Tales From The BookCase: Book Number 9 Complete... Finally!

At 5:30pm today, February 1, 2013 I officially finished reading The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales!

I can't believe that it took me just over two months to read through 680 pages!!! What's even worse is that this text was split up into short fairy tales... just imagining how long it will take me to read the Tolstoy novel that's on my shelf is giving me shivers :(

But I can't let myself be brought down by depressing thoughts, and mere assumptions at that- I'm going to be more diligent with my reading now that there is no holiday to distract me. Yes, Easter is coming up, with Lent before it but it isn't as stressful a time as Christmas, that's for certain. So I continue on happily, celebrating my successes and toasting my achievements up to this point with my "Keep Calm and Carry On" bookmark in one hand and a mug of delicious tea in the other!

Now, while reading through the last half of this book, I realized some common consistencies and occurrences with regards to theme, names, situations, lessons...
-Most men in the fairy tales are named Hans or Frederick and often times are given the title of "faithful" or "unfaithful".
- Most women are either just referred to as "the Maiden", "the Princess", "the Queen", "The Old Woman", "The witch", "the sorceress".
- Every other story has someone who possesses or comes into contact with magic, wizardry, sorcery, enchantments, potions...
- Men, young or old, peasants or princes, "simple" (dumb) or "clever" (intelligent) often either do some good deed and are rewarded from the King with the princess for a wife OR come into some bad circumstance and have to complete multiple (typically 3-5) ridiculous tasks in order to get out... This also happens when someone goes to save the captured maiden or princess. Regardless of the circumstance, these tasks often cannot be completed without the assistance of people, animals or objects who can use magic or have magical properties.
- The land of Germany is riddled with large glass mountains which kings often lose their daughters into, or princes/peasants have to walk over to gain riches or fame or freedom etc.
-Foxes are always helping people, and outsmarting every other animal..
-Princes often get turned into: foxes, horses, stags, bears, barrels, or wardrobes and only have their enchantments broken by other princes by aiding them in their flights or fights.
-Women who are worth anything must be: industrious (useful in the home, kitchen, field, farm etc), beautiful, smart/clever and be able to spin ridiculous amounts of flax into thread. And a woman who is found to be lazy, regardless of her social status or beauty is often chucked aside for the millers industrious agreeable daughter... Cuz, who wants a lazy wife?
-Couples, both royal and common often are unable to have children, but come to receive some miracle from God, a bird, an oak or almond or walnut tree, a witch, enchantress or dwarf and then either die in childbirth, or have their children taken away from them when the child turns 10 or 12 by whoever/whatever gave the child to them.
- There is this ridiculous obsession with brides being lost, stolen, forgotten, cheated; weddings have been interrupted, stopped, a false bride given instead of the real bride by an evil or avaricious step-mother, or queen etc. Or weddings completely stopped on behalf of the real bride asking to uncover the false bride and having three dresses which she pulls out of a walnut or almond shell.
-The bride who loses her husband when he goes back home, often has to hire herself out to work while she waits for him to come back/remember her or until she can get him back from the usually inferior looking and acting "false" bride..
-Princesses often fall ill, or die, or won't be given in marriage, or are stolen away or sent away when very young on account of evil parents, step-parents, witches, sorceresses etc.
-In every third story, someone dies a gruesome death. People get hung from the gallows, dismembered, eaten by dragons;animals;or other people, burnt on a pyre, stuffed into an oven, locked underground or drowned in water.
-Parents of dead children are always visited by the child's ghost form until they fulfill whatever it is the child didn't complete while alive, or don't stop grieving.
- The good are rewarded with all manner of wealth, and the wicked, lazy, greedy etc. punished.
- All young peasant boys must leave their fathers to "find their way" or "find their fortune" or "learn a trade"..
-Discharged soldiers are a common occurrence and often help other travelers or journeymen along the way, or regain honor and riches by helping a king or kingdom etc.
-People always get lost in the forest and can't get out without someone to show them the way, and in turn they have to give something of value to an animal or a magical person.
-Family ties are so so important; brothers and sisters, brothers with brothers, parents to lost children, parents to disfigured children, sisters with sisters, respecting your grandparents... Or else you'll lose any of the following: your sight, your use of limbs, your gold, your wife, your daughter, your son, your life etc.
- the character "Death" is constantly around in the town and both aids and hinders people on their journeys and tasks. Furthermore, Death appears under various names and forms such as: "the UnNamed One", "the Evil One", "the Dark One", an old man, a handsome count-looking man, a small little bearded man.
-Dwarves and Giants, dragons, spirits and ghouls, Sprites and goblins are also there to help the journeyer, haunting castles, lakes, trees, living in caves and mountains with gold and jewels, stealing princesses and young maidens or older women with children.
-Robbers are everywhere, stealing your wife, your child, your goat, your gold..
-People get eaten, burnt to death, stolen, taken captive and tortured, beaten, killed; have their heads, arms, hearts etc cut off or out and put back on/in magically.

Altogether, I found the Complete Brothers Grimm a wonderfully enchanting, horrifyingly gruesome, terrifyingly exciting read and I hope to read it again some day in the future with my spouse and children. And I hope you will also make the effort to journey into their magical, lyrical world!!

*sigh* I'm almost sad that its over... Thought you might enjoy seeing a few more shots of my beloved monster book!