Question

Read the excerpt from "How the Grimm Brothers Saved the Fairy Tale."

All of the tales in the first edition bear the marks of their diverse storytellers who believed in the magic, superstitions, and miraculous transformations of the tales. It may be difficult for us to understand why this is the case, but for the storytellers and writers of these tales, the stories contained truths about the living conditions of their times. The tales in the first edition were collected not from peasants, as is commonly believed, but mainly from literate people whom the Grimms came to know quite well. Evidence shows that these people often obtained their tales from illiterate or anonymous informants. Even if they did not know their informants, the Grimms came to trust almost everyone who contributed to their collection. It is this mutual trust that marks the tales as something special and endows them with a certain humanity, what Germans call Menschlichkeit, and it is this mutual trust among folklorists in the nineteenth century that marks it as the golden age of folk and fairy tales. The tales in the first edition set a certain standard that collectors began to follow and still follow even today.

What is the central idea of this excerpt?

The stories are not collected from peasants, but from literate people.
The Grimms collected stories about real living conditions from people they trusted.
The Grimms did not know the informants who gave contributors their stories.
The 19th century was the golden age of folk and fairy tales

Answer 1

The central idea of this excerpt is that the tales in the first edition of the Grimm Brothers' collection were collected from literate people, not peasants, and these stories reflected the real living conditions of their times.

The excerpt explains that the first edition tales were not collected directly from peasants, as is commonly believed, but mainly from literate individuals whom the Grimms had established relationships with. These literate contributors often obtained the tales from illiterate or anonymous informants. The Grimms trusted and valued the contributions of these informants, even if they did not personally know them.

Furthermore, the excerpt highlights that the stories in the first edition carried a certain humanity, known as "Menschlichkeit" in German. They contained truths about the living conditions of the times in which they were told. The mutual trust between the Grimms and the contributors is emphasized as something special, and it contributed to the golden age of folk and fairy tales in the 19th century.

In summary, the central idea of this excerpt is that the Grimm Brothers collected stories about real living conditions from literate people they trusted, which contributed to the unique and valuable nature of the tales in the first edition of their collection.


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