Marilyn Peck

Grimm's Lesser Tales Retold Marilyn Peck

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, had a remarkable effect on the author's under-standing of her childhood nightmares. The Grimms' stories were important in the way that nature worked and somehow combined cunningly with Bible stories. Both are rich in macabre warnings of a fate in store for the unwary unless there is a proper understanding of the dif-ferences between good and evil. There is also a whimsical quality to the Grimms' stories that withstands the callowness of youth. The tales in their original form have become dated in at-titudes that would not pass today's rules of political correctness. Rarely will parents read these stories to their children now. So the author has taken a few stories and smoothed them a little. She hopes that, by rewriting the selected tales, she has left their essence intact with enough magic to ward off making them evanescent. All fairy stories are great parables, and what is even better for our current world of terror, they have happy, magical endings.