Their stories are some of the most famous folk tales and fairy tales in the world. Hänsel and Gretel, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Snow White, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, amongst many, many others, most of which have long since been re-versioned by the likes of Disney, given happier endings and become universal stories. But these tales were originally sourced from rural village life in western Germany by two academics who spent their childhood days in the countryside north-east of Frankfurt, and their adult years at universities in Kassel and Göttingen. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

The Grimms were story collectors, not authors. Most of what they published was already widely known, and very generic (‘Once there was a rich man….’) and several probably originated in France, but there are also stories that have become associated with certain locations, and that is what concerns us here. And some are distributed along what the German Tourist Board markets as the ‘Fairytale Road’ (Deutsche Märchenstrasse), which begins in Bremen and ends at Hanau, where the Brothers were born.

The Grimms were story collectors, not authors

In Bremen itself, there’s the story of the Town Musicians, four ageing animals who outwit a gang of robbers. In Hamelin, to the south, it’s the turn of the Pied Piper (for more detail see the North section of this website).

The 15^th century Sababurg Castle, between Kassel and Göttingen in the Weserbergland hills, is supposedly Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and the neighbouring town of Hofgeismar is meant to be her birthplace. Meanwhile Kassel itself has a museum dedicated to the brothers and their work.

Bad Wildungen, a mining district south-west of Kassel, was once the home to Margarethe von Waldeck, a count’s daughter who was poisoned at a young age and it is believed that her fate inspired the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And the Schwalm region just to the south is considered to be the birthplace of Little Red Riding Hood, while Amönau, further west, has what’s known as Rapunzel’s Tower, although the direct connections to the tale of that name remain obscure.

Of course, the actual origins of all these stories are eminently debatable, with the Brothers on the whole careful to avoid mention of specific locations within the texts. When they do (as in Bremen and Hamelin) tourism can benefit considerably, but Swabia, a region south of Stuttgart, probably regrets the way its people are portrayed in another rare case of naming names: the Grimms’ story of the Seven Swabians, in which the seven travel the world looking for adventure but constantly make fools of themselves. Lampooning specific populations in this manner probably wouldn’t be politically correct today.

Every Sunday, from May to September, 80 townspeople of Hamelin (aka Hameln) re-enact the best-known German story in the world. The plot goes something like this: prosperous corn-trading town develops major rat problem; strange musician with questionable taste in overalls clears infestation with spooky music; council queries the bill, as councils do; strange musician, now cross and with his invoice much over-due, lures all 130 of the local children out of town and makes them disappear. And it all happened, or so wrote the brothers Grimm, on June 26, 1284.

The best known German story in the world

It’s not often that a plague of rodents followed by a mass child abduction becomes a major tourist attraction, but Hamelin has made a virtue out of its vermin. The story is big business for this pretty town, a half-hour southwest of Hanover. Here, the Weser-Renaissance architecture – half-timbered, littered with figurines and polychrome wood-carvings – looks like storyland scenery painted for Grimm fairytales. In fact it was created in the 16th century by Italian architects commissioned to bring a touch of class to the houses of wealthy Weser burgers, who made their money out of traffic on the river.

Its bakeries are still infested with rats – but these days they are made of bread and cake. Its restaurant menus carry such delicacies as rat’s tails (pork, sliced thin) washed down with rat’s blood (champagne and blackcurrant juice). Its bars sell Rattenkiller cocktails, and every Saturday from May to September it hosts a free Rattenfängerspiele – rat-catcher play – which re-tells the story, with the rats being rather cuddly glove puppets, and the rat-catcher being one of several cheerful volunteers who take on the role every year. If you’re not in Hamelin over a weekend, the town’s excellent museum has very innovative animated version of the story, which is well worth the entrance fee. It also has a selection of different versions of the story from all over the world, and it is interesting to see how different cultures either emphasise or re-write the story’s rather bleak ending, which isn’t in harmony with today’s storytelling tastes.

Even if you’re not visiting Hamelin for fairytale purposes, the town is worth a look for its architecture and its setting on the banks of the Weser river. And not far upstream is another town of legend, Bodenwerder, where Baron Münchhausen was born. It was here that he told his famously exaggerated stories to his friends, unaware that his name would eventually become associated with a syndrome in which unstable individuals attempt to draw attention to themselves by pretending to be ill.

Getting There: International airports are at Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover and Paderborn. International rail connections are via Cologne from Brussels (Thalys), which connects with the Eurostar from London. See our Travel page for airlines, rail and tour operators.

Staying There: our recommended hotels are here for Niedersachsen.

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