Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were two German brothers, scholars of language and folklore. Born in Hanau, they studied law at Marburg and worked for many years as librarians in Kassel. As students they began writing down folk tales told to them by storytellers, to save the stories before they were forgotten.

The first volume of their Children's and Household Tales came out in 1812. It grew with each edition, to two hundred tales in the last one (1857), and became one of the most widely read books in the world. Wilhelm softened the tales in the later editions to suit children better. The tales here are in the English translation of Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes.