The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
Fairy tales
Books-A-Million
2012
Hardcover
977
For almost two centuries, the stories of magic and myth gathered by the Brothers Grimm have been part of the way children—and adults—learn about the vagaries of the real world. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow-White, Hänsel and Gretel, Little Red-Cap (a.k.a. Little Red Riding Hood), and Briar-Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) are only a few of more than 200 enchanting characters included here. Lyrically translated and beautifully illustrated, the tales are presented just as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm originally set them down: bold, primal, just frightening enough, and endlessly engaging.
WrensReads Review:
I have the complete set of the Grimm Fairy-Tales, and there are so many that I haven’t read! They are very short, as one would know, so I have decided to read each one and give them a review. Some are very vulgar, some are very cute and some don’t even make sense. Some of them are well known fairy-tales and some have never been told. Some are fairy-tales we know but are not the same because they have been downplayed for the children.
This story is the weirdest and the creepiest one I have read so far (reading in order of the collection I have). This man has two sons, one that he considers awesome and one that he considers stupid. The “awesome” son can do lots of things and the “stupid” son can’t do anything. All he wants to learn is how to shudder, meaning he wants to know why people say it makes them shudder (like being cold or hearing scary stories).
First, a guy says he will teach him. It doesn’t work, and the dad disowns him. Then he talks to some other people that say they can teach him what shuddering is, but they all fail.
He then learns about a haunted castle. If he spends three nights there, he gets to marry the princess that is the prettiest girl in all the lands and gets some gold (not to mention he will become king).
Will he marry the princess? Will he become king? Will he get lots of gold? Will he survive the three nights in the haunted castle where he is greeted by demons, dead people, ghost and ghouls? Will he EVER BE LEARN HOW TO SHUDDER?
I don’t think this story really has a lesson unless it is about just because someone doesn’t seem smart doesn’t mean they aren’t. Some people don’t pick up on things or they are smarter than just not smart on your standards. They may be smart in something else.
I wouldn’t recommend this story being read by children. It is just weird.
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