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“The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was” or “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It involves a boy who is considered foolish and good for nothing, so much so that he assumes (after hearing people talking about shuddering) that the shudders are an action or trade that he can learn how to do, for he is so foolish that he doesn’t know to be afraid.

The Wolf and the Fox is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. The story involves a greedy, gluttonous wolf living with a fox. The wolf makes the fox do all his work and threatens to eat him if he doesn’t otherwise comply. The fox, in turn, devises a scheme to rid himself of the wolf.

A very ancient folk tale, often copied and translated, found in Grimm’s compilation of fairy tales. This is a moral tale about a poor shoemaker who receives unexpected help when he thinks he won’t be able to make it: elves come into his house and shoulder his work for him.

“Snow Drop and the Seven Dwarfs” also known as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”is a German fairy tale, written by Brothers Grimm, known across much of Europe and is today one of the most famous fairy tales worldwide. A queen gives birth to a baby daughter, a girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony. She is named ‘Snow White’. Sadly, the Good Queen, Snow White’s mother, dies during childbirth. After a year has passed, Snow White’s father, the King, takes a new and second wife, who is very beautiful, but a wicked and vain woman. The new queen, Snow White’s evil stepmother, possesses a magic mirror, which she asks every morning, “Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” The mirror always replies: “My Queen, you are the fairest one of all.” The Queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But as Snow White grows up, she becomes more beautiful each day and even more beautiful than the Queen, and when the Queen asks her mirror, it tells her that Snow White is the fairest. This gives the queen a great shock. She becomes yellow and green with envy and from that hour on, her heart turns against Snow White, and she hates her more and more each day. Envy and pride, like ill weeds, grow in her heart taller every day, until she has no peace day or night. Eventually, the Queen orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the deepest woods to be taken…

“Snow-White and Rose-Red” is a German fairy tale written by Brothers Grimm. Snow-White and Rose-Red are two little girls living with their mother, a poor widow, in a small cottage. They are very good little girls, they love each other dearly, and their mother is very fond of them. Dark-haired Rose-Red is outspoken and cheerful and loves to play outside. Fair-haired Snow-White is quiet and shy and prefers doing housework and reading. One winter night, there is a knock at the door. Rose Red opens the door to find a bear. At first, she is terrified, but the bear tells her not to be afraid. “I’m half frozen and I merely want to warm up a little at your place,” he says. They let the bear in, and he lies down in front of the fire. Snow-White and Rose-Red beat the snow off the bear, and they quickly become quite friendly with him. They play with the bear and roll him around playfully. They let the bear spend the night in front of the fire. In the morning, he leaves trotting out into the woods. The bear comes back every night for the rest of that winter and the family grows used to him. When summer comes, the bear tells them that he must go away for a while to guard his treasure from a wicked dwarf. During the summer, when the girls are walking through the forest, they find a dwarf whose beard is stuck in a tree. The girls rescue him by cutting his beard free, but the dwarf is ungrateful and yells at them for cutting his beautiful beard. The girls encounter the dwarf several times that summer, rescue him from some peril each time and the dwarf is ungrateful each time. Then one day, they meet the dwarf once again. This time, he is terrified because the bear is about to eat him…

Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore, and a best classic fairy tale. The History of Tom Thumb was the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father’s thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangling with giants, and becoming a favourite of King Arthur. The History of Tom Thumbe tells that in the days of King Arthur, old Thomas of the Mountain, a plowman and a member of the King’s Council, wants nothing more than a son, even if he is no bigger than his thumb. He sends his wife to consult with Merlin and in three months time she gives birth to the diminutive Tom Thumb. The “Queene of Fayres” and her attendants act as midwives. She provides Tom with an oak leaf hat, a shirt of cobweb, a doublet of thistledown, stockings of apple rind, and shoes of mouse’s skin…

“The Frog Prince” is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm’s written version. The 2009 Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, is loosely based on this story. The Frog Prince  : in the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends the Frog Prince (meeting him after dropping a gold ball into a pond), who magically transforms into a handsome prince. Although in modern versions the transformation is invariably triggered by the princess kissing the frog, in the original Grimm version of the story is a a little bit different.

“The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids” is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. A mother leaves her seven children at home while she ventures into the forest to find food. Before she leaves, she warns her young about the Big Bad Wolf who will try to sneak into the house and gobble them up. The wolf will pretend to be their mother and convince the kids to open the door. The young children will be able to recognize their true mother by her white feet and sweet voice. The mother leaves and the seven kids stay in the house. Before long, they hear a voice at the door that says “Let me in children, your mother has something for each and every one of you”. His gruff voice betrays him and the kids do not let him in. A little while later, they hear another voice at the door: “Let me in children, your mother has something for each and every one of you”. This time the voice is high and sweet like their mother’s. They are about to let him in when the youngest kid looks under the crack in the door and notices the wolf’s big, black feet. They refuse to open the door, and the wolf goes away again…

« Rapunzel » is a well-known fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm. A lonely couple, who want a child, lived next to a walled garden belonging to an evil witch named Dame Gothel. The wife, experiencing the cravings associated with the arrival of her long-awaited pregnancy, notices a rapunzel plant (or, in most translated-to-English versions of the story, rampion), growing in the garden and longs for it, desperate to the point of death. One night, her husband breaks into the garden to get some for her. She makes a salad out of it and greedily eats it. It tastes so good that she longs for more. So her husband goes to get some for her a second time. As he scales the wall to return home, Dame Gothel catches him and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy, and she agrees to be lenient, and allows him to take all he wants, on condition that the baby be given to her at birth.