Did You Know? The Brothers Grimm

Since we featured an interview with Rumpelstiltskin yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to feature the brothers Grimm in a Did You Know? post. We haven't had one of those in a while, and those Grimm lads always seemed so interesting.

Jacob & Wihelm Grimm

Did you know...

• In the Grimm's original edition in 1812, when the miller's daughter  guessed his name, Rumpelstiltskin ran away? This was later revised in 1857 where he sank one foot deep into the ground, got real angry. pulled his other leg and tore himself in half.
• A gnome-like character resembling Rumpelstiltskin appears in stories from many other cultures? 
• The Grimm brothers collected and rewrote many German and European folk stories? The first edition of their collected folk tales contained 86 stories. That number eventually grew to over 200.
• The brothers also published a collection of German mythology as well as a German dictionary? It was not finished in their lifetimes.
• Some of their folk tales were transcribed directly from traveling storytellers? They were greatly modified as they were being transcribed.
• A pre-1812 manuscript containing 53 tales was discovered in a church in Alsace in 1920?
• From 1815 on, Wilhem edited and rewrote the stories? 
• Many changes were made after unfavorable reviews stated that some of the stories were not suitable for children? Because of this, many sexual references were cut out, but the violence in the stories generally increased.
• Both brothers were strong advocates of German unity? Germany was made up of separate states during their lifetimes.

Here's the story of Rumpelstiltskin as performed by our friends, the Muppets.