G is for Grimm

For this, my third year doing the challenge, I am going literary. For every letter of the alphabet I will talk about a book, an author or a character from fiction or myth that made an impression, was inspirational, or caused me to think.





Where would we be without the Brothers Grimm? How many people realize that the TV shows Once Upon and Time and Grimm  would not exist (not to mention all the other adaptations of fairy tales) were it not for these two men, who collected over 200 hundred oral stories. Let us pay our respects and give homage.

One of the most precious books I have (given to me by Charlotte) is Little Brother and Little Sister and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm, published in 1917 and illustrated by Arthur Rackham. The thick pages are brittle with age and have a heavy musty smell that makes me sneeze. I rarely open it for fear of further damaging what is already damaged. It was not printed on acid free paper.

Within the brown and mottled pages are stories with titles like: Sweet Porridge, Thumbling's Travels, The Star-Money, The True Sweetheart, Hans The Hedgehog, The Nose Tree, Fitcher's Bird, and The Nix of the Mill-Pond.

Altogether there are 40 stories filled with line drawings like this one from The Spirit in the Tree.

 And these beautiful color plates. From, Snow-White and Rose-Red

From, The Old Woman in the Wood

 From, The Three Little Men in the Wood

Every time I look at these pictures, I am transported. Do you have a favorite Grimm story?

G is for The Brothers Grimm  Other G influences: George Gurdjieff, Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson