The Annotated Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm

The young and vulnerable may have indeed felt at risk when there was nothing to eat, even if, as we know, cannibalism was a fairly rare phenomenon.' Even if you suffer mutilation, there is regeneration and the promise of resurrection'.īut there is no getting away from the fact, Tatar continues, that the 'the tales had their origins in a culture where famine was common and life was nasty, brutish, and short. 'Fairy tales give us loss and restitution in powerful ways. 'We start with myths of creation, which often feature dismemberment and reconstitution of bodies,' she writes.

What's really going on here, explains Tatar in an email to The Salt, is that these stories draw on the ancient and universal idea of a circle of life. Smoke, flames and fire rise up from the spot and when they vanish, the little brother is back. The little boy in 'The Juniper Tree' reappears first as a bird, who sings about the whole nasty business and then drops a millstone on the evil stepmother's head. Despite being swallowed, sautéed, or roasted whole, the culinary victims are usually restored to life in one form or another, whether released by impromptu cesarean, or subjected to a series of beautiful and mysterious transformations into plants or animals. Now, it has to be said, that once you've gotten over the shock, things often turn out better than you might expect. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. And then he demands a second helping.Ĭlose overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Annotated Brothers Grimm Author Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm 'Oh, dear wife, this stew tastes so good!' he declares. When his father returns home, he tucks into a hearty meal. In order to conceal the hideous crime, she chops up the little boy's body and turns him into a pot of stew. A wicked stepmother kills her husband's young son so that their daughter will inherit everything. A band of drunken thieves drag home a young woman, force her to drink three full glasses of wine 'one white, one red, one yellow,' tear off her clothes, and finally, they 'chopped her beautiful body into pieces, and sprinkled them with salt.' In the story 'The Robber Bridegroom,' the gruesome kitchen prep is the final stage of what can only be described as a gang rape. Variously gulped down whole, fattened for roasting, neatly sliced for serving, or cut up into stew. Young women and small children are just as likely to top the menu. Forget about edible houses, magic apples, and winter strawberries. What I wasn't quite prepared for was all the culinary horror that goes along with this fairy tale deliciousness.

And as for those winter strawberries 'bright red in the snow,' there they are, popping up beneath the bare trees in Arthur Rackham's classic illustration from his edition of the stories published in London in 1917.

The Annotated Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm