When the Brothers Grimm started collecting German folk tales, they didn’t set out to become the world’s best loved story tellers.  Their intention was to study the linguistics and their research led to Grimms’ Law, an explanation of how Germanic words change over time.

It’s a fascinating study if you can stay awake past the first dry explanations, but I’ll take a Grimms’ Fairy Tale over Grimms’ Law any day.

Jacob Grimm, born January 4, 1785, and his brother Wilhelm, born the next year, started listening to storytellers in the hopes of reproducing their words for their study.  Their research was well regarded, but not in the same way as “Snow White,” “Rumpelstilkskin,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,”  and “Rapunzel.”

Not only have the Grimms’ Fairy Tales brought smiles to millions of children around the world, they made Walt Disney a pretty happy man, too!

Resources: Grimm Brothers, The Daily Post