hoernigk, Wikimedia Commons |
Life took a downward turn in 1796, when their father died of pneumonia. The Grimms lost their home and all their luxuries, having to depend on the help of their grandfather and aunt. Jacob was now the oldest of the children and thus responsible for their welfare at age eleven. Wilhelm shared the responsibility with Jacob and for the next two years they listened to the advice of their grandfather.
In 1798, Jacob and Wilhelm’s aunt paid for their admittance to attend the Friedrichsgymnasium school in Kassel. The two brothers studied hard and were at the top of their class. They discovered a love of learning and went on to attend the University of Marburg where they studied law. It was here they had a professor who instilled a love of history and philology leading the brothers to study medieval German literature.
In 1805, Jacob had to quit his studies, taking a job with the Hessian War Commission. His family was in such extreme poverty that they had meager portions and only ate once a day.
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Drawing by Ludwig Emil Grimm - 1843 Wikimedia Commons |
By 1808, Jacob quit the war commission and became a librarian in Kassel. His mother died, leaving him total responsibility for his younger siblings. Jacob was able to pay for his brother Ludwig to attend art school. Later Ludwig would illustrate some of their books, and he did sketches of his brothers.
While working at the library, they had a friend, Clemens Brentano, who asked them to collect fairy tales that he could use in a book. They sent Brentano copies of 54 stories. They were glad they sent the copies when Brentano lost the manuscripts they’d sent him. When Brentano lost interest in publishing the fairy tales, the brothers gathered the 54 stories, plus 32 more and published a first volume of fairy tales. They published another 70 fairy tales in 1815.
The original fairy tales were dark and never intended to be children’s literature. The stories were for adults and carried warnings within their text. Many of the stories were about the stark living conditions of the times.
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Front/title page of Kinder-und Hausmärchen Illustrated by Ludwig Grimm, Wikimedia Commons |
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Hansel and Gretel, by Arthur Rackham Wikimedia Commons |
An earlier story they published, The Children of Famine, started like this: “Once upon a time there was a woman with two daughters, and they had become so poor that they no longer had even a piece of bread to put in their mouths. Their hunger became so great that their mother became unhinged and desperate. Indeed, she said to her children, “I’ve got to kill you so that I can get something to eat.”
In their later life, Jacob and Wilhelm worked on writing a German dictionary. They were retired from teaching and writing fairy tales, enjoying the challenge of word studies. The dictionary was not complete when they died. Wilhelm died first in 1859 of an infection, and Jacob took his death hard. He became reclusive, working only on the dictionary, until his death in 1863.
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Berlin Memorial Plaque, by OTFW, Berlin Wikimedia Commons |
The brothers had been so close all their lives, I can only imagine how hard it was for Jacob to lose Wilhelm. I remember reading Grimm’s fairy tales as a young girl and loving them. How about you? Do you like fairy tales? Are you familiar with them?
In December, I published my first fairy tale based book, a novella, Fairy Tale Christmas. This story is loosely inspired by Grimm’s fairy tale, Water of Life. You can find it here.
Princess Ivyana’s father, the King, is on his deathbed, and she and her sisters are given an impossible task: to find the Water of Life, the only known cure. But no one knows how to find this elusive water, and when her sisters go missing, Ivy is left as her father's only hope.
The only one willing to help Ivy is Kivin Tonnas, a lowly stable hand. Accompanied by Kivin and her maid, Ivy sets out on a dangerous journey to find the Water of Life. But Kivin harbors a secret, one that even he doesn't know. He is under a curse, and only Ivy can break it. As they journey together, their forbidden love grows, but will it be enough to overcome their differences?
Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.
I had never read any biographical information of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm before your blog post. They certainly had their share of struggles! Their collection of tales has had a centuries-long impact. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Heather. They did have their struggles but also a lasting legacy.
DeleteThank you for your interesting post. I'm not sure I've read much more than the children's versions of the books. Happy New Year to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Connie. Happy New Year to you too.
DeleteLoved learning more about the Grimm brothers! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Connie. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
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