By Lubna Abdel-Aziz What is this unprecedented delightful phenomenon of many millions of sales for volume six of the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? Did not the wizardry of the Internet cast its spell on all readers of books for young and old? Obviously not. For some maybe but not for all. Both children and adults are racing to bookstores as well as to the Internet to ensure a copy of yet another instalment of J K Rawlings adventures of her magical bespectacled wizard boy. If you think children's literature is strictly for children, think again. We covet what we read in our early years, and carry it with us into adulthood, bequeathing it to our young in due time. It is hard to draw the line between adult and children's literature. Could Aesop's Fables, The Arabian Nights, Kalila and Dimna, The Legend of King Arthur, Robinson Crusoe, or Gulliver's Travels be considered adult or children's literature? Did Lewis Carrol really write Alice in Wonderland only for his niece? Was Frank L Baum's The Wizard of Oz purely a child's tale? Were there not social and political insinuations reflecting on conditions of their day? Robert Louis Stevenson and Jules Verne wrote some of the finest adventure novels during the 1800s. Stevenson's Treasure Island, and Jules Verne Journey to the Centre of the Earth with their breathtaking action and imaginative plots are favourite among children of all ages. Russian author Maxim Gorky (1868--1936) believed that: "You must write for children in the same way you do for adults, only better." Is children's literature strictly for children or is it the gilded door to adult consciousness? Thus lives good children's literature, surviving from generation to generation, enriching our days, engaging our minds, kindling our imagination, stirring our passions, and cheering our hearts. This year the world celebrates the 200th birthday of the greatest of all Danish writers, the legendary Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875) who happened to write for children. But is The Emperor's New Clothes just a children's tale? Playwright J M Barrie ( Peter Pan ) once told the great H G Wells, "it is all very well to be able to write books, but can you waggle your ears?" To write for children you need that little extra effort of waggling your ears. This summer Hollywood pays tribute to Germany's storytellers, the famous brothers Grimm who, besides Anderson, gave us some of the most cherished of all children's fairy tales. Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm were the subject of a 1962 musical film production directed by Henry Levin and George Pal which did not meet the approval of Grimm historians. This newly conceived "mod" version may not either, but in the hands of director Terry Gilliam ( 12 Monkeys ) whose imagination knows no bounds, and portrayed by two of Hollywood's hunks Matt Damon ( The Bourne Identity ) as Jakob, and Heath Ledger ( A Knight's Tale ) as Wilhelm, with Monica Belluci and Lena Headey to brighten up the scenery, this version may have more appeal. It certainly is more "hip" as their names in the movie indicates Jake and Will. A fairy tale writer could not have fancied a more idyllic or propitious setting for the entrance of "Jake and Will" the creators of "Schneewittchen" or "Snow Drop", better known as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mother Grimm gave birth to nine children the two older, Jakob and Wilhelm could not have been closer, nor could they have been more different in temperament. While Jakob was introverted, serious and robust, Wilhelm was outgoing, gregarious and asthmatic. Totally devoted to each other, they shared a room, a bed, a dedication to arts and letters and an imagination as fertile as their "Enchanted Forest". They were the best students at the Lyzeum, graduating at the head of their classes 1802/ 03. They both studied law at the University of Marburg, where they caught the attention of professor Friedrich Karl Von Savigny who encouraged them to trace the origins and customs of the people in order to comprehend the spirit of the law. What they gathered was a good deal more than the spirit of the law. What evolved was a philosophical approach to the law, which led to the brothers' dedication to the study of ancient German folklore. While Hollywood insists in both versions, that the brothers collected their tales by visiting peasants in the countryside, historians recount totally different versions. The fact is the brothers invited storytellers to their homes instead, and have them tell their tales out loud. Most of the storytellers were educated women of middle and upper class. One of their favourite however, was a local peasant and a well known storyteller known as Marie Muller. Jakob and Wilhelm are credited for collecting most of our best known and best loved folk and fairytales. They catalogued the first great collection of Kinder und Hausmarchen, with 86 stories, which included Hansel and Gretel and Rapunzel. The second volume added 70 more stories to the original 86. In its entirety Kinder und Hausmarchen (Children and Household Tales) would see eight editions, with 200 stories and folk tales. For their scholarly work they were awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Marburg in 1819. Debate over the originality of Grimm's fairy tales is legitimate. Many of them are rightly attributed to French author Charles Perrault (1628-1703), like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty. Perrault himself collected his tales from old folks around the French countryside. They were published in 1697 under the name Contes de ma Mére L'Oye ( Mother Goose). Now, who would have known that Mother Goose was really the French Merae L'Oye ? His book contained eight fairy tales and eight rhymes amongst them Cendrillon and Le Petit Chaperon Rouge ( Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood). The rhymes became so popular, making the term Mother Goose generic for all nursery rhymes. So who wrote Aschenputtel, Cendrillon, or Cinderella ? They were similar tales that travelled from culture to culture throughout Europe. The French connection of Grimm's tales came directly from the Hassenplug, who were of Huguenot ancestry, and continued to speak French. Their French sources were Dorothea Viehmann, a tailor's wife from nearby Zwehm, and Johann Freiderich Kraus, an old retired soldier who exchanged his tales for old clothes. "Fairy tales" and "Folk tales" are terms often used interchangeably even though they refer to two different forms of literature. Folk tales deal with legends, superstitions, customs and beliefs of ordinary folk, while fairy tales concern themselves with those imaginary beings with magical powers like fairies, elves, pixies and gnomes. Every major culture has its own version of imaginary creatures, often mixed and mingled with folk characters, making it hard to distinguish where one starts and the other ends. The German brothers remain partly or wholly misunderstood. While the first screen biography starring Lawrence Harvey and Karlhein Bohm portrayed them as laborious scholars with noses pressed to the classics, this second version takes us to another extreme. Director Terry Gilliam treads on dangerous grounds in re-imagining the two brothers as con artists, pretending to exorcise demons and protect the villagers from otherworldly creatures. They however fall prey to their own hoax when they are confronted with a real curse in a haunted forest. The brothers Grimm must be turning in their graves at these accusations, but as they say, "this is Hollywood!" Jakob and Wilhelm were serious scholars with valuable contributions to history, ethnology, religion, jurisprudence, lexicography, literary criticism, and politics. Their pride was their pursuit of German folklore. We are fortunate that they also chose to faithfully and methodically collect, write, and compile hundreds of folk tales, that have survived for over 200 years and show no signs of aging, just as those among us who know how to keep the child within alive throughout their adult years and are not ashamed to be caught reading a children's book or enjoying a children's movie. And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermon in stones, and good in everything. 'As You Like It' -- William Shakespeare
