Franz Xanver von Schonwerth (1810-1886) was born in Bavaria and had a successful career in law and the Bavarian royal court. He later devoted himself to researching the customs of his homeland and preserving its fairy tales and folklore. His important work was lost for many years until it was rediscovered in an archive a few years ago. Maria Tatar chairs the program in folklore and mythology at Harvard, and has edited and translated many collections of fairy tales. Eeika Eichenseer is a historian and preservationist working for the Bavarian government and the director of the Franz Xaver von Schonwerth Society.
These eminently enjoyable tales offer a rich new take on the material of the Grimms and Andersen ... The tales are vigorous, direct, and less artful then those of the Grimms, suggesting greater authenticity, closer to the source * Library Journal *