SOURCE: "The Role of the Devil in Grimms' Tales: An Exploration of the Content and Function of Popular Tales," in Social Research: An International Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 3, Autumn, 1968, pp. 466-99.

In the following essay, Carsch considers both implicit and explicit references to the devil in the tales, arguing that the Grimms used the figure as a form of social control to "exemplif[yj the dangers which may accompany the violation of the basic belief system."

I

This paper constitutes a part of a comprehensive report dealing with the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales.¹ The Grimms had begun to collect these from a number of informants and literary sources in 1805, when Napoleon had invaded Germany, and when, as a result, a good many Germans had become concerned with problems of national as well as cultural autonomy. It was the explicit intention of the authors to save from extinction part of...