"It is perhaps the right time to record these fairy tales, as the people who keep the tradition alive are becoming increasingly rare. Those who still know fairy tales, know many. Because while the people may be dwindling, the fairy tales are not. But the custom itself is slowly dying, like those hiding places in houses and yards that were passed down from grandfather to grandson and are now constantly giving way to the need for more useful space in our new homes, to the need for an empty and foolish grandeur...

[...] With the proper use of these books, we will not discover anything bad within their pages. In them, everyone finds an image of their heart. Children look fearlessly at the stars, while others do not dare to look towards the sky, lest they offend the angels."

Grace and art - these are the means that ensure fairy tales the best defense against the attacks of science. No one felt this more surely than the Brothers Grimm, who collected German folk tales in 1812 and struggled to preserve them in their authentic form, being very careful not to insert their own interpretations. It is almost a miracle that they succeeded. Their success is due to a rare combination of knowledge and love of poetry. They brought to life a colorful language to mimic the speech of simple people, a playful, bright, and clear language. They made the most of oral traditions and endowed them with a grace and naivety that perhaps they did not possess on their own.

Like the child in their last fairy tale, they give us the golden key they think they found under the snow. But they do not force us to take it. The little key is so beautiful, so finely crafted, so bright, that we are content to admire it without even trying to use it.

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm are published here in three volumes, with the engravings of the first editions.