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Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany

05 March 2012
A collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years. Now they have been rediscovered, writes Victoria Sussens-Messerer in The Guardian

“A whole new world of magic animals, brave young princes and evil witches has come to light with the discovery of 500 new fairytales, which were locked away in an archive in Regensburg, Germany for over 150 years. The tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by the local historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world.”

“’Schönwerth's legacy counts as the most significant collection in the German-speaking world in the 19th century,’ says Daniel Drascek, a member of the society and a professor in the faculty of language, literature and cultural sciences at the University of Regensburg.”


Read how the fairy tales were discovered, in The Guardian:


>>> Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany, by Victoria Sussens-Messerer