A review by carlyg123
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm

3.0

Tom Thumb and the little Peasant should collaborate - I imagine that would work. Although Tom wasn't particularly viscous with his intentions, his goal was actually rather reasonable, they each used a fair level of skulduggery. // And...was Clever Gretel actually clever at all? I mean the intuition was there but...greed essentially played the greatest role. // Rumplestiltskin went from being a hobgoblin to a dwarf in reference... I'm sure there are differences between the two. // As for the old woman in the chair of the "murderers' lair" how did we know she could be trusted? Why hadn't she been killed? Was she too old? Was she somehow involved? The men listened to her when she said they should stop looking for the finger. Why? Had she helped them before? Was the idea for the girl to marry and take the old woman's place? If they had wanted to kill her there would have been many opportunities. Why go to the trouble of getting married just to kill someone? In fairy tale it seems quite odd. The other girl killed was just a bound and gagged stranger - as far as we know. Her death could have been to see if the fiancée stepped in to help the girl or if she was happy to go along with the murder. She wasn't asked to explain why she didn't turn up for the party; maybe they knew she was there, really. The old woman could have escaped any time the men were out, she didn't need a sleeping draught to do that. What happened to her after? // At a certain point, the tales stopped being thought-provoking and in the end it became a drag.