The Grimms’s Fairy Tales

Grimm's Fairy Tales I read:

-Rapunzel
-The Singing Bone
-Rumpelstiltskin
-The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage

Book Summary:  The Singing Bone

Author: Grimm Brothers

Publishing:  Laurel Leaf Books

Genre:  Fairy Tales

Reading Level:  Varies

Summary: This story is about two brothers who try to capture or kill a wild boar, because if they succeed then they are rewarded with the king’s only daughter to wife.  One brother is prideful and one has a kind heart.  The one with the kind heart is able to kill the boar with a spear that is given to him simply because of the kindness that is in his heart.  This makes the other brother mad so he kills his brother and buries him under a bridge and takes the boar to the king as if he had killed him; so he was rewarded with the king’s daughter to take as his wife.  One day though, a shepherd finds a bone under the bridge and blows on it for a horn and it sings out loud and tells of the thing his brother did; so the brothers secret is found out and for punishment he is put in a sack and drowned.  This story came as a big shock to me because there isn’t anything happy in it at all.  Both brothers end up dead in the end; so really, it was just a gruesome story.

My Reaction to the Book:  I honestly did not love this fairy tale, because it was really gruesome and just kind of weird.  I did like some of the other Grimm fairy tales though, I found them quite interesting and entertaining.

Potential Problems:  There are quite a few problems with this story, as the one brother kills the other, and then is eventually drowned himself because of what he did.

Recommendations:  I don’t think I would recommend this particular fairy tale to anyone, but other Grimm fairy tales are definitely worth reading.  I don’t think I would read them to anyone young though simple because they are quite gruesome sometimes.