Some fairy tales, like many of the stories written by Hans Christian Andersen, don’t end happily. Others, like some more modern renditions of old fairy tales, don’t include magic.
As you read The Sisters Grimm, look for elements from the list above and see how many you can find. Think of Sabrina, Daphne, and Granny Relda as heroes (or “damsels in distress,” sometimes). Who are the villains? Do you ever feel sorry for them? Think about different ways in which The Sisters Grimm imitates or challenges the typical fairy-tale formula.
CRIME WATCH
The Grimm sisters are “sleuths of fairy-tale crime.” It’s a good thing, too, because there seem to be an awful lot of crimes committed in fairy tales. Without the three little (or not so little) pigs out patrolling the streets, crime was rampant throughout many classic fairy tales. Below are some well-known fairy tales and a list of crimes. Can you connect the crime with the story, and bring the perpetrators to justice like the Grimm sisters?
Answers:
A-7 (Goldilocks enters the house of the three bears uninvited)
B-2 (the wolf pretends to be Grandma)
C-5 (the beast makes Beauty stay in his castle and will not let her leave)
D-6 (the evil queen tries to kill Snow White four times)
E-1 (the girl’s father lies and tells the king that she can spin gold out of straw)
F-4 (the evil stepmother and her daughters make young Cinderella their slave)
G-3 (the wolf destroys the pigs’ houses)
BE THE NEXT GRIMM
Not everybody may get the chance to hang out with Everafters and solve fairy-tale crimes like the Grimm sisters, but anyone can follow in the Grimm brothers’ famous storytelling tradition. Because most fairy tales follow a pretty simple formula, it’s surprisingly easy to create your own. See if you can use some common building blocks to write your own story. Here are a few questions to get you started thinking:
Who is the hero?
Who is the villain?
Is there a trusty sidekick?
Where does my story take place?
What does my hero want? What is he or she looking for?
What challenges must my hero overcome?
Once you decide what you’re writing about, here are some phrases to help you put your ideas all together:
Once upon a time …
There once was a boy …
Many, many years ago there lived …
Now, you shall hear a story that somebody’s great-great-grandmother told a little girl many years ago …
… and _____________ was in grave danger …
… but _____________ was too smart to be tricked, and decided to …
… and they lived happily ever after!
… snip, snap, snout. This tale’s told out.
Remember, part of the fun of fairy tales is being surprised, so be as creative as you can. Boys don’t always have to rescue girls, and villains don’t always have to be wicked old women (think about the surprising heroes and villains in the Sisters Grimm books). After you finish your fairy tale, try reading it out loud to see how it sounds. You’ll be working in the great, centuries-old tradition of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm!
TEST YOUR FAIRY-TALE SMARTS
Think you have the smarts to be part of the Grimm family? As Granny Relda teaches, there’s lots to learn. See how much you know by taking the following quiz about your favorite tales!
1. The seven dwarfs make an agreement with Snow White allowing her to stay with them if in return she will do what?
a. stand around looking pretty
b. teach them how to wash all the dust off their mining clothes
c. cook, clean, and keep house
d. accompany them to the mines every day and sing while they work.
2. At the very end of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf’s stomach is filled with
a. Granny’s famous chicken wings
b. Granny
c. absolutely nothing
d. stones
3. Before the Queen guesses Rumplestiltskin’s real name, she guesses two others, including
a. Harry
b. Joshua
c. Jack
d. Prince Charming
4. The Evil Sorceress who finds Hansel and Gretel plans to
a. feed them her leftovers forever
b. make them clean her house all day long
c. hold them hostage until their parents pay for them
d. eat them
5. Rapunzel is raised by an evil enchantress to punish her parents for
a. exiling the enchantress from their kingdom
b. stealing some plants from the enchantress’s garden
c. having the fairest daughter in all the land
d. not taking their daughter to get a haircut when she clearly needs one
Answers: 1-c, 2-d, 3-a, 4-d, 5-b
ORIGINAL TALES
If you are curious about the original stories collected by the Brothers Grimm and other storytellers from around the world, here’s a list of books to start you off, which you should be able to find at your local library:
Andersen’s Fairy Tales. Hans Christian Andersen. Wildside Press, 2004.
The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. Norton, 2002.
The Arabian Nights Entertainments. Andrew Lang. Dover, 1969.
Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales. Joseph Jacobs. Dover, 1968.
Chinese Myths and Fantasies. Cyril Birch. Oxford, 1993.
The Complete Fables. Aesop. Penguin, 1998.
The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. Charles Perrault. Clarion, 1993.
The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The Brothers Grimm. Pantheon, 1976.
Demons, Gods, and Holy Men from Indian Myth and Legend. Shahrukh Husain. Schocken, 1987.
English Fairy Tales. Joseph Jacobs. Everyman’s Library, 1993.
The Fairy Books. Andrew Lang. Various publishers.
Greek Gods and Heroes. Alice Low. Simon & Schuster, 1985.
Irish Fairy Tales and Legends. Una Leavy. O’Brian Press, 2002.
Italian Folk Tales. Italo Calvino. Harcourt, 1990.
Russian Fairy Tales. Aleksandr A. Afanasiev. Pantheon, 1976.
Spirits, Heroes, and Hunters from North American Indian Mythology. Marion Wood. Knopf, 1982.
Tales of Ancient Egypt. Roger Lancelyn Green. Puffin, 1996.
THE GRIMM WEB
You can find out more about the Brothers Grimm and their stories at these Internet sites:
Brothers Grimm: Fairy Tales, History, Facts, and More
www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm
National Geographic presents twelve tales from the famous brothers in their original form. Open the treasure chest to find a map of the Fairy-Tale Road through Germany, National Geographic articles on the Brothers Grimm, links to other Grimm resources, and more.
Grimm Fairy Tales
www.grimmfairytales.com/en/main
Interactive, narrated, animated versions of several fairy tales plus biographical information, games, and other fun stuff from Kids Fun Canada.
The SurLaLune Fairy-Tale Site
www.surlalunefairytales.com
This personal Web site hosted by a librarian serves as a portal to fairy-tale and folklore studies, featuring forty-four annotated fairy tales, with their histories, cross-cultural tales, and illustrations.
Michael Buckley, The Unusual Suspects
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