‘Once upon a time...’ Once upon a time there was a book, and inside the book were princes who had been turned into frogs or ferocious beasts, princesses so beautiful they astonished the sun, faithful sweethearts and evil stepmothers, giants taller than mountains and a boy no bigger than your thumb, houses made of bread and cake and birds made of gold - in fact, all manner of mysterious, monstrous and magical things. The book is in your hands. Read it happily ever after.

一九世紀初め、二〇代の若い学者のグリム兄弟が、ドイツ語圏に伝わるメルヒェンを広く蒐集してまとめたものが『グリム童話集』です。この童話集は半世紀近い歳月、兄弟自身の手で改版が重ねられ、一八五七年、最後の第七版が刊行されました。それは、国境を越え、時代を超え、今も生き続ける、他に類をみない新しい文芸の誕生でした。「灰まみれ」「赤ずきん」「白雪姫」「ブレーメンの音楽隊」等。