No literary tandem more famous than the one composed of the two Brothers Grimm: Jacob and Wihelm. Between the two German narrators they took care to compile, revise, rethink and offer new stories of that popular imaginary, of the storytelling tradition that, in central Europe, made use of the centripetal force that is gathering literary treasures from the oral and traditional tradition. achieving that the magical tales spread already in the nineteenth century with their moralizing eagerness at the same time as their idle purpose.
From the handwriting of the Grimms, tales such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, The Musicians of Bremen, The Wonderful Musician, Lucky John ... a multitude of tales from the popular acerbic that, passed through the sieve of Jacob or Wihelm's, they took on the brilliance of story brief with romantic overtones, with that popular interest typical of this romantic trend and with the wisdom of the people, dedicated to the cause of the imagination to give explanations of the world or to teach the little ones with the brightness of the image and the symbol.
Editions, reissues and adaptations. The immense literary output of the Grimms reaches the unimaginable. We can find some editions that contain everything, or that accompany with magnificent illustrations, or that are selected by age, because sometimes the stories are not entirely children's ...
And having said that, it is time to select my favorites, it is likely that you will be surprised ...
Top 3 best tales of the Brothers Grimm
Lucky john
In a certain way, the stories rescued from that popular imagination are sometimes repetitive, despite the brilliance of their disparate staging and character characterization.
That's why I found it interesting to find this story that talks about ambitions, the difficult balance between what we have and what we want, or between what we are and what we dream of being.
The final moral addresses the idea that dreams are not always the best thing that can happen to us, and that even, along the way, we can end up succumbing to excessive ambition. Very timely for this individualistic and capitalist society in which we live.
One fine day Juan decides to earn a living beyond his master. Get a succulent settlement from him and set out on the path of his destiny and we are seeing how the interaction with other characters ends up wearing him down. Similar to the story of Aesop, that of the hens that lay the golden eggs.
The shoemaker and the pixies
Believe in magic. Have faith. We can call it what we want, but the point is that the human being needs a certain transcendence, the feeling that something bases existence, that a favorable wind can arrive at any moment.
The practically ruined shoemaker is rebuilding himself as he discovers that his work appears to be done every morning in a way that is as precise as it is prodigious.
The night, our dreams and wishes for improvement transformed into a brilliant story that evokes that hope. The shoemaker works during the day, organizing and at night the work is finally finished.
The problem is wanting to find out what happens with that magic, what makes it go good or bad, regardless of our actions ...
Hansel y Gretel
How can we forget this tale of stories? For a child like the one I was, discovering this story in which two brothers face the dark forest, the witch, the hatred of a stepmother capable of manipulating their beloved father, as I say, discovering a story like this meant entering into the adventure of adventures.
Children who need to be older to make the right decisions to escape evil. Final emotions when they are able to get back on the road home.
Maximum narrative tension for children to stay glued to that story that confronts them with the eternal struggle of good and evil that literature has dealt with since the first fiction book was written. Essential of these authors.
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