The excellent community told_tales is currently discussing Death and stories and legends concerning the death motif. I made this post there, and I'm now I'm pestering the rest of you with it. (and sorry for the cross-posting some of you experience)

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The German painter Alfred Rethel (1816-1859) was best known for painting images based upon German history of stories from the Old Testament, but from about 1848 he did a series of drawings with Death as a central character. His Death character was not part of a fairytale as such, but it was based on the popular image of Death as found in many legends and stories.


( cut for images )

....or The Brothers Grimm and the Politics of Sleeping Beauty


The prince sees the castle in the distance

Sometimes a story is just a story, and other times it is perceived as something else entirely. This is one of the latter times....

( Once upon a time, in 1807 to be precise, the Brothers Grimm set out to collect.. )