Saturday, June 27, 2015
After our visit to the woodcarver in Johannesberg, we went to Steinhau to see the Bruder Grimm house and museum.
Jacob and Wilhelm were born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, but grew up in Steinau. Younger brother, Ludwig, a student of Rembrandt, became their first illustrator.
They were university trained in languages and library science and published scholarly works on linguistics and medieval studies. They weren't able to finish their last project, a German dictionary. They are buried in Berlin.
Jacob and Wilhelm were born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, but grew up in Steinau. Younger brother, Ludwig, a student of Rembrandt, became their first illustrator.
They were university trained in languages and library science and published scholarly works on linguistics and medieval studies. They weren't able to finish their last project, a German dictionary. They are buried in Berlin.
As industrialization took root, local traditions changed, and scholars, like Jacob and Wilhelm, began a quest to save the local folklore from extinction.
They first interviewed friends and family and then traveled along a trail to many villages to record the folklore that had been passed down from generation to generation. The stories were mostly made up by housewives to pass the time as they did their chores.
In 1812 they published the stories in a collection titled, "Nursery and Household Tales," but soon became known as "Grimm Fairy Tales." By 1859 there were 211 stories in its 7th edition.
The stories originally contained much violence and many grotesque details, for example, the stepsisters cut off their toes and heels in order to fit into the slipper.
No, Cinderella was not written by Walt Disney!!!
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| This picture of "Ashputtel" (Cinderella) is one of the illustrations of younger brother, Ludwig, who at one time was a student of Rembrandt. |
Years later, many details and endings of the stories were revised (although the brothers were insistent that they didn't make any changes) as the stories became popular among children.
Yep, we're in the right place!
The fountain was carved with figures from the stories.
The Frog Prince was in the front yard to greet us. Notice the section of original cobblestone road in the background.
Like so many others in history, the Bruder Grimm, lived in very humble circumstances, and are much more famous now than they ever were in their lifetimes.
Sister Pam Dittmar is enjoying seeing some of the many versions of Grimm Fairy Tales here. Of course, these books were all written in German.
No video to watch! No book to read from! Even father is captivated by the magic of storytelling.
Have we lost something precious in our society? I think so!!!
Isn't he just adorable???
And some not so adorable....
Royalty has long been an important part of life in many cultures, so of course, it is an integral part of their stories!!
There were many small dioramas depicting the fairy tales. The headphones spoke only German and we're a bit deficient in that area.
Hansel and Gretel
Cinderella
The Magic Fish
Cinderella
The Seven Dwarfs (I only got 6 in the picture).
Little Red Riding Hood
"The better to eat you with, my dear!"
These were just a few of the large dioramas depicting many stories.
Some fairy tales were not familiar to us, such as Jorinde und Joringel! Do any of you know this one?
We mentioned this to the guide, so she told the four of us the entire story....in German, with all of the animation that she would have used in telling it to children!
She told part of the story, then stopped and waited for Elder Dittmar to translate it into English, then continued with the next part of the story (including enthusiastic expressions), stopped, waited for the translation, and then continued with the next part. For...who knows how long, we looked back and forth between the German storyteller, and the German translator, until the entire story had been dispensed.
Such a choice cultural experience!
I wish that we had gotten a video of this whole scenario, but we were so completely taken in that we didn't think of it! Later I thought it would have been quite appropriate for Orem's Timpanogos Story Telling Festival!
We were the only ones there so we didn't have competition for the cute reading areas. Woops, the crown is a bit crooked...
Elder Dittmar is watching videos of the stories inside of a crown.
So many stories to read!!
The gingerbread house is not perfection, but obviously loved.
We found the Seven Dwarfs in the back yard bidding us Auf Wiedersehen, their native language!
It was good to learn more about the origin of the stories we've grown up with! We realized today that the Grimm Fairy Tales have been loved by many more generations than we knew!!!
And where would our little "princess generation" be without them???
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