Google Doodle Celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the Brothers Grimm

Grandmother, my what big doodles you have.

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Today’s Google Doodle honors the 200th anniversary of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen (known as the Children’s and Household Tales), first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Though six more editions followed, this iconic collection of folk stories contained such well-known fairy tales as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Briar-Rose” (“Sleeping Beauty”), “Rapunzel” and much more.

This time, Google has an interactive doodle that tells the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” — although with a slightly more upbeat ending. (The original Grimm tales had a habit of being quite, well, grim, compared to the Disneyified versions most kids are familiar with today.)

(PHOTOS: The Story of Google Doodles)

Indeed, upon publication the Kinder- und Hausmärchen were deemed not suitable for children, despite what the title suggested. But over the past two centuries the brothers’ collected folktales have inspired countless retellings — as well as films and television shows — including anything from Disney’s Cinderella to NBC’s supernatural drama Grimm and ABC’s Once Upon a Time. And next year, coming to a theater near you: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, born in 1785 and 1786 respectively, both took an in interest in Germanic folklore after attending the University of Marburg. They collaborated on eight different collections of folk stories, as well as the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a comprehensive dictionary of the German language that by the time of their deaths (Wilhelm in 1859, Jacob in 1863) had only been completed up to F.

MORE: Another Bite of the Poisoned Apple: Why Does Pop Culture Love Fairy Tales Again?