Grimm's Fairy Tales and the ancient German Believes

在为他们的作品《儿童和家庭的童话》收集故事时，格林兄弟开始相信，在代代相传的童话故事中，人们可以找到古老的神话和信仰的痕迹，可以追溯到基督教传入之前的古代德国时代。通过对各种童话故事的分析，本研究支持了这一论断，并认为这些童话故事可以用来重建前基督教时代的欧洲文化。这项研究的主要发现之一是古代欧洲农业仪式与童话故事中的叙事元素之间存在着根本的相似之处。在灰姑娘和其他类似的故事中，女主人公穿着动物皮斗篷和植物来躲避危险，就像古代村民按照仪式变成动植物来驱赶冬天一样。对这些故事和其他故事的分析清楚地表明，来自欧洲偏远地区的古老节日对…的社会很重要对这些故事的分析还涉及到德国古代的神话信仰。格林兄弟认为，故事中的睡美人塔中的老妇人是古代德国大地女神霍尔达，她掌管着人间的生死、好运和厄运、丰收和贫瘠。因此，睡美人在忘记邀请地球女神参加她的生日派对后睡着了，这是很自然的。这项研究发现，在童话《霍尔达夫人》中还提到了霍尔达女神，这个故事清楚地唤起了古老的德国人的信念，即霍尔达奖励勤奋的人，惩罚懒惰的人。研究得出结论，西方童话故事并不是唯一带有神话信仰的故事。通过对西方公主与青蛙和日本报恩的鹤的比较，可以看出这两种文化之间有一条共同的线索：古老的信念，即人和动物经常转化为另一种。在前一部格林兄弟童话中，一个人通过女巫的诅咒变成了一只青蛙，在后一个日本故事中，一只鹤被变成了一个勤劳的人类妻子，以回报人类的好意。这一研究揭示了西方和日本神话故事中古代神话信仰与仪式之间的联系。较少

In collecting stories for their work Fairy Tales for Children and Homes, the Brothers Grimm came to believe that within fairy tales that had been handed down from generation to generation, one could find traces of old mythology and beliefs dating from ancient German times before the introduction of Christianity. Through analysis of various fairy tales, the study below supports this claim and argues that such stories can thus be used to reconstruct the culture of pre-Christian Europe.One of the key findings of this study is the fundamental similarities that exist between ancient European agricultural rites and narrative elements within the fairy tales. In Cinderella and other similar tales, heroines cover themselves in animal skin capes and plants to escape danger, just as ancient villagers ritually transformed into animals and plants to chase away winter. Analysis of these and other stories make it clear that the, old festivals from Europe's remote regions were important to society at … More large.Analysis of these stories also turns up references to ancient German mythological beliefs. The Brothers Grimm argued that the old woman in the tower of the story Sleeping Beauty is Goddess Holda, the ancient German Goddess of Earth who governs earthly life and death, good and bad luck, and rich and poor harvests. Consequently, it would only be natural that Sleeping Beauty goes to sleep after neglecting to invite the Earth Goddess to her birthday party. This study finds additional references to Goddess Holda in the fairy tale Mrs. Holda, a story that clearly evokes the ancient German belief that Holda (Holle) rewards hardworking persons and punishes those who are lazy.The study concludes that Western fairy tales are found to be not the only ones carrying mythological beliefs. A comparison of the Western Princess and the Frog and the Japanese The Crane that Returned a Favor reveals a common thread between the two cultures : the ancient belief that humans and animals regularly transform into the other. In the former Grimm Brothers fairy tale, a human is transformed into a frog through a witch's curse, and in the latter Japanese tale, a crane is turned into a hard-working human wife as repayment for human kindness.This study thus reveals the linkages between ancient mythological beliefs and rites in fairy tales from Western and Japanese cultures. Less