Mother Holly: A Grimm Tale

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Germany, in 1785 and 1786 respectively. The Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales, which until then had mostly been passed on orally, and captured them in writing for the first time as a collection. One of their most important sources was the storyteller Dorothea Viehmann. The first volume of their Children’s and Household Tales was published just before Christmas 1812. Their fairy tales have appeared in many languages since and in a multitude of editions. In 2005 the Grimm’s’ fairy tales were made part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register for the preservation of cultural documents.

This Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale about a spoiled daughter and a lovely step-daughter demonstrates how being honest and hardworking pays off in the long run.