Grimm tales
Classic childhood stories
Grimm tales are the folk stories collected and published by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century—"Cinderella," "Snow White," "Hansel and Gretel," "Rapunzel," and dozens more.
The original versions were darker and more violent than the sanitized retellings now common in children's media.
The phrase sometimes describes any story with fairy-tale elements or a particularly grim (unrelated word) quality: Their childhood sounded like something out of a Grimm tale.
- once upon a timeTraditional narrative opening
- enchanted forestSupernatural woodland of folklore
- dark forestLightless area of trees
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- oral storytellingTransmitting tales aloud
ancestral wisdom · trickster figure · pagan rituals · talking animals · moral lesson · fantasy literature · symbolism · transformation · superstitions · bread crumbs · heroic quest · poetic justice · happily ever after · glass slipper · fairy godmother · regional dialects · anthropomorphism · archetypal hero
- fictionfiction, novel, novels, novella, novellas
- European cultureFrench cuisine, Italian art, opera, ballet, Renaissance
- folklorefairytales, folktales, folktale, legends, legend
- German cultureOktoberfest, Bavaria, Bavarian, Berlin, Munich
- GermanyBerlin, Munich, Hamburg, Germany, German
- European heritageEuropean architecture, wine, European art, cheese, European cuisine
Grimm talesOne Thousand and One Nights
Classic frame-tale collection
Arabian Nights · Japanese folktales · Native American legends · African folktales · Norse sagas
Grimm talescontemporary fiction
Recently written realistic novels
realistic fiction · literary fiction · modernist literature · nonfiction · journalistic writing
Grimm, tale, tales, grim, grimly, grimness, grimmer, grimmest