Ehrhardt, professor of the work and impact of the Brothers Grimm at the University of Kassel, came across the manuscripts while analyzing documents from the Grimm estate in Berlin. Among the countless documents in this archive, there are still many that have neither been sorted nor evaluated. The German scholar from Kassel, who was recently awarded the European Fairy Tale Prize for his achievements, found manuscripts in which so-called "contributors" sent fairy tales and legends to the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, as well as transcripts of fairy tales that the Grimms had people from the public tell them. Among them is the transcript of the ghost story "The poor farmer in the churchyard" by Dorothea Viehmann, probably the most famous storyteller. In this transcript, Jacob Grimm adopted the dialectal expression of the "Viehmännin" - an interesting insight into the North Hessian dialect of the time.

A version of the fairy tale "The White and the Black Bride" in Jacob Grimm's handwriting, here under the original title "The Duck on the Goßenstein", holds a special surprise. Ehrhardt found numerous proofs in this original version that the material must have been written by Dorothea Viehmann and not, as previously assumed, by the aristocratic von Haxthausen family. The researcher proves this with typical Viehmann phrases, such as a so-called iterative phraseological template with the pattern 'X and X'. The text now found reads: "What does she deserve who does this and that?" This repetition of das und das "is one of the most striking references to Dorothea Viehmann," says Ehrhardt. "Such idiosyncratic duplications can only be found in three Viehmann fairy tales and in the present manuscript." But the motif of a naked woman - in the fairy tale "The White and the Black Bride" the evil stepmother is undressed - is also only found in Dorothea Viehmann. Erhardt: "She had a different relationship to corporeality than the young bourgeois ladies from the circle of acquaintances of the Brothers Grimm." In a recently published essay, the researcher cites numerous other stylistic, content-related and biographical arguments in favor of Viehmann as a source.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm did not compose the famous fairy tales themselves, but wrote down what the "contributors" - ordinary people from the common people, but also educated people - told them from tradition. Over the course of several revisions, they became the "Children's and Household Tales" as we know them today. Originally, the Grimms had not planned to publish the stories themselves; instead, they sent their transcripts to Clemens Brentano and Achim von Armin, who, however, decided against publication. In a roundabout way, 46 manuscripts still in Brentano's possession today ended up in the Alsatian monastery of Oelenberg. This collection is now being supplemented by 54 further authentic documents from the Grimm estate.

"This has far-reaching consequences," says Ehrhardt. "There is a persistent belief that there were only a few original versions and that the Grimms invented them in order to lend authenticity to the stories. This has now been refuted once and for all."

Ehrhardt published his findings on the origin of the fairy tale "The Duck on the Goßenstein" and "The White and the Black Bride" in the journal "Fabula".

Read more in the current issue of the university magazine publik.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Holger Ehrhardt
University of Kassel
Phone: +49 561 804-7455
E-mail: holger.ehrhardt[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Press spokesperson
Tel: +49 561 804-2474
E-Mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de