(n.); the moral appended to the end a story or fable; from the Greek epi (“upon”) + muthos (“story, fable”)
“Once upon a time there was a princess who went out into the forest and sat down at the edge of a cool well.”
—Excerpt from “The Frog King, or Iron Henry” in Jack Zipes’s Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
The odds are that if you grew in just about any European-influenced country, you are probably familiar with old folk tales such as “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Snow White.” If you grew up anytime after the 1930s, you are also familiar with Walt Disney’s classic retellings of such tales. But the literary world is buzzing with the recent release of Jack Zipes’s new, uncensored translation of the original Brothers Grimm tales. Check out this brief NPR interview with the author. And if your interest in ancient tales has been piqued, you may also enjoy Rebecca Morrison’s review of two other recently published fairy tale collections.
