The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

I understood that this book would have some unusual and gruesome elements. I was prepared for that. I thought some of the stories were strange regardless of the time period or region they hailed from. I can see why some of these stories were made more palatable. They had good bones, but needed a different treatment. What annoyed me was the redundancy. It was interesting to read one story and then read a similar story with some changes, but there were several that were like that, and I grew bored. It also seemed like there was a common theme that grew tiring. All the princes were either enchanted & forced to marry the most beautiful princess in existence, or the beautiful daughter/princess was treated poorly by relatives or enchanted by a witch and of course a man has to come and save her from her predicament. Then there are the children that got into mischief that usually led to their detriment. I nearly gave this collection, 2 stars, but as a writer, I can see the inspiration behind the more common stories of today, and for that, it deserves the extra star.