The writers of the Efteling fairytales
Everybody knows fairytales. Many modern stories are ultimately based on centuries old fairytales. Many of the fairytales in Efteling were written by the famous writers Hans Christian Andersen, the brothers Grimm, and Charles Perrault.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
Hans Christian Andersen's life has a strong resemblance to one of his most famous fairytales ‘The Ugly Duckling’. Hans Christian Andersen was born in the Danish village of Odense in a poor family. He went on to become a famous writer. Hans Christian often visited his grandmother, who told him wonderful stories. He probably started to write thanks to her stories. In 1835 he published his first bundle of fairytales. Other well-known fairytales by Andersen are: The little Match Girl, The Chinese Nightingale and The Little Mermaid.
The Brothers Grimm: Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859)
The brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were two German linguists. They liked folk and fairytales so much that they decided to collect and record them. Brother Jacob believed that the fairytales had to remain authentic. Wilhelm wanted to make them more pleasant so children could also understand them. This is why the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm usually have a happy ending. Together they wrote 201 fairytales in total. Their collection was first published in 1812 under the name Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Well known Grimm fairytales are: Snow White, The Wolf and the Seven Kids, Hansel and Gretel, and Rumpelstiltskin.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703)
People were crazy about fairytales in the seventeenth century. The nobility were especially fond of them. Fairytale writer Charles Perrault, who was a scion of a good family, wrote new fairytales and adapted existing fairy stories. The characters in his stories acted as was usual at that time, and his fairytales took place in the ‘normal human world’. Charles Perrault wrote a total of eleven fairytales. He called this collection Tales of Mother Goose. Well known fairytales from Perrault's collection are: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, and Little Red Riding Hood.