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APS TOGETHER

Day 1

The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich. The Poor Miller’s Boy and the Cat. Mother Trudy.

October 29, 2020 by Yiyun Li

“Once upon a time, when wishes still came true…” The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich
Once upon a time, wishes were coins, with one side saying: will come true. Later, wishes came in the shape of dice, some with six sides, some ten, some sixty. Nowadays wishes are marble balls. Rolled, with wishful thinking.



Elizabeth Bowen, celebrating the centenary of the Brothers Grimm, wrote for NYT Magazine in 1963: "These are tales for all ages. They are tales for all...Here the extraordinary is the beautiful. Why not? Should beauty ever grow ordinary, what a sad affair!"



"This is a grown-up book for grown-up people who haven't forgotten being childhood readers"–A.S. Byatt on Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood by Maria Tatar, whose translation of the Brothers Grimm we are reading for.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/07/enchanted-stories-byatt-book-review


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