Folktales and fairy tales are fascinating documents that speak to primal urges of survival and selfhood, while also highlighting the beliefs and social anxieties of people living in particular times and places. Arguably the most famous collection of fairy tales ever produced was Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which was published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 (originally under the German title of Kinder und Hausmärchen, or ‘Children’s and Household Tales’). Grimm’s tales offer intriguing resources for historical subjects, most notably issues related to families and childhood. This makes perfect sense, given that it was in this general time period that the genre became frequently used for the moral education of the young. Previously, these tales were typically meant for a more general, adult audience, and thus we see that Grimm’s tales are somehow poised between adulthood and childhood, maturity and innocence. This helps to explain the content in these works that is often seen as shocking, ,harsh, and unnecessarily violent in the eyes of many post-modern readers. But this was NOT really the view of most nineteenth-century readers, and rather than trying to somehow sanitize them (like Walt Disney would eventually do) we should try to understand them in the context of their time and place. Consequently, for this response I want you to pick a single tale from the Grimm’s collection and share with us your thoughts about it. You might consider why these arguably gruesome and disturbing tales were included in the volume, and examine just what defines them as fairy tales. What are they about, and what stood out to you in reading the text? What did you find shocking or surprising, and why? Finally, what is the “moral” of the story, and more importantly, what social or political ideas relative to the early nineteenth century does your selected story seem to subtly highlight and comment upon?