Fairy Tale Collection

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 86K words
Chapters: 9

Summary

Märchen-Sammlung by Ludwig Bechstein, Hans Fraungruber, and Karl Fahringer. Language: German. Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres. Release Date: Dec 9, 2007.

Editor's review

This is a German-language fairy-tale collection attributed to Ludwig Bechstein, Hans Fraungruber, and Karl Fahringer, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook. Bechstein was a major nineteenth-century collector and adapter of German fairy tales, and his collections circulated widely in the German-speaking world, belonging to the same tradition as the Brothers Grimm yet with a voice of their own. As a compilation, the book is useful for observing narrative motifs, language style, and editorial methods in German fairy tales, and it also suits German learners as graded extensive reading material. The free electronic edition makes searching and comparative reading easy. Note that early fairy-tale texts often contain punitive and violent episodes; before reading to children, an adult should preferably screen or read along.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate German learners who want to use fairy tales for extensive reading practice
Literature enthusiasts studying the German fairy-tale tradition and folk narrative
Parents seeking classic fairy tales for children who are willing to screen them first
Readers who need public-domain German texts for translation or comparative research

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners who cannot yet read German sentences
Readers looking for a uniform modern translation or a carefully annotated edition
Young children sensitive to punitive or violent episodes in early fairy tales

Reading tips

Browse the table of contents first, sort by length, and start with short pieces to build reading confidence.
German learners can read each tale through once, then look up new words and read it aloud to reinforce feel for the language.
When reading to children, read through and screen in advance, removing or rewording overly harsh episodes.
Read alongside Grimms' tales on the same themes and note differences in characters and endings.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this fairy-tale collection suitable for German beginners?

Not really for absolute beginners. The sentences are short, but there are still old-fashioned expressions and dialect color; it is better to read after acquiring basic grammar and common vocabulary, or to start with simplified retellings as a bridge.

What is its relationship to Grimms' fairy tales?

It belongs to the same period's tradition of collecting and adapting German fairy tales, and Bechstein's collections are often mentioned alongside Grimms' in German-speaking regions. The subject matter overlaps, but the editors differ, and so do the language and treatment.

Can it be read aloud to children directly?

Adults should read it through first and then decide. Early fairy tales often contain punitive and death episodes, and children's tolerance varies; parents can screen the pieces first or offer appropriate explanations while reading together.

Comments

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.