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Where did most of the stories in Grimm’s Fairy Tales come from?
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Brothers Grimm
Jacob (right) and Wilhelm Grimm, oil portrait by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, 1855; in the National-Galerie, Berlin.
Most of the stories included in Grimm’s Fairy Tales were derived from oral sources, reflecting the brothers' commitment to capturing the genuine words and ways of the storytellers. While the vast majority of the collection originated from these oral traditions, a small number of the stories were taken from printed sources.12
The brothers aimed to convey the soul, imagination, and beliefs of people through the centuries, and Wilhelm Grimm is particularly noted for giving these tales a readable form while carefully preserving their folkloric character.1