Ashputtel, or Cinderella, is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward. In it, a young girl is forced by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters to a life of servitude. Sleeping next to the fireplace, she earns the nickname Ashputtel. Elements of the Grimm treatment of this story are much more intense than other versions (Perrault and Disney, for example), with the stepsisters experiencing a more violent conclusion. The theme of the persecuted heroine whose attributes go unrecognized has remained popular in modern storytelling, movies and media.

In Briar Rose, better known as Sleeping Beauty, seven good fairies are invited to be godmothers to an infant princess. An old, overlooked fairy feels slighted and puts a deadly curse on the princess. A kind fairy modulates the curse from death to 100 years of deep sleep which can be broken by the kiss of a handsome prince. This combination of princess, sleep enchantment and rescue by prince exists in multiple folk tales going back as early as the narrative Perceforest, composed between 1330 and 1344.

Children of all ages will adore this audiobook collection of some of the most notable stories in history. Listen to tales from the Grimm brothers, journey through the jungle with Mowgli in The Jungle Book, embrace youth with Wendy in Peter Pan, and run across pastures in Black Beauty.

These 200 tales were collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early nineteenth century. They traveled throughout Northern Europe and some of Scandinavia and had oral storytellers tell their stories. You will be able to see that many themes are the same with different characters. In fact, there are really many ways to tell the same story!

Be aware that this is a work of history and it reflects many prejudices from the past that we do not accept today. See it as a glimpse into a life far away … but very often our beginning!

From Children’s and Household Tales (German: Kinder und Hausmarchen), Grimm’s Fairy Tales was first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm. Although earlier editions included material deemed unpalatable to modern audiences, subsequent editions softened some of the violence and raciness of the original. Containing 62 stories, including “Briar Rose” (“Sleeping Beauty”), “Ashputtel” (“Cinderella”), “Hansel and Gretel,” and “Snow White and Rose Red,” this collection was praised by W.H. Auden as being among the founding works of Western culture.

Do you want to listen to Grimm’s Fairy Tales? If so then keep reading…
They are the stories we’ve known since we were children. Rapunzel. Hansel and Gretel. Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. But the works originally collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s are not necessarily the versions we heard before bedtime. They’re darker and often don’t end very happily–but they’re often far more interesting.
What are you waiting for Grimm’s Fairy Tales is one click away from listening to NOW!

In Hansel and Gretel, a famine has settled over the land. The children of a poor woodcutter are abandoned in the woods by their cruel stepmother who believes she and her husband will starve as a result of providing for the children. Days of wandering lead them to a beautiful cottage made of gingerbread and candy, which the children begin to eat. Lured inside by an old woman who promises hot baths, soft beds and more delicious food, the children are captured and enslaved by what turns out to be a cannibalistic witch. The resourceful children must rely on their wits to make a daring escape.

In Iron Hans a series of huntsmen disappear in a mysterious forest. It is eventually discovered that an iron-skinned man is dragging passersby into the lake where he lives. The man is captured by the king and subsequently released by a sympathetic prince, who then must flee the kingdom. The prince, with the help of the iron-skinned man defeats an army and wins the hand of a princess. The prince is reunited with his parents and Iron Hans is revealed to be a normal man who was under a spell and released from it by the prince who was found to be pure of heart.

In Little Red Cap, or Little Red Riding Hood, a little girl walks through the woods to deliver wine and cake to her sickly grandmother. Having been warned by her mother not to stray from the path, she is tricked by a large wolf into picking flowers in a nearby field. During this time, the wolf, masquerading as Little Red Cap, swindles the grandmother into letting him in. He then devours her and dons her clothing. When Little Red Cap arrives, the wolf, whose appetite was merely whetted by the frail grandmother, makes a meal out of the young girl. Happily, a brave woodsman arrives to rescue the both of them.

In the story of Rapunzel a childless couple awaits the arrival of their firstborn. One day, the husband is caught stealing the salad greens, called Rapunzel, that his wife craves from the garden of the evil witch next door. The witch strikes a deal with the man, obtaining their firstborn child in return for all the Rapunzel the wife can eat. The child, growing up in captivity with the witch turns into a beautiful maiden with a voice of gold, and extraordinarily long hair. When a handsome prince passes through, the witch’s cunningly-won custody arrangement starts to fall apart.

In Rumpelstiltskin a miller’s careless boast that his clever daughter can spin gold from straw is forced by the king to deliver on this claim. A little man arrives to help the miller’s distraught daughter in exchange for her firstborn child. Later, when the daughter, now the queen, gives birth to her first child, the little man comes to collect. He agrees to release the queen from her promise if she can learn his name. According to researchers at Durham University and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, this story originated around 4,000 years ago.

Enjoy a timeless collection of children’s fairy tales from Germany, compiled by the legendary Brothers Grimm. Stories include:

“Ashputtel””Cat and Mouse in Partnership””Cat-Skin””Clever Elsie””Hansel and Gretel””Jorinda and Jorindel””Doctor Knowall””Rapunzel””Little Red Cap, or Little Red Riding Hood””The Elves and the Shoemaker””Old Sultan””Snow-White and Rose-Red””Frederick and Catherine”

Snow-White, fair-haired, quiet and shy, and Rose-Red, dark-haired, outspoken and lively, are two little girls living with their mother in a small cottage by the woods. They give shelter on a winter night to a kindly bear, who treats them gently and returns every night. In the summer, the girls encounter a wicked dwarf whose beard is stuck in a tree. Freeing the dwarf, the girls are met with loud ungrateful recriminations for cutting his beard. More episodes of rescuing the dwarf from various perils transpire in a similar fashion. In the end, the bear comes to aid of the girls.

In Snowdrop (or Snow White) a queen sewing by the window during a snowfall pricks her finger. Admiring the drops of blood on the snow, she wishes for a daughter as white as that snow, as red as that blood, and as black as this ebony window frame! The queen dies after giving birth to Snowdrop. The girl’s stepmother, a vain and vindictive woman with a magic mirror, plots to eliminate Snowdrop, who grows more beautiful by the day. Snowdrop is left in the forest to die but takes shelter with seven dwarfs who become her protector when the evil stepmother learns she is still alive.

In The Elves and the Shoemaker a poor shoemaker prepares his last piece of leather to work on before turning in for bed. In the morning, he is amazed to find the shoes already made. Selling these to a grateful customer, his financial obligations are met and he is able to buy enough leather for two more pairs. When these are completed overnight in a similar fashion he stays awake to solve the mystery. Learning that a team of naked elves are responsible for the fine shoes, the shoemaker and his wife create tiny clothes for the elves to thank them. A popular tale that has been adapted many times for film and TV.

In The Frog Prince, a spoiled princess grudgingly befriends a frog after a chance meeting at a pond. Forced against her will to spend time with the creature, he is ultimately revealed to be a handsome prince under a spell when she hurls him against the wall. In many other versions of the story the curse is broken by a kiss or a night spent on the princess’s pillow. It is possible that the idea for the story goes back to Roman times when the emperor Nero was often mockingly compared to a frog.

In The Golden Bird a king who has been robbed of a golden apple commands his gardener’s sons to watch the tree. Seeing that the thief is a golden bird, the youngest son tries to shoot it, but only knocks a feather off. Fascinated by the feather, the king decides he wants the whole bird. The gardener’s son and his two brothers must make fateful choices in what turns into a fearsome quest to capture the bird.

In The Golden Goose Dummling, the youngest and simplest of three brothers, is sent into the forest to chop wood. He shares his food and drink with a little gray man who directs him to a tree which, when chopped down, is found to contain a golden goose. Dummling sets off on a journey with the goose under his arm, eventually arriving in a kingdom wherein the king will offer his daughter’s hand in marriage to any man who can make her laugh. This fairy tale, which features many common folk idioms (Least of Three, Princess Prize, The Fairy Gift) has numerous versions (The Princess Who Never Smiled, Peruonto) in other languages and cultures.

In The Goose Girl a princess’s maid turns on her mistress while traveling and forces her to switch roles with her. The False princess then kills the princess’s horse to keep it from talking and forces the real princess to herd geese with the boy Conrad. Conrad begins to notice strange things about the new goose-girl and informs the king. Will the false princess be discovered?

The Juniper Tree is a German fairy tale containing themes of child abuse, murder and cannibalism and is one of the Brothers Grimm’s darker and more mature fairy tales. In it, a boy is murdered and made into a stew by his evil stepmother, who buries his bones beneath a juniper tree outside their house. The boy is reincarnated as a bird who flies forth from the tree and enlists the townspeople to help him exact revenge. It is thought that the Grimm version of this tale was adapted from painter Philipp Otto Runge’s The Almond Tree.

In The Seven Ravens a peasant sends his seven sons to fetch water for his daughter’s christening. Having lost their pails in the well, they are afraid to return home without having completed their task. The peasant, thinking they have gone off to play, curses them whereupon they are immediately transformed into ravens. When the daughter is grown up she sets off to discover the whereabouts of her long-lost brothers. This folk tale exists in multiple varieties and was adapted into film in 1937.

In this tale, twelve princesses, each of astounding beauty, are locked in their shared bedroom by their father each night. Vexed to discover that their dancing shoes show signs of wear every morning, the king demands an explanation, which they refuse to give. The king offers his kingdom and marriage to any of his daughters as a reward to the man who solves the mystery. However, if the mystery remains unsolved after three nights, the erstwhile suitor will be put to death. After many entrants fail, a wise old soldier finally cracks the case.

In The Valiant Little Tailor a tailor parleys his success at killing seven flies in one stroke into a string of unlikely successes. Making a belt with the words Seven at one blow written on it, the gullible townspeople assume the tailor to have amazing strength. After a contest in which he tricks a giant into believing he is stronger, the tailor persuades the king he can rid the kingdom of giants. In exchange for this the king offers his daughter’s hand in marriage and half his kingdom. When the king balks on this promise and creates more conditions, the tailor must again rely on his wits to prove his bravery.

The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids is a fairy tale that strongly resembles The Three Little Pigs and elements of Little Red Riding Hood. In it, a mother goat leaves her kids home alone, warning them not to open the door. A Big Bad Wolf shows up and tries to talk his way in, but the kids hold fast. When the wolf finally gets past the door through trickery, he eats all but one of the kids. The mother goat returns to find the wolf sleeping under a tree. With the help of the one child who wasn’t eaten she rescues the remaining six with the help of a pair of scissors and some large rocks.

In the Brothers Grimm version of Tom Thumb, a lonely couple hopes for a child, even, the wife says, if it were no bigger than my thumb. To their delight, their wishes come true and the boy is named Tom Thumb for his diminutive stature. The boy is crafty and helps his father by directing the family horse to haul firewood by standing in his ear and whispering commands. Embarking on several adventures, Tom displays a knack for tricking the slow-witted people who attempt to take advantage of Tom’s unique size.