Customer Reviews

Grimm's Fairy Stories

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a greatest-hits grab bag of 25 stories from the Grimm's Fairy Tales collection, unillustrated, and apparently taken from the 1884 Margaret Hunt translation. Good collection of the highlights, but there are more complete collections (for example, Household Tales by Brothers Grimm) available for free in the kindle store.

List is:

The Goose-Girl
The Little Brother and Sister
Hansel and Grethel
Oh, if I could but Shiver!
Dummling and the Three Feathers
Little Snow-White
Catherine and Frederick
The Valiant Little Tailor
Little Red-Cap
The Golden Goose
Bearskin
Cinderella
Faithful John
The Water of Life
Thumbling
Briar Rose
The Six Swans
Rapunzel
Mother Holle
The Frog Prince
The Travels of Tom Thumb
Snow White and Rose Red
The Three Little Men in the Wood
Rumpelstiltskin
Little One-eye, Two-Eye, and Three-Eyes

Note the title. This is a selection of fairy tales, in fairly poor translation, not the full "Grimm's Fairy TALES", or "Household Stories" collection. There are places where the stories seem to drop off or change direction suddenly mid-stream. "The Little Brother and Little Sister", for example, is missing a paragraph that is in other versions, which is needed to follow the plot.

A few stories seem to have no point or plot at all, or added endings, although "Catherine and Frederick" is only a little worse here than in other versions I have found. Most of the good stories are repeated in better collections.

Only notable bits:

"Bearskin" is one that isn't in every collection of Grimm's Tales, and I found it enjoyable. I prefer the stories like this and "The Six Swans", in which the day is won through persistence and cleverness. Also, he cheats the devil, which is always a nice touch. Many of these stories are solved through nothing more interesting than dumb luck.

This version of "The Frog Prince" has a very beautiful beginning, but the rest of the story is disjointed, uninspired, and annoying.

Overall it was very uneven, and next time I'll search Project Gutenberg for the full tales.

This book was formerly named "First edition" and now "Original version". I bought the "First edition". Once in my hands I found the title rather misleading, It inclined one to think that the book contained the first edition of the tales. But in the first page of the book is stated: "Grimm's fairy stories. 1922". Actually the firts version of Grimm's stories dates back to 1812 - 1814, and they changed the stories several times producing seven different editions until 1857. Then, which original version are you getting?

This is a wounderful fairytale book. Well known stories in their orignal contex. I didn't find anything wrong with the formatting.

Not the greatest collection, but a good one. Good for anyone who has not read some of the most recent translations. These are a good cozy read on a cold or cool night. Grab the kids and snuggle up for the classics.

At one time or another almost everybody has read a story about mystical beings, dashing heroes, and evil villains, all acting out a story in a mysterious place, in a time long, long ago. It is generally thought that fairy tales are used to teach little children morals. However, fairy tales, while almost purely of a fictional content, offer us a glimpse into the culture and social staples of society. (From Source: [...])

It was one of the first books I downloaded after getting my kindle....how can you pass up such great literature for free? I love that I get to carry around all the fantastic characters in this book....it's like a bit of magic and mystery lives in my purse.

Because these stories are unabridged, they offer an oppoutunity to explore masterful storytelling at its best. Like many free Kindle books, the formatting leaves something to be desired. Many youngsters today will have difficulty staying with these lengthy tales, but if you caress the stories as you present them they will help lay the same foundations for children today as they have done for many generations. Better for a long car ride then bedtime stories.

Fairy tales began as oral tales to amuse adults. But by the middle of the nineteenth century, fairy tales collections by Perrault, Grimm and Hans Andersen had been published. The published versions were for child readers and the more shocking elements were toned down. Today, these stories are considered the classic stories every child should know. (From Source: [...])

If your kids loved Shrek, believe me when I'll tell you they'll want to know where all of the characters in Shrek came from. Grimms' fairy tales offer a break from the normal power rangers and special effects and concentrate on tales that were passed generationd to generations until written.