Household Tales

This is the great German collection of folk and fairy tales that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm gathered from storytellers, friends, and old books to preserve a vanishing oral tradition. First published in 1812 and expanded across seven editions, it holds more than two hundred stories, among them ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Snow White,’ ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ ‘Rapunzel,’ and ‘Rumpelstiltskin.’ Presented in Margaret Hunt’s careful English translation, the tales keep their original darkness and strangeness, standing much closer to the brothers’ scholarship than to softened nursery versions. Endlessly retold and adapted ever since, they remain a foundation of Western storytelling and a window into the culture that produced them. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.