''Deutsche Sagen'' ("German Legends") is a publication by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

, appearing in two volumes in 1816 and 1818. The collection includes 579 short summaries of German folk tales and legends (where "

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

" refers not just to

German-speaking Europe This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the German-speaking area (german: Deutscher Sprachraum) in Europe ...

generally but includes early Germanic history as well). ''Deutsche Sagen'' followed the 1812 publication of ''

Kinder- und Hausmärchen ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...

'' (known in English as ''Grimms' Fairy Tales''). It never gained the wide popular appeal and influence of the latter, although it did influence the scholarly study of folk narrative. The first volume contains 362 short tales, provided in short summary with a source. The source is in some cases "oral", with the region where it was collected (as in no. 1, ''Die drei Bergleute im Kuttenberg'' "the three miners in Kuttenberg", marked "oral" from

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darms ...

), in other cases with a reference to the tale's previous publication (as in no. 362, ''Die drei Alten'' "The three old men", attributed to "Schmidt aus Lübek", im ''Freimüthigen'' 1809. Nr. 1.) The tales of the first volume tend to blend common concerns of the poor and working classes with

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

including the attainment of wealth and status, and includes references to

Frau Holle "Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480. Frau Holle (als ...

, the

Wild Hunt The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif (Motif E501 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature) that occurs in the folklore of various northern European cultures. Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by ...

, ghostly apparitions, and magic, the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, dwarves,

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

kobold A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including " goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in G ...

s, nixes, etc. Less than a dozen folk tales contain the German word for witch or witchcraft (''hexen'') but there are many mentions of the devil and one tale (#120) also mentions an old woman that was a magician or sorceress (''ein altes Weib, das eine Zauberin war''). The second volume (entries numbered 363–579) focusses on historical legends, including numerous translations from Latin sources pertaining to

Germanic antiquity Early Germanic culture refers to the culture of the early Germanic peoples. Largely derived from a synthesis of Proto-Indo-European and indigenous Northern European elements, the Germanic culture started to exist in the Jastorf culture that de ...

, beginning with

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

(no 363. ''Der heilige Salzfluß'' "the sacred salt-river", ''

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'' XIII. 57), spanning both medieval legend (e.g. no. 576. ''Hungersnoth im Grabfeld'' "famine in Grabfeld", ''

Annales Fuldenses The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Francia with the a ...

'' ad ann. 850) and early modern folkloristic records (e.g. no. 579 ''Die Gräfin von Orlamünde'' "the countess of Orlamünde", attributed to Wolfgang Lazius ''de migratione gentium libri VII'' in the edition of Waldenfels, ''antiquitatis selectae libri XII'' 1677, 4.465-474), blurring the lines between oral folk tradition and literary tradition. Numbers 505–514 group a number of

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

entries, including Radbot von Habsburg (505), Rudolf von Strättlingen (506), Idda von Toggenburg (507), Auswanderung der Schweizer (508), Der Bund im Rütli (511) and

Wilhelm Tell William Tell (german: Wilhelm Tell, ; french: Guillaume Tell; it, Guglielmo Tell; rm, Guglielm Tell) is a folk hero of Switzerland. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Al ...

(512). A number of the stories record medieval antisemitic beliefs held by Germanic-speaking peoples. For example, ''The Jews' Stone'', ''The Girl Who Was Killed by Jews'', and ''Pfefferkorn the Jew at Halle'', among others. The original collection is available free online and has also been translated into English by Donald Ward (1979).Bruce Allen
"Grimms' legends at last in English"
''The Christian Science Monitor'', 18 September 1980.

References

*''Deutsche Sagen. Herausgegeben von den Brüdern Grimm'', Berlin (1816)
google books
*''Deutsche Sagen. Herausgegeben von den Brüdern Grimm. Zweiter Teil'', Berlin (1818) *Donald Ward (trans.), '' The German Legends of the Brothers'' 2 vols, Philadelphia, Pa: Institute for the Study of Human Issues (1979).

External links

at Projekt Gutenberg-DE {{Authority control 1816 books 1818 books Brothers Grimm German folklore German legends

See also

References

External links