Finally finished this. I picked it up months ago when I decided to write my beast fable/bestiary. As a kid I was obsessed with “The Bremen Town Musicians” which we had on vinyl and to which I would listen over and over again. After studying the tale I decided to read all 99o-some pages of this and have lots of thoughts/observations about these tales and their common motifs.
Pretty much, if you have a stepmother, she’s wicked and dabbles in witchcraft. Trials and events happen in threes. There’s always a dress of the sun, a dress of the moon, and a dress of the stars that a beautiful maiden will exchange with a false bride so that she may sleep in the same chamber as her beloved, but the false bride will give the groom a sleeping potion so that he won’t hear the beautiful maiden‘s story and remember who she is. Luckily the servants will inform the prince and all will be made well. The cleverest son is usually the one deemed stupid or daft. If you can slip from the skin of an animal, a form you are required to take by day, and someone steals the skin and burns it, then you are free from your curse and will remain human. And on and on. I learned many ways to cheat the devil, so that’s handy. It was enjoyable to read the original, darker versions of the tales Disney “cleaned up” and to read the tales no one ever mentions, like “Allerleirauh” which in the German means “of many different kinds of fur.” “The Bremen Town Musicians” and “The Master Thief” are two of my faves.