Grimm: The Little League

The use of “little people” in Grimm’s fairy tales appears to extend to a wide range of categories. “Little” can be taken to indicate physical size, status or age; “Little” functions more as an umbrella term cast wide enough to embody humans, semi-humans (such as dwarfs or human-like creatures), smaller animals and even tools of one’s trade. In this light, the title “people” refers more to a personification. Even apparently inanimate objects imbibed (or personified) with magical properties fulfill human-like functions to propel the narrative forward.

Because of the evident physical limitations of little people, Grimm’s plots usually cast light upon these smaller protagonists’ disability, usually with the intention of revealing a hidden ability. A common character-driven device evident through Grimm’s body of works is the use of the Little Tailor who appears in a number of mutually exclusive episodes such as “The Brave Little Tailor” and “The Clever Little Tailor”. In both stories, the large-little dichotomies are exaggerated to comical extremes for visual effects that may appeal to younger recipients. For example, “The Brave Little Tailor” battles a group of Giants whilst “The Clever Little Tailor” ultimately overcomes a bear. However, in both tales, the wit of the tailor wins over the aggressor: brain triumphs over brawn and mind overcomes mass. In constructing the protagonist as the underdog, victory appears sweeter.

The virtue of wit and cunning is further explored in stories embodying super-micro beings, usually children, most commonly appearing as the character Thumbling. Thumbling (so named because he is no bigger than the size of an adult’s thumb) embodies all the possible disabilities that being ‘little’ or ‘underprivileged’ brings with it. He is literally the victim of his own environment, as we see in the tales “Thumbling” and “Thumbling’s travels”. Thumbling is a victim of his size, and is swallowed whole by various animals, and battles life-threatening situations with frightening frequency. However, Grimm’s Thumbling is endowed with formidable wit and nimbleness that defies his tiny size and allows him to overcome obstacles that seem “larger than life”. Perhaps Grimm’s employment of Thumbling offers an alternative approach to life’s problems as simply a matter of perspective. Every cloud sports a silver lining.

Likewise with stories such as “The Queen Bee”, “The Gnome” and the “The Little Hamster from the Water”, the victory of the underdog continues to be a dominant structural component. In these stories, however, Grimm does not endow his protagonists with wit. As opposed to the clever tailor, the protagonist in each of the three tales allays with “little” in two ways: first, he is the youngest of a number of siblings, and second, he is usually little-minded, a simpleton. In “The Queen Bee”, the youngest brother, chided for his childish and “naïve” ways was called “Simpleton” (again employing bold strategies of metaphor and word-painting to enliven the visual imagination). The youngest brother in “The Little Hamster from the Water” was bluntly named “Stupid Hans”. In exchange for the virtue of wit, Grimm chooses to illuminate the good natured qualities of the little brothers; the simple “little” qualities of which they possess of which children may easily draw parallels to, and adults may be reminded of the fortitudes of civic-minded sensitivity.

“Little” also extends to “lesser adults” or children themselves, characters which are arguably the easiest for young listeners to identify with. In stories such as “The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest”, “The Old Man and his Grandson”, “The Twelve Brothers” and “Spindle, Shuttle and Needle”, the role of children as underprivileged citizens are used to contrast the social environment they have been part of which exerts this socio-force. In “The Old Man and his Grandson”, the tables are turned between the roles of the (assumedly rational) parents and their (assumedly less-rational) son, who enlightens them of their mistreatment of his grandfather through simple actions and deeds. The tales extol virtues of loyalty, honesty and integrity, concepts simple enough for a young audience, but enduring in its capacity. Similarly, in “The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest” and “The Twelve Brothers”, it is the mistreated and underprivileged daughter who is most blessed because of her innate goodliness.

However, virtues and values are rarely enough to save the day. In the tales of Grimm, the underdogs and the underprivileged are almost always aided by one or more “magical helpers” that are, in themselves, little beings. These magical little helpers fall into several categories in and of themselves: Gnomes and dwarves with magical powers and soothsayer-like abilities, smaller animals such as foxes, hamsters and ducks that are representative of their kind, and objects or instruments imbued with magical abilities. All can be interpreted as rhetorical instruments of inevitable nature: these elements appear to be (in an odd fashion) conveniently available in times of adversity, and always forms the missing-link by which the protagonist fulfills his or her noble goal. Then, the story cycle is complete, the wrongs righted and the villains occasionally put to macabre ends.