The Pack of Ragamuffins
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 was very odd.
A chicken and a cock go to a hill to eat nuts and then make a carriage out of nut shells and force a duck to pull them both on it. They pick up a needle and a pin because they didn’t take up much room and they promised not to step on their feet. They convince an inn keeper to let them stay the night in trade for the chicken’s egg and the duck (why are we trading animals when you are an animal?).
They skip town in the morning, screwing over the inn keeper, and the duck also left. Then the innkeeper vowed to “take no more ragamuffins into his house, for they consume much, pay nothing, and play mischievous tricks into the bargain by way of gratitude.”
Honestly, the only lesson I can think of is that people who lie and cheat will lie and cheat again. Those who bum off and use of people will always bum off and use people.
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