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Brother and Sister

by The Brothers Grimm

Read the Book online: Brother and Sister

This week in the Tales from the Library Book Club we will be reading  the short fairy tale 'Brother and Sister' by The Brothers Grimm. Tired of the cruel mistreatment they endure from their wicked stepmother, who is also a witch, a brother and sister run away from home, wander off into the countryside, and spend the night in the woods. By morning, the boy is thirsty, so the children go looking for a spring of clear water. However, their stepmother has already discovered their escape and has bewitched all the springs in the forest...

The first recorded appearance of Brother and Sister is in Giambattista Basile's Pentamerone around the 17th century. It was written down as the tale of Ninnillo and Nennella. Since then it has circulated in a number of European countries under varying titles but with most of the main story intact. In Russia the story was more commonly known as Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka, and collected by Alexander Afanasyev in his Narodnye russkie skazki.

A shorter version of the tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1812, then substantially expanded and revised in the second edition (1819). Their version is based on the account of the German storyteller Marie Hassenpflug

At times, Brother and Sister has been confused with Hansel and Gretel, which has also been known under the alternate title of Little Brother and Little Sister. The Grimms selected Hansel and Gretel for the tale by that name and kept the Brother and Sister title for this tale. Some publications of the Hansel and Gretel tale still use the Little Brother and Little Sister title, causing confusion for readers.

About the Author

The Brothers Grimm. Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together collected and published folklore.

Born in Ganau, Germany. Jacob was born on the 4th of January 1785 and Wilhelm - on the 24th of February 1786. From early youth, until their death, the brothers were very close friends, always complementing each other.

Their father, Philipp Wilhelm Grimm (1752 - 1796), was a lawyer. After his passing, the Brothers Grimm were able to finish their education only thanks to the generosity of their aunt. The Brothers Grimm showed their brilliant abilities while they were still young.

The rise of romanticism in the 19th century revived interest in traditional folk stories, which to the brothers represented a pure form of national literature and culture. With the goal of researching a scholarly treatise on folk tales, they established a methodology for collecting and recording folk stories that became the basis for folklore studies. Between 1812 and 1857 their first collection was revised and republished many times, growing from 86 stories to more than 200.

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