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A Treasure Trove of Lost Fairy Tales Comes to Light

Photo by Lapidim via Flickr Creative Commons

Fairy tales: those moralizing, magical and sometimes disturbing remnants of folklore so frequently recycled on TV and film. Two movie adaptations of the Snow White story will be out this spring. Snow White and the Huntsmanis the grittier version, starring Charlize Theron as an evil stepmother right out of the Brothers Grimm. And Mirror, Mirror, a fluffier, more Disney-esque than dark movie, with Julia Roberts in the same role.

The entertainment industry now has a new trove of magical animals and charmed princes to work with. A personal collection of 500 lost fables and fairy tales has been unearthed from a locked archive in Germany. 

Erika Eichenseer is a cultural curator. She recently published Prinz Rosszwifl, with selections from the new/old stories, and joins us from Germany to help weave the tale. 

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