Paths through the forest

The brothers who collected "Little Red Riding Hood" were born in Hesse while Napoleon's armies were sweeping through Europe. Trained as librarians and inspired by their love of their own heritage and language which was under threat from the French domination, they began collecting folklore in nearby Hessian villages and the surrounding countryside. They then began looking at nearly forgotten legends and epic poems, which led to a study of archaic linguistic forms. They are now known as the men who collected German folklore, but also as the pioneers of modern philology. Their German dictionary is a monumental testimony of their work.