The world-famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm did not begin with pen and paper – they began with people who told stories.
Behind Little Red Riding Hood, Mother Holle, Rapunzel and The Bremen Town Musicians were women and men who preserved these tales and passed them down through generations. Without them, the famous collection of Children’s and Household Tales would not exist in the form we know today.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were not inventors of fairy tales. They were collectors, linguists and, above all, attentive listeners. From 1806 onwards, they recorded stories from around 40 storytellers and sources. Some tales were told almost word for word, while others reflected memories, regional variations or family traditions. The Brothers Grimm compared, supplemented and edited these accounts before publishing them.
Dorothea Viehmann - One of the Grimms' Most Important Storytellers
Among the best-known storytellers was Dorothea Viehmann from Kassel. With her exceptional gift for storytelling, she contributed numerous tales to the Grimm collection and regularly visited the Brothers Grimm to share more stories with them.
But Dorothea Viehmann was far from the only one. Marie Hassenpflug, Jeanette Hassenpflug, Ludwig Hassenpflug, Johann Friedrich Krause, the von Haxthausen family, Friederike Mannel and many others helped preserve the stories that would become famous around the world.
Each brought their own memories, regional storytelling traditions and personal experiences.
Discover the People behind the Fairy Tales
Along the German Fairy Tale Route, you can follow in the footsteps of these often-overlooked storytellers. In Schauenburg, the Märchenwache commemorates Marie Hassenpflug and Johann Friedrich Krause. In Kassel, Dorothea Viehmann is still honoured as one of the most important storytellers connected with the Grimm collection.
Discover this lesser-known side of the German Fairy Tale Route and meet the remarkable people behind the stories – because behind every famous fairy tale were not only two celebrated brothers, but generations of storytellers whose voices continue to live on in the tales we know today.