power_everybody'sGotStory.htm

My mother, an expert in human relations, was intensely interested in other people. She constantly told me, “Everybody’s got a story.” And she was very interested in those stories.

She wanted to know where people came from, what brought them here, if they had a family, what they did. She wasn’t nosy, just curious. She felt she could learn from everyone she met. Human nature tells us that people are as interested in us as we are interested in them.

Thus, this story is about stories. It’s about two brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, who became storytellers for children. This is not what they had planned. They wanted to be scholars and patriots who preserved the culture of their native land, Germany, in the early 1800s. This was the time when Napoleon was on his mission to conquer Europe.

But let’s not get ahead of our story. Jacob was born in 1785 and Wilhelm in 1786, both in a small German hamlet called Hanau. It was in 1796 that their father died and an aunt paid for them to attend a private school in Kassel.

After completing their primary education, they both moved to Marburg to study law. Four years later Jacob drops out of law school to move back to Kassel and support the family as a civil servant. It was at that point, in order to help a writer friend who was collecting folklore, that the two brothers began gathering tales in their spare time.

They loved a good story – one with magic and danger, royalty and rogues. At school they found a library of old books with incredible tales. Inspired by all of this, the brothers began collecting their own stories. These folktales were told to them mostly by women of all ages.

It was in 1812, as the brothers became disillusioned with the progress of the writer they were helping, that they published a collection of folklore in a book entitled “Children’s and Household Tales.” This was the first of seven eventual editions of these stories.

1813 saw Napoleon attempting to conquer Europe. Jacob became a diplomat while Wilhelm became a secretary to the royal librarian in Kassel. By 1819, the brothers published the second edition of their “Tales,” with Wilhelm emerging as the keeper of the stories. Jacob, at that time, turned to other scholarly pursuits.

Fifty tales, with illustrations by a third brother, comprise the next family publication, “Small Edition.” In 1825 it achieved some commercial success.

In the succeeding years the brothers worked as librarians and professors. It was in 1848 that Jacob publishes “The History of the German Language” and retires. Wilhelm retired in 1852. Both devote the rest of their lives to compiling a German dictionary.

The final edition of their fairy-tale collection was published in 1857, two years before Wilhelm died. Jacob passed away in 1863. By the time both had passed away, they had gained a high level of respect as scholars.

Now that we’ve established the background information, let’s get to the part you know about these brothers. Or, should I say, the part that your children might have known. The brothers have been responsible for originating fairy tales that have enchanted millions worldwide for generations.

However, before we clarify this story, please realize that the first versions of these stories, in the early 1800s, described Europe as the Europeans knew it at that time – difficult times that often involved cruelty. As the brothers saw how their tales bewitched and enchanted their young readers, they started altering the stories in order to make them softer, sweeter and more moral. Other authors, through time, have continued this pattern with the brothers’ stories.

All of these refinements never took away the core of the stories, which have now been read and loved in more than 160 languages. In the US, there are 120 editions. The characters in these stories appear in radio, television, film, print, advertising, the theatre, opera, comic books and fashion. They became the foundation for launching the Disney empire. In essence, these are stories that warm the soul.

If you have not already guessed, let’s reveal the legacy of the brothers in a list of their fairy-tale celebrities: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumpelstilskin, Hansel and Gretel and dozens of other characters. These are the stories of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm -- the Brothers Grimm.

Look at what happened to the Brothers Grimm when they became interested in stories. Everyone you meet has a story. We honor others when we let them talk about themselves. Let’s review Mother Rauchwerger’s four easy questions: Where are you from; what brought you here; do you have a family; what do you do?

Great rewards come when we become genuinely interested in other people. Let’s start today.

A Daily Affirmation of Interest

I am genuinely interested in other people. Everyone has a story.