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Household Tales by Brothers Grimm

by Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm (1785–1863)

  • Free to read
  • 19 hours to read
  • 6 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Household Tales by Brothers Grimm" by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is a collection of fairy tales first published in 1812. Born into hardship after their father's death, the brothers collected oral tales from friends and acquaintances to preserve German history and folklore. The first volume contained 86 stories, expanding to 210 tales by the seventh edition in 1857. Though called "Children's Tales," early editions drew criticism for content unsuitable for young readers, prompting revisions across subsequent editions. This seminal work shaped Western children's literature forever.

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  • Fairy tales · Germany

Read the opening

First Story

There was once on a time an old fox with nine tails, who believed that his wife was not faithful to him, and wished to try her. He stretched himself out under the bench, did not move a limb, and behaved as if he were stone dead. Mrs. Fox went up to her room, shut herself in, and her maid, Miss Cat, sat by the fire, and did the cooking. When it became known that the old fox was dead, wooers presented themselves. The maid heard some one standing at the house-door, knocking. She went and opened it, and it was a young fox, who said,

“What may you be about, Miss Cat?
Do you sleep or do you wake?”

She answered,

“I am not sleeping, I am waking,
Wouldst thou know what I am making?
I am boiling warm beer with butter so nice,
Will the gentleman enter and drink some likewise?”

“No, thank you, miss,” said the fox, “what is Mrs. Fox doing?” The maid replied,

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Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. First Story
  3. Second Story
  4. First Story
  5. Second Story
  6. Third Story

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About this edition

This free edition of Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #5314, released 2004-03-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Short Stories, Mythology, Legends & Folklore, German Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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