SOURCE: "Introduction: The Problem of the Status of the Tales," in One Fairy Story Too Many: The Brothers Grimm and Their Tales, University of Chicago Press, 1983, pp. 1-12.

In the following excerpt, Ellis examines the changes the Grimm brothers made to their source material, arguing that the Grimms' nationalism motivated them to promote the tales as specifically German in origin, despite strong evidence to the contrary.

The Grimms' fairy tales—Kinder- und Hausmärchen (KHM) constitute one of the best-known and most loved books in the world; translated into dozens of languages, they are read by children and adults everywhere.¹ There are perhaps two different kinds of contexts within which they are read and enjoyed: the first, that of world children's literature, the second that of the folklore and folk literature of Germany in particular and Europe in general. In both contexts, they are thought of as stories...