Reading Practice
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and
Wilhelm, named their story collection Children’s and Household Tales and
published the first of its seven editions in Germany in 1812. The table of
contents reads like an A-list of fairy-tale celebrities: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty,
Snow
White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin,
Hansel and Gretel, the Frog King. Drawn mostly from oral narratives, the 210
stories in die Grimm’s’ collection represent an anthology of fairy tales,
animal fables, rustic farces, and religious allegories that remain unrivalled
to this day.
Such lasting fame would have shocked the humble Grimms.
During their lifetimes the collection sold modestly in Germany, at first only a
few hundred copies a year. The early editions were not even aimed at children.
The brothers initially refused to consider illustrations, and scholarly
footnotes took up almost as much space as the tales themselves. Jacob and
Wilhelm viewed themselves as patriotic folklorists, not as entertainers of
children. They began their work at a time when Germany had been overrun by the
French under Napoleon, who was intent on suppressing local culture. As young,
workaholic scholars, single and sharing a cramped flat, the Brothers Grimm
undertook the fairy-tale collection with the goal of serving the endangered
oral tradition of Germany.
For much of the 19th century teachers, parents, and
religious figures, particularly in the United States, deplored the Grimms’
collection for its raw, uncivilized content. Offended adults objected to the
gruesome punishments inflicted on the stories’ villains. In the original “Snow
White” the evil stepmother is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she
falls down dead. Even today some protective parents shy from the Grimms’ tales
because of their reputation for violence.
Despite its sometimes rocky reception, Children’s and
Household Tales gradually took root with the public. The brothers had not
foreseen that the appearance of their work would coincide with a great
flowering of children’s literature in Europe. English publishers led the way,
issuing high-quality picture books such as Jack and the Beanstalk and handsome
folktale collections, all to satisfy a newly literate audience seeking virtuous
material for the nursery. Once the Brothers Grimm sighted this new public, they
set about refining and softening their tales, which had originated centuries
earlier as earthy peasant fare. In the Grimms’ hands, cruel mothers became
nasty stepmothers, unmarried lovers were made chaste, and the incestuous father
was recast as the devil.
In the 20th century the Grimms’ fairy tales have come to
rule the bookshelves of children’s bedrooms. The stories read like dreams come
true: handsome lads and beautiful damsels, armed with magic, triumph over
giants and witches and wild beasts. They outwit mean, selfish adults.
Inevitably the boy and girl fall in love and live happily ever after. And
parents keep reading because they approve of the finger-wagging lessons
inserted into the stories: keep your promises, don’t talk to strangers, work
hard, obey your parents. According to the Grimms, the collection served as “a
manual of manners”.
Altogether some 40 persons delivered tales to the Grimms.
Many of the storytellers came to the Grimms’ house in Kassel. The brothers
particularly welcomed the visits of Dorothea Viehmann, a widow who walked to
town to sell produce from her garden. An innkeeper daughter, Viehmann had grown
up listening to stories from travellers on the road to Frankfurt. Among her
treasure was “Aschenputtel” -Cinderella. Marie Hassenpflug was a 20-year-old
friend of their sister, Charlotte, from a well-bred, French-speaking family.
Marie’s wonderful stories blended motifs from the oral tradition and from
Perrault’s influential 1697 book, Tales of My Mother Goose, which contained
elaborate versions of “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Snow White”, and “Sleeping
Beauty”, among others. Many of these had been adapted from earlier Italian
tales.
Given that the origins of many of the
Grimm fairy tales reach throughout Europe and into the Middle East and Orient,
the question must be asked: How German are the Grimm tales? Very, says scholar
Heinz Rolleke. Love of the underdog, rustic simplicity, creative energy—these
are Teutonic traits. The coarse texture of life during medieval times in
Germany, when many of the tales entered the oral tradition, also coloured the
narratives.
Throughout Europe, children were often neglected and
abandoned, like Hansel and Gretel. Accused witches were burned at the stake,
like the evil mother-in-law in “The Six Swans”. “The cruelty in the stories was
not the Grimm’s fantasy”, Rolleke points out” It reflected the law-and-order
system of the old times”.
The editorial fingerprints left by the Grimms betray the
specific values of 19th-century Christian, bourgeois German society. But that
has not stopped the tales from being embraced by almost every culture and
nationality in the world. What accounts for this widespread, enduring
popularity? Bernhard Lauer points to the “universal style” of the writing, you
have no concrete descriptions of the land, or the clothes, or the forest, or
the castles. It makes the stories timeless and placeless,” The tales allow us
to express ‘our utopian longings’,” says Jack Zipes of the University of
Minnesota, whose 1987 translation of the complete fairy tales captures the
rustic vigour of the original text. They show a striving for happiness that
none of us knows but that we sense is possible. We can identify with the heroes
of the tales and become in our mind the masters and mistresses of our own
destinies.”
Fairy tales provide a workout for the
unconscious, psychoanalysts maintain. Bruno
Bettelheim famously promoted the therapeutic of the Grimms’
stories, calling fairy tales the “great comforters. By confronting fears and
phobias, symbolized by witches, heartless stepmothers, and hungry wolves,
children find they can master their anxieties. Bettelheim’s theory continues to
be hotly debated. But most young readers aren’t interested in exercising their
unconsciousness. The Grimm tales, in fact, please in an infinite number of
ways, something about them seems to mirror whatever moods or interests we bring
to our reading of them. The flexibility of interpretation suits them for almost
any time and any culture.
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information
given in Reading Passage?
In
boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet,
write
YES if the statement is true
NO if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the
passage
1..................... The Grimm brothers believed they would
achieve international fame.
2..................... The Grimm brothers were forced to work in
secret.
3..................... Some parents today still think Grimm fairy
tales are not suitable for children.
4..................... The first edition of Grimm’s fairy tales
sold more widely in England than in
Germany.
5..................... Adults like reading Grimm’s fairy tales for
reasons different from those of children.
6..................... The Grimm brothers based the story
“Cinderella” on the life of Dorothea
Viehmann
Questions 7-9
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write
your answers in boxes 7-9 on your
answer sheet.
7. In paragraph
4, what changes happened at that time in Europe?
A Literacy
levels of the population increased.
B The
development of printing technology made it easier to publish.
C Schools
were open to children.
D People
were fond of collecting superb picture books.
8. What changes
did the Grimm Brothers make in later editions?
A They
made the stories shorter.
B They
used more oral language.
C The
content of the tales became less violent.
D They
found other origins of the tales.
9. What did
Marie Hassenpflug contribute to the Grimm’s Fairy tales?
A She
wrote stories.
B She
discussed the stories with them.
C She
translated a popular book for the brothers using her talent for languages.
D She
told the oral stories that were based on traditional Italian stories.
Questions 10-14
Write
the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet.
10..................... Heinz Rolleke said the Grimm’s tales are
“German” because the tales
11..................... Heinz Rolleke said the abandoned children in
tales
12..................... Bernhard Lauer said the writing style of the
Grimm brothers is universal because they
13..................... Jack Zipes said the pursuit of happiness in
the tales means they
14..................... Bruno Bettelheim said the therapeutic value
of the tales means that the fairy tales
A
reflect what life was like at that time
B
help children deal with their problems
C
demonstrate the outdated system
D
tell of the simplicity of life in the German
countryside
E
encourage people to believe that they can do
anything
F
recognize the heroes in the real life
G
contribute to the belief in nature power
H
avoid details about characters’ social
settings.
Solution:
|
1. NO |
8. C |
|
2. NOT GIVEN |
9. D |
|
3. YES |
10. D |
|
4. NOT GIVEN |
11. A |
|
5. YES |
12. H |
|
6. NO |
13. E |
|
7. A |
14. B |
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