"There were once two brothers, one rich and the other poor. The rich one was a goldsmith, and he was wicked through and through; the poor one earned his living making brooms, and he was good and upright."
Perhaps my favorite story as a child (I liked a lot of stories) was the Grimm tale The Two Brothers. The brothers in question are not actually the two mentioned above. The broom maker has two sons "alike as two drops of water" who carry the story, but the only reason they go out on a journey at all is because their uncle, the goldsmith, convinces his brother that his two sons are possessed by the devil. The two lads have started waking up with gold pieces under their pillows, because they ate two bits of a magical bird that the goldsmith had been saving specially for himself. The goldsmith knows what is happening, unknowing, to the two boys is exactly what he wanted and tried to do for himself. The goldsmith is called "crafty and full of knowledge" and "envious, hard-hearted."
It is envy and greed that makes him drive his nephews into "the forest". I find it very telling that he is described as "crafty and full of knowledge" as opposed to his brother, who is credulous and believes what his brother tells him. In this story, knowledge may be power, but it is an evil one. Every character who tries to get knowledge in any other way than walking right up and asking someone for it is evil. While there is a dragon in the story, it's dispatched in two paragraphs - it's the evil, knowledgeable people who are the real villains.
Perhaps my favorite story as a child (I liked a lot of stories) was the Grimm tale The Two Brothers. The brothers in question are not actually the two mentioned above. The broom maker has two sons "alike as two drops of water" who carry the story, but the only reason they go out on a journey at all is because their uncle, the goldsmith, convinces his brother that his two sons are possessed by the devil. The two lads have started waking up with gold pieces under their pillows, because they ate two bits of a magical bird that the goldsmith had been saving specially for himself. The goldsmith knows what is happening, unknowing, to the two boys is exactly what he wanted and tried to do for himself. The goldsmith is called "crafty and full of knowledge" and "envious, hard-hearted."
It is envy and greed that makes him drive his nephews into "the forest". I find it very telling that he is described as "crafty and full of knowledge" as opposed to his brother, who is credulous and believes what his brother tells him. In this story, knowledge may be power, but it is an evil one. Every character who tries to get knowledge in any other way than walking right up and asking someone for it is evil. While there is a dragon in the story, it's dispatched in two paragraphs - it's the evil, knowledgeable people who are the real villains.
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