How did Wilhelm Grimm make the collected fairy tales easier to read while preserving their folkloric character?

Wilhelm Grimm’s primary contribution to the Kinder- und Hausmärchen ("Children’s and Household Tales") was his ability to refine the stories into a readable form while maintaining their authentic folkloric character.1

Rather than imposing the extravagant, artificial fantasies common to the Romantic school of the era, Wilhelm aimed for a genuine reproduction of the original tellers' words and ways. By carefully balancing literary accessibility with the preservation of the oral traditions from which the stories were drawn, he ensured the collection captured the soul, imagination, and beliefs of the people.1

This editorial approach proved highly successful, as the resulting work became a global model for the collection of folktales and established a scientific foundation for the study of folklore and folk narrative.12