Popular fairy tales by the brothers grimm. Biography of the Brothers Grimm and their fairy tales

Everyone knows the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Perhaps, in childhood, parents told many fascinating stories about the beautiful Snow White, the good-natured and cheerful Cinderella, the capricious princess and others. Grown up children then themselves read the fascinating tales of these authors. And those who did not particularly like to spend time reading a book, be sure to watch cartoons based on the works of legendary creators.

Who are the Brothers Grimm?

The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are famous German linguists. Throughout their lives, they worked on the creation of German. Unfortunately, they did not have time to finish it. However, this is not why they have become so popular. It was folk tales that glorified them. The Brothers Grimm became famous during their lifetime. "Children's and Household Tales" were being translated into different languages. The Russian version came out in the 60s of the 19th century. Today, their tales are read in almost 100 languages. On the works of the Brothers Grimm brought up many children from different countries. In our country, they gained wide popularity in the 30s of the last century thanks to the retellings and adaptations of Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak, and

What is the secret of the popularity of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm?

All fairy tales have a unique and interesting story, happy ending, the victory of good over evil. Entertaining stories that came out from under their pen are very instructive, and most of them are dedicated to kindness, courage, resourcefulness, courage, honor. In the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, the main characters are people. But there are also stories in which actors become birds, animals or insects. Usually in such stories ridiculed negative traits human: greed, laziness, cowardice, envy, etc.

There are elements of cruelty in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. So, for example, the murder of robbers by a brave tailor, the demand of the stepmother to bring her the internal organs (liver and lung) of Snow White, the severe re-education of his wife by King Thrushbeard. But do not confuse elements of cruelty with pronounced violence, which is not here. But the frightening and terrible moments present in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm help children to realize their fears and subsequently overcome them, which serves as a kind of psychotherapy for the child.

Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm: list

• An extraordinary musician.
• Brave tailor.
• About a fisherman and his wife.
• Lady blizzard.
• Golden bird.
• The poor and the rich.
• Ungrateful son.
• White and Rose.
• Hare and Hedgehog.
• Golden Key.
• Queen of bees.
• Friendship of a cat and a mouse.
• Successful trade.
• Bell.
• Straw, coal and bean.
• White Snake.
• About a mouse, a bird and a fried sausage.
• Singing bone.
• A louse and a flea.
• Weird bird.
• Six swans.
• Knapsack, hat and horn.
• Golden goose.
• Wolf and fox.
• Gosling.
• Wren and bear

The best fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm

These include:

• A wolf and seven little goats.
• Twelve brothers.
• Brother and sister.
• Hansel and Gretel.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• Bremen street musicians.
• Smart Elsa.
• Thumb boy.
• King Thrushbeard.
• Hans is my hedgehog.
• One-eyed, two-eyed and three-eyed.
• Mermaid.

In fairness, it is worth noting that this list is far from the ultimate truth, since the preferences of different people can be radically different from each other.

Annotations to some fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm

1. "Hans is my hedgehog." The story was written in 1815. Tells about an extraordinary boy and his difficult fate. Outwardly, he resembled a hedgehog, but only with soft needles. He was not loved even by his own father.
2. "Rumpelstichzen". Tells about a dwarf who has the ability to spin gold from straw.
3. "Rapunzel". Tale of a beautiful girl with chic long hair. She was imprisoned in high tower evil witch.
4. "The table - yourself - cover yourself, a golden donkey and a club from a bag." A fairy tale about the breathtaking adventures of three brothers, each of whom possessed a magical object.
5. "The Tale of the Frog King or the Iron Heinrich". The story of an ungrateful queen who did not appreciate the deed of a frog who pulled out her favorite golden ball. The frog turned into a beautiful prince.

Description of Jacob and Wilhelm

1. "Brother and Sister" After the appearance of the stepmother in the house, the children have a hard time. So they decide to leave. On their way there are a lot of obstacles that they need to overcome. Complicating everything is the witch-stepmother, who enchants the springs. Drinking water from them, you can turn into wild animals.
2. "The Brave Tailor". The hero of the tale is a brave tailor. Satisfied with a calm and boring life, he sets off to perform feats. Along the way, he encounters giants and a vile king.
3. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It tells about the delightful daughter of the king, who was gladly accepted by the seven dwarfs, saving and protecting her in the future from the evil stepmother, who owns a magic mirror.

   

4. "King Thrushbeard". Tale of the city and beautiful princess who didn't want to get married. She rejected all her potential suitors, mocking their real and imagined shortcomings. As a result, her father passes her off as the first person he meets.
5. "Mistress Metelitsa". Can be categorized as " New Year's fairy tales brothers Grimm". Tells about a widow who had own daughter and reception. The stepdaughter had a hard time with her stepmother. But a sudden accident, in which the unfortunate girl dropped a spool of thread into the well, put everything in its place.



Categories of fairy tales

It is conditionally possible to distribute the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm into the following categories.

1. Fairy tales about beautiful girls whose lives are constantly spoiled by evil sorceresses, witches and stepmothers. Similar storyline many works of the brothers are imbued.
2. Fairy tales in which people turn into animals, and vice versa.
3. Fairy tales in which various objects are animated.
4. which people and their actions become.
5. Fairy tales, the heroes of which are animals, birds or insects. They ridicule negative character traits and praise positive features and inherent virtues.

All fairy tales take place in different time years without focusing on it. Therefore, it is impossible to single out, for example, the spring tales of the Brothers Grimm. As, for example, in A.N. Ostrovsky's "Snow Maiden", which is accompanied by the name " spring fairy tale in four acts.



Witch Hunters or Hansel and Gretel?

The last film based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm is Witch Hunters. The film premiered on January 17, 2013.

In a compressed form, the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" is presented at the beginning of the film. The father, for unknown reasons, leaves his son and daughter at night in the forest thicket. In desperation, the children go where their eyes look and come across a bright and delicious house of sweets. The witch who lured them into this house wants to eat them, but the savvy Hansel and Gretel send her into the oven.

Further events unfold according to the director's own plan. Many years later, Hansel and Gretel begin to hunt witches, which becomes the meaning of their lives and a way to make good money. By the will of fate, they find themselves in a small town teeming with sorceresses who steal children to perform their rituals. Heroically, they save the entire city.

As you can see, director Tommy Wirkola shot the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm in a laconic form, adding his own continuation to it in a new way.

Conclusion

Fairy tales are necessary for all children without exception. They are able to expand their horizons, develop their imagination and creative imagination, bring up certain character traits. Be sure to read fairy tales to your children by different authors, including the Brothers Grimm.

Only when choosing works, do not forget to pay attention to their edition. After all, there are such publications in which episodes are omitted or added. This is often overlooked in the footnotes. And this is not a small nuance, but a significant flaw that can distort the meaning of the tale.

It will also be great if you find time to talk about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm or play your favorite ones at your leisure.

Almost seventy percent of all adults on Earth love to read fairy tales. Reading fairy tales, you seem to be immersed in another Magic world away from real realities. Each storyteller had his own style of writing fairy tales: Charles Perrault wrote in a romantic style, Andersen wrote about everyday life common people, and the Brothers Grimm had a slight mysticism in their fairy tales, and some of their fairy tales can certainly be called frightening. Let's talk today about the Grimm brothers: folklorists, linguists, researchers of German folk culture, and then the storytellers from Germany Jacob and Wilhelm.

Briefly about the life and choice of profession of the Brothers Grimm

The brothers Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm were born eight years apart in ordinary family in the German city of Hanau. The love for folklore among the brothers of storytellers manifested itself in childhood, when their mother told them old legends and tales, and in adolescence, their interest grew first into a hobby, and then into the meaning of their life. Strange brothers traveled all over the country in search of surviving witnesses of ancient folklore, gathered eyewitnesses and wrote down valuable information from their words. For all my life and creative activity, Jakob and Wilhelm created and published several collections called "Tales of the Brothers Grimm", which very quickly became popular and reached our ears. And now let's remember the most famous, most interesting and most terrible fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

"The Tale of the Frog King, or Iron Henry"

This tale is the very first story in the first volume of their collection of fairy tales and legends. A story about an ungrateful princess and a kind frog who took pity crying girl and believed her promises of eternal friendship, took out her golden ball from the bottom of a deep well. But as soon as the princess got her ball back, she immediately forgot her promise. The frog turned out to be real an enchanted prince, but this will become clear much later.

"White and Rose"

I wanted to put this fairy tale at the very top of our list, as it is my favorite. A fairy tale about two sisters Belyanochka and Rosochka with kind hearts who fell in love with a bear and a falcon, not knowing that these are the prince and his friend enchanted by the formidable bearded forest sorcerer.

One of the most instructive tales of the Brothers Grimm is that pride and arrogance are bad allies and friends. The proud princess could not choose her betrothed and only ridiculed all the applicants. And once a real king came to the palace to ask for her hand, and in response he heard offensive speeches. And then the wise king decided to teach the cruel princess a lesson, pretending to be a poor musician.

The most famous and popular fairy tale of the storytelling brothers who knew how to tell life stories in a fairy tale way. The beautiful princess, nicknamed Snow White for her snow-white skin, was born too beautiful, which crossed the path of the evil stepmother and part-time sorceress who wants to be the most beautiful in the whole kingdom. The king's father could not kill his daughter, but also leave her in the palace, so he left her in the forest, but also here kind heart Snow White found shelter and joy among the little gnomes - the inhabitants of this wonderful forest.

This fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm can be called the most beloved and popular not only in the post-Soviet space, but throughout the world. Wandering musicians-beasts, going to the city of Bremen, travel around the world, singing songs and performing under open sky for curious spectators and onlookers. But one day a donkey, a rooster, a cat and a dog stumble upon the bandits' hut and with their singing force them to leave their house and go wherever they look, and the cunning musician friends forever remain the owners in their house.

And about the best, read the site on our website by clicking on the link.

A fairy tale about a king and his curious servant who sticks his nose into everything. The king always ordered another dish to be brought after a long meal. What kind of dish no one could know, even the servant. But one day, curiosity overcame the guy so much that he could not resist and slightly opened the lid of the dish. From what he saw, he was very surprised, on a platter lay White Snake. The servant could not resist not to try this tidbit. As soon as he put it in his mouth, he heard outside the window not the usual birdsong, but a thin, like Sunbeam vote. He realized that snake meat was magical and now he can hear the voices of animals. From that day on, the servant no longer wanted to serve the king, he decided to wander the world in search of a better life. And as happens in fairy tales, after many dangerous (and not so) adventures, he found his princess, married her and became king.

Highly instructive tale about the wanderings and dangerous adventures of a brother and sister who were betrayed by their parents, leaving them to die in the forest. What helped two small children to survive in terrible impassable places, where there are many wild animals and evil robbers? This, of course, is friendship and trust. And also the fearlessness of older brother Hansel, whose goal and great desire was to protect his sister Gretel from the terrible hands of the evil sorceress. The fairy tale was created for children, but we parents should also read it and rethink a lot and learn a lot from these persistent and not childishly sensible children, and most importantly, understand that there is no greater happiness and wealth than our own children in the world. And no sorrows and misfortunes should force us to leave them in trouble.

By the way, our website has a website interesting article about, which should be on the shelf of every child.

From the first lines of the tale, we learn about the difficult fate of the little stepdaughter, the evil stepmother and lazy daughter, which was cherished and pitied when the stepdaughter got all the dirty and hard work. Once the stepdaughter dropped a spindle into the well, confessing this to her stepmother, she heard an angry answer: “I dropped it myself and get it.” The poor girl had no choice but to jump into the well. When she touched the bottom with her feet, her eyes appeared Wonderland. Passing by the windows of one beautiful home, the stepdaughter saw Mrs. Metelitsa. She liked the girl so much, and she invited her to serve with her. The stepdaughter remained, she was hardworking and did her job conscientiously. When the time came to return home, Mrs. Metelitsa generously endowed the girl with gifts. Seeing this, the stepmother was filled with anger, envy overcame her heart. She sent her daughter to the well and ordered to bring more gifts. But the lazy and clumsy daughter deserved only a cauldron of resin, which tipped over on her. So the stepmother could not wash her from her daughter. Laziness and envy are bad fellow travelers, it is better to be kind and hardworking - such is the moral of this tale.

goslinger

A fairy tale about a beautiful princess who, by the will of fate, had to herd geese. Through the deception and slander of the evil maid who took her place, the princess was left in pity in the castle and allowed to help the goose-herd. Over time, they began to call her that - the Goose. But the girl was so beautiful, refined and aristocratic that everyone who saw her did not believe that she was a commoner. The princess had a talking horse named Falada. The maid, who pretended to be a queen, was very afraid that Falada would expose her and ordered her horse to be slaughtered.

The princess was very upset, but there was nowhere to go, she asked the flayer to nail the head of the horse under the gate leading from the castle. So he did, and every morning the princess spoke with the horse's head as she drove the geese to pasture. Time passed, and the princess would have grazed her geese for a long time, but the old king found out about this, and everything became clear to him. He took the real princess by the hand and led her to the prince, and ordered the maid to be executed. Good always triumphs over evil, if not in life, but at least in a fairy tale.

The most scary tale Brothers Grimm

One day, Lucifer himself came to the miller and demanded for all the wealth that he once gave him, now to give him what he has behind the mill, and at that time the miller's daughter was sitting there and spinning yarn. When the miller's daughter refused to go with Satan, he ordered her father to cut off her hands and drive her out of the house. So, the poor girl wandered through the forest for a long time until the king met her and fell in love, despite her injuries.

The most short story Brothers Grimm

"Three spins"

The plot of this tale is really quite concise and short. One day, passing by a village, the queen heard a girl crying and stopped to ask about the reasons. The girl's mother could not tell the queen that her daughter did not know how to spin and lied that she could not tear her daughter away from the spinning wheel, she spins so much, and since she cannot do what she loves, she cries bitterly. Then the queen wished to take the girl with her, because she had enough yarn for the whole kingdom, and if she spun all the flax in a short time, then the queen would marry her to her son. Three spinners came to the aid of a girl who did not know how to spin...

Finally

Each storyteller has his own style and manner of writing fairy tales. For Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm from old Germany, all their stories and retellings for some reason turned out to be rather gloomy, mystical, and in some places even scary, but no less intriguing and interesting. Today we recalled the most beloved and famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, each of their fairy tales, as you have noticed, has its own morality and science.

The first collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm was published in 1812 and it was called "Children's and Family Tales". All the works were collected in German lands and processed to give literary and some wonderful magic that children liked. It makes no sense to read all the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm at the same age. Their list is long, but not all are good, besides, not every one will be useful to young children.

The publication of the first book by the Brothers Grimm

In order to publish their book, the Grimm brothers had to go through a lot of adversity, events unfolded from a completely unimaginable side. Having printed the manuscript for the first time, they gave it to their friend. However, it turned out that Clemens Brentano was not their friend at all. Having considered a gold mine in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, he simply simply disappeared from sight of his friends and, as they later began to suspect, decided to publish fairy tales in his own name. The manuscript was found after many years, after the death of the authors. It contained 49 fairy tales, unique in their kind, heard from the storyteller Gessen.

Surviving betrayal best friend, The Brothers Grimm realized it and decided to publish a book without any frills and expenses: illustrations and decorations. So on December 20, 1812, the first book of the authors was published, the first volume already contained 86 works - like this for the first time simple people read fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. The list of fairy tales has already increased after 2 years by another 70 fairy tales for children.

Everyone began to read fairy tales!

Fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm began to be read by absolutely everyone, stories were passed from mouth to mouth, and gradually the storytellers became well-known people, respect and love for which grew by leaps and bounds. People came to them, helped in any way they could, and thanked for a piece of joy that they bring to their beloved children. Inspired by the idea to collect as many folk art, to add a little magic and educational nuances useful to children, the brothers worked tirelessly until the end of their lives. So for more than 20 more years, the brothers released no less than 7 editions, and already with abundant illustrations and high-quality cover for those times.

At all times, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm were loved by both children and adults, although some people did not consider them suitable for young children. Too adult plots and sometimes deep reasoning frightened parents. Therefore, the Grimm brothers were not too lazy and edited some fairy tales, reorienting them to the youngest children. This is how they came to us. On our site we tried to add fairy tales in the original children's version only in the best translations into Russian.

And it also happens...

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm seriously influenced the attitude towards fabulous creativity If before them fairy tales were often too simple, then the stories of the brothers can be called a literary innovation, a breakthrough. Subsequently, many people were inspired by the search for wonderful folk tales and their publication. Including the authors of the site decided to contribute to the development and entertainment of modern children.

Among other things, let's not forget that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm appear no less than in the international UNESCO fund in the section devoted to memorable, great works. And such a confession says a lot and cost the two good storytellers Grimm a lot.

In 1812, a collection of fairy tales entitled "Children's and Family Tales" was published.

These were fairy tales collected in the German lands and literary processed by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimms. Later, the collection was renamed, and to this day it is known under the name "Tales of the Brothers Grimm".

The authors

Jacob Grimm (1785-1863)

Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859)

The Brothers Grimm were men of rich erudition with a wide range of interests. It is enough just to list the types of their activities to be convinced of this. They were engaged in jurisprudence, lexicography, anthropology, linguistics, philology, mythology; worked as librarians, taught at the university, and also wrote poetry and works for children.

Wilhelm Grimm's office

The brothers were born in the family of the famous lawyer Philipp Grimm in Hanau (Hesse). Wilhelm was younger than Jacob by 13 months and was in poor health. When the eldest of the brothers was 11 years old, their father died, leaving almost no funds. Their mother's sister took the boys in her care and contributed to their education. In total, Philip Grimm's family had 5 sons and a daughter, of which Ludwig Emil Grimm (1790-1863) – german artist and engraver.

Ludwig Emil Grimm. self-portrait

The brothers were members of the circle of Heidelberg romantics, whose goal was to revive interest in folk culture Germany and its folklore. Heidelberg School of Romanticism oriented artists in the direction of the national past, mythology, to a deep religious feeling. Representatives of the school turned to folklore as the "authentic language" of the people, contributing to its unification.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm left the famous collection German fairy tales. Main labor life of the Brothers Grimm - "German Dictionary". In fact, this is a comparative-historical dictionary of all Germanic languages. But the authors managed to bring it only to the letter "F", and the dictionary was completed only in the 1970s.

Jacob Grimm giving a lecture at Gettingham (1830). Sketch by Ludwig Emil Grimm

In total, during the life of the writers, the collection of fairy tales withstood 7 editions (the last - in 1857). This edition contained 210 fairy tales and legends. All editions were illustrated first by Philipp Groth-Johann and after his death by Robert Leinweber.
But the first editions of the tales were heavily criticized. They were considered unsuitable for children's reading both in content and because of the academic information inserts.
Then in 1825 the Brothers Grimm published the collection Kleine Ausgabe, which included 50 fairy tales, which were carefully edited for young readers. The illustrations (7 engravings on copper) were created by the painter brother Ludwig Emil Grimm. This children's version of the book went through ten editions between 1825 and 1858.

Preparatory work

The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm started collecting fairy tales from 1807. In search of fairy tales, they traveled through the land of Hesse (in the center of Germany), and then through Westphalia (a historical region in the north-west of Germany). The storytellers were the most different people: shepherds, peasants, artisans, innkeepers, etc.

Ludwig Emil Grimm. Portrait of Dorothea Viemann, folk storyteller, from whose stories the Brothers Grimm wrote down more than 70 fairy tales
According to the peasant woman Dorothea Fimann (1755-1815), the daughter of an innkeeper from the village of Zweren (near Kassel), 21 tales were written down for the second volume and numerous additions. She was the mother of six children. She owns the fairy tales "The Goose Girl", "The Lazy Spinner", "The Devil and His Grandmother", "Doctor Know-It-All".

Fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood"

Many of the tales in the collection are common plots of European folklore and therefore are included in the collections of various writers. For example, the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". It was literary processed by Charles Perrault, and was later recorded by the Brothers Grimm. The story of a girl deceived by a wolf has been common in France and Italy since the Middle Ages. In the Alpine foothills and in Tyrol, the tale has been known since the 14th century. and was very popular.
In fairy tales various countries and localities, the contents of the basket varied: in northern Italy, the granddaughter carried fresh fish to her grandmother, in Switzerland - a head of young cheese, in the south of France - a pie and a pot of butter, etc. Charles Perrault's wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood and grandmother. The tale concludes with a moral that instructs the maidens to be wary of seducers.

Illustration for the German version of the fairy tale

At the Brothers Grimm, woodcutters passing by, hearing a noise, kill a wolf, cut open his stomach and save Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. The moral of the fairy tale is also present in the Brothers Grimm, but it is of a different plan: it is a warning to naughty children: “Well, now I will never run away from the main road in the forest, I will not disobey my mother’s order anymore.”
In Russia, there is a version of P. N. Polevoy - full translation version of the Brothers Grimm, but the retelling by I. S. Turgenev (1866) was more common, in which the motive for violating the ban and some details of the descriptions were removed.

Meaning of "Tales of the Brothers Grimm"

Ludwig Emil Grimm. Portrait of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1843)

The influence of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm was enormous, they won the love of readers from the very first edition, despite criticism. Their work inspired to collect fairy tales and writers from other countries: in Russia it was Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasiev, in Norway - Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jørgen Mu, in England - Joseph Jacobs.
V. A. Zhukovsky in 1826 he translated two fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm into Russian for the magazine "Children's Interlocutor" ("Dear Roland and the Clear Flower Girl" and "The Briar Princess").
The influence of the plots of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm can be traced in three fairy tales A. S. Pushkin: “The Tale of dead princess and the Seven Bogatyrs” (“Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm), “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” (the fairy tale “About the Fisherman and His Wife” by the Brothers Grimm) and “The Bridegroom” (the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm “The Robber Bridegroom”).

Franz Hüttner. Illustration "The Stepmother and the Poisoned Apple" (from the fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers Grimm)

Fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm "About the Fisherman and his Wife"

One fisherman lives with his wife Ilsebil in a poor shack. Once he catches a flounder in the sea, which turns out to be an enchanted prince, she asks to let her go into the sea, which the fisherman does.
Ilsebil asks her husband if he asked for anything in exchange for the fish's freedom, and makes him call the flounder again to wish himself a better home. The magic fish grants this wish.
Soon Ilsebil again sends her husband to demand a stone castle from the flounder, then wants to become queen, kaiser (emperor) and pope. With each request of the fisherman to the flounder, the sea becomes more and more gloomy and rages.
The fish fulfills all her desires, but when Ilsebil wants to become the Lord God, the flounder returns everything to its previous state - to a miserable shack.
The tale was written down by the Grimm brothers in the dialect of Vorpommern (a historical region in the south of the Baltic Sea, located in different eras as part of various states) based on the fairy tale by Philip Otto Runge (German romantic artist).
Apparently, in ancient times the flounder had the functions of a sea deity in Pomerania, so the tale is an echo of mythology. The moral of the tale is presented in the form of a parable: gluttony and excessive demands are punished by the loss of everything.

Illustration by Anna Anderson "A fisherman speaks to a flounder"

The collection "Tales of the Brothers Grimm" also includes legends.
Legend- a written tradition about any historical events or personalities. Legends explain the origin of natural and cultural phenomena and give their moral assessment. In a broad sense, a legend is an unreliable narrative about the facts of reality.
For example, the legend “Glasses of the Mother of God” is the only work from the collection that has never been published in Russian.

The legend of the "Goblets of Our Lady"

This legend is placed in the second German edition of the book of fairy tales in 1819 as a children's legend. According to the Grimm brothers, it is recorded from the Westphalian Haxthausen family from Paderborn (a city in Germany, located in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia).
Contents of the legend. One day the driver got stuck on the road. There was wine in his wagon. Despite his best efforts, he could not move the wagon.
At this time, the Mother of God passed by. Seeing the poor man's vain attempts, she turned to him with the words: "I am tired and thirsty, pour me a glass of wine, and then I will help free your wagon." The driver readily agreed, but he did not have a glass to pour wine into. Then the Mother of God plucked a white flower with pink stripes (field bindweed), which looked a bit like a glass, and gave it to the cabman. He filled the flower with wine. The Mother of God took a sip - and at the same moment the wagon was freed. The poor man moved on.

bindweed flower

Since then, these flowers have been called "glasses of Our Lady".

One evening a young drummer was walking alone across the field. He approaches the lake, sees - three pieces of white linen are lying on the shore. “What a thin linen,” he said, and slipped one piece into his pocket. He came home, but forgot about his find and forgot to think and went to bed. But as soon as he fell asleep, it seemed to him that someone was calling him by name. He began to listen and heard a quiet voice that said to him: "Drummer, wake up, drummer!" And the night was dark, he could not see anyone, but it seemed to him as if he was rushing in front of his bed, then rising up, then falling down, some kind of figure.

What do you want? - he asked.

There lived a poor shepherd boy in the world. His father and mother died, then the authorities gave him to the house of a rich man, so that he would feed and educate him at home. But the rich man and his wife had an evil heart, and for all their wealth they were very stingy and unfriendly to people and always angry if someone used even a piece of their bread. And no matter how hard the poor boy tried to work, they fed him little, but beat him a lot.

Once upon a time there was an old miller at the mill; he had neither wife nor children, and he had three servants. They stayed with him for several years, so he once said to them:

I have already become old, I would now sit on the stove, and you go wandering around the wide world; and whoever brings home the best horse for me, to him I will give the mill, and he will feed me until death.

The third worker was a backfill at the mill, and they all considered him a fool and did not in any way predict a mill for him; Yes, he didn't want that either. And all three of them left, and, approaching the village, they said to Hans the Fool:

In ancient times, when the Lord God still walked the earth, it happened that one evening he was tired, he was caught by the night, and he had nowhere to spend the night. And there were two houses on the road, one opposite the other; one was large and beautiful, and the other was small and unsightly in appearance. Big house belonged to the rich man, and the little one to the poor. The Lord thought: “I won’t trouble a rich man, I’ll spend the night with him.” The rich man heard that they were knocking on his door, opened the window and asked the stranger what he needed.

Long ago there lived a king, and he was famous throughout the earth for his wisdom. Everything was known to him, as if someone through the air gave him news of the most secret things. But he had a strange custom: every noon, when everything was cleared from the table and no stranger was left, a reliable servant brought him another dish. But it was covered, and even the servant did not know what was on this dish; and not a single person knew about it, for the king opened the dish and started eating only when he was completely alone.

This went on for a long time, but one day curiosity overcame the servant, he could not control himself and took the dish to his room. He closed the doors properly, lifted the lid from the dish, he sees - there is a white snake lying there. He looked at her and could not resist tasting her; he cut off a piece and put it in his mouth.

Once a woman with her daughter and stepdaughter went out into the field to cut grass, and the Lord God appeared to them in the form of a beggar and asked:

How can I get closer to the village?

If you want to know the way, - answered the mother, - look for it yourself.

And if you are worried that you will not find the way, then take yourself a guide.

The poor widow lived alone in her hut, and in front of the hut she had a garden; two rose trees grew in that garden, and white roses bloomed on one, and scarlet on the other; and she had two children, like those rose-trees, one called Snow White, and the other Crimson. They were so modest and kind, so hard-working and obedient, that there were no such people in the world; only Snow White was even quieter and gentler than Scarlet. Crimson jumped and ran more and more through meadows and fields, picking flowers and catching butterflies; and Snow White - she mostly sat at home near her mother, helped her with the housework, and when there was no work, she read something aloud to her. Both sisters loved each other so much that if they went somewhere, they always held hands, and if Snow White used to say: “We will always be together,” then Scarlet will answer her: “Yes, as long as we are alive, we will never let’s part,” and the mother added: “Whatever one of you has, let him share it with the other.”

Long ago, there was a beautiful queen. Once she was sewing at the window, accidentally pricked her finger with a needle and a drop of blood fell on the snow lying on the windowsill.

The scarlet color of blood on the snow-white cover seemed so beautiful to her that the queen sighed and said:

Oh, how I would like to have a baby with a snow-white face, with lips as scarlet as blood, and jet-black curls.