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Jack Zipes aims to disprove conventional wisdom regarding the origins of the Grimm fairy tales, which holds that the Grimms collected their tales from the oral tradition of peasants. He argues that the Grimms took most of their tales from literary sources, rewriting them again and again. These tales are based on a great literary tradition. The tales, 116 in all, are thematically grouped, and are accompanied by detailed introductions and annotations. The 'Criticism' section includes seven important assessments of different aspects of the fairy tale tradition. Brief biographies of the storytellers and a selected bibliography are included.