Who were the two brothers who collected German fairy tales?

The two brothers who collected German fairy tales were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They were German academics whose work helped shape modern folklore studies and the scholarly study of the German language.

The brothers began gathering folk tales in the early 19th century, during the Romantic interest in traditional culture and national history. Their first collection, Children's and Household Tales, known in German as Kinder- und Hausmärchen, appeared in 1812 with 86 stories. The collection was revised and expanded repeatedly, reaching more than 200 stories by 1857.

Despite their popular reputation as storytellers, Jacob and Wilhelm did not invent most of the tales. They gathered stories from informants, many of them educated and urban acquaintances, then edited and refined the language and presentation. Their collection helped popularize stories such as Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Rumpelstiltskin.

The Grimms were also important linguists. In 1838 they began the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a major historical German dictionary that was still unfinished when both brothers died. Their names are therefore linked to both fairy tales and language scholarship.