Image: 

The Brothers Grimm (German: Die Gebrüder Grimm), Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were German academics who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales.They are among the best known story tellers of novellas from Europe, allowing the widespread knowledge of such tales as Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel.

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Karl (1786–1859), became famous as the authors of fairy tales. As scholars, they also contributed to comparative linguistics. The Grimm brothers were also very important historians of medieval language and folklore.

They were born in Hanau, Jacob on January 4, 1785, and Wilhelm on February 24, 1786. They grew up playing games of make-believe together, and their lifelong close relationship made their accomplishments possible. The Grimm family lived nearby the magistrates' house between 1790 and 1796 while the father was employed by the Prince of Hesse.

The brothers attended school in Kassel, and both studied law at the University of Marburg.
The Grimm brothers published their first volume of fairy tales, Tales of Children and the Home, in 1812.Jakob remained a bachelor until his death, but Wilhelm married Dorothea Wild, a pharmacist's daughter from whom the brothers heard the story Little Red Riding Hood, in 1825. They had four children, three survived infancy. In 1830, they formed a household in Göttingen with Jakob, where both brothers became professors.Wilhelm died in 1859; his elder brother Jakob died in 1863. The brothers are buried in the St. Matthäus Kirchhof Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin.

In 1812, the Brothers published a collection of 86 German fairy tales in a volume titled Kinder- und Hausmärchen ("Children's and Household Tales"). They published a second volume of 70 fairy tales in 1814 ("1815" on the title page), which together make up the first edition of the collection, containing 156 stories.A second edition, of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen, followed in 1819-22, expanded to 170 tales.

Less well known to the general public outside of Germany is the Brothers' work on a German dictionary, the Deutsches Wörterbuch. It was very extensive, having 33 volumes and weighing 84 kg, and is still considered the standard reference for German etymology.