Prologue 010
Füssen: Disney Logo Castle 014
Hanau: The Birthplace of the Brothers Grimm, the Starting Point of the Märchen Road 030
Steinau: "The Frog King or the Faithful Henry" 046
Marburg: "The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats" 065
Alsfeld: "Little Red Riding Hood" 088
Kassel (1): "The Fisherman and His Wife" 110
Kassel (2): "Worn Out Shoes" 127
Bad Wildungen: "Snow White" 149
Hamelin: The Pied Piper 165
Polle: "Covered in Ashes" 186
Hökster: "Hansel and Gretel" 208
Trendelburg: Rapunzel 223
Hannover: "Dr. Steelbeard" 242
Göttingen: "The Goose Girl" 256
Javaburg: "Sleeping Beauty" 272
Oedelsheim: "Puss in Boots" 291
Bodenberger: The Adventures of the Wind-Up Birdman, Vol. 306
Bremen (1): "The Bremen Town Musicians" 325
Bremen (2): "The Bremen Town Musicians" 342
Epilogue 360

A special journey following in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm.
The German Märchen Road, which holds countless fairy tales.

The 600-kilometer 'Märchen Road' begins in Hanau, a small city in central Germany, and continues to the northern city of Bremen.
Among the seven representative tourist routes that link and name beautiful towns throughout Germany according to their own characteristics and themes, the Märchen Road is the road of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales.
The road lined with small villages that served as the backdrop for German folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, such as [Snow White], [Rapunzel], [Hansel and Gretel], and [The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats], was given the name Märchen, meaning "fairy tale" or "folk tale," and became the famous Märchen Road.
The author slowly travels through the seventeen villages along the road with a simple heart, as if reading a fairy tale, and awakens the childlike innocence that had been forgotten.


Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm.
The Brothers Grimm, who were both linguists and philologists, collected and systematically organized folk tales scattered throughout Germany and published their book, "Folk Tales for Children and the Home," which is one of the first books that readers around the world encounter as children.
However, the Brothers Grimm did not originally collect folk tales for children.
As can be seen from the title, 'Folk Tales for Children and the Home,' the Brothers Grimm believed that the transmission and acceptance of folk tales should take place first in the home, and that the target should start with children. However, folk tales, such as 'fairy tales' that have been modified for children, should not be transmitted as folk tales, but as natural literature that has been passed down orally.
Thus, the Brothers Grimm's "Children's and Household Tales", which was first published in 1812, became a model of German folk tales that clearly revealed the characteristics of folk tales through a process of collecting and revising a wide range of German folk tales until the final version containing 200 folk tales and 10 children's fairy tales in 1857.


The author, who has already traveled to Ireland and England with her child in search of fairy tale characters, has now embarked on a full-fledged journey through German fairy tales, following in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm, the originators of German fairy tales.
A place filled with fairy tales that children who love books would memorize and read over and over again, a trip with a great theme of following in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm, an opportunity to see and experience the kind of content the Germans have created with the motif of fairy tales, and above all, a short route that can be leisurely explored with a simple mind, all of which appealed to me.


Having entered a fairytale world while admiring the beautiful Neuschwanstein Castle in the picturesque city of Füssen in southern Germany, the author now begins a 600-kilometer journey starting from Hanau, the starting point of the Märchen Road.
Hanau, the city where the Brothers Grimm were born and where there is a statue of the two brothers built with donations from the German people; Marburg, where the brothers, after graduating from middle and high school in Kassel, moved to enter university and first encountered ancient German literature through encounters with excellent teachers; Kassel, the city where the two brothers spent their youth and returned after graduating from university to live for over 30 years, spending the happiest time of their lives with their family; and Göttingen, the city where [The Goose Girl] was set and where the Brothers Grimm worked as university professors. We follow in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm and feel their talent, passion, and deep brotherly love as they collected folk tales and worked to define them throughout their lives.

Additionally, the villages along the Märchen Road, which served as the backdrop for over 200 picture books, have a truly fairytale-like atmosphere.
They decorate the village with motifs from fairy tales that are related to them and create stories to entertain visitors.
Steinau, the setting of [The Frog King or Faithful Heinrich]; Alsfeld, the town of Little Red Riding Hood, the most popular protagonist among children in the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales; Bad Wildungen, the town of [Snow White]; Hameln, the setting of the famous story of the Pied Piper, who disappeared with 130 children in anger at the townspeople for not paying the reward he promised to pay for playing his pipe to kill rats; Javaburg, the city of [Sleeping Beauty]; Polle, the town of [Covered in Ashes], where Cinderella is the main character who is abused by her stepmother and two older sisters; Hökster, the town of the fairy tale [Hansel and Gretel], which made children around the world burn with their hearts because of the siblings abandoned by their parents and go crazy over houses made of candy; Trendelburg, where the witch climbed up and down the tower that Rapunzel's long hair was used by the witch; Oedelsheim, the town of the fairy tale [Puss in Boots], which tells the delightful story of a lively cat and the third son of a poor miller; and Märchen. To Bremen, the final destination of the road and the city of the famous Bremen Town Musicians.

The author encounters and recalls fairy tales in a place where fairy tale motifs shine vividly, and reflects on how the folk tales collected by the Brothers Grimm developed into fairy tales and greatly influenced our childhood innocence.


“As I pass the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians next to the darkened city hall, the shadows of four animals stand out clearly, forming a tower where the tourists have already disappeared.
If their appearance under sunlight felt cute and friendly, their appearance under moonlight felt even more dignified and large.
It's as if their dreams of heading to Bremen to become better than they are now, without giving up or giving in to reality, are projected onto the shadows.
Ji-an and I's shadows on the same ground are also quite clear.
Our shadow will continue to be like that.”

Although it may be a bit daunting several times a day, traveling with children is always a time of great learning.
The times spent with the beautiful and sad stories that still live and breathe on the Märchen Road.
Thanks to the childlike innocence they regained on that journey, immersed in a fairy tale, we once again recall the courage of the Bremen Town Musicians, who moved forward with their dreams.