down the grimm rabbit hole – Algorithms & The Arts

so yea here i am speaking to you about a fairy tale that is more older then my grandparents, and trust me they’re old OLD. now you may be wondering what fairy tale i’m talking about, well it’s a little fairy tale named “the strange musicians” by the brothers grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm). now the next question you might be asking “where did i found this?” oh boi… well as the children author Lewis Carroll would put’s it “DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WE GO!”

A STRANG BUT GRIMM START

so in order to find out why and how i choose this for my first piece, i need to introduce you to a little series.

trailer for the spring 2024 anime original series “the Grimm variations

meet “the Grimm variations” a 6 episode anthology series that put a different and surprising twist to six of the Grimm fairy tale (Cinderella, little red riding hood, Hansel and Gretel, the elves and the shoemaker, the travelling musicians of Bremen and last but not least pied piper of Hamlin”. when I first stumble on this i was intrigued mostly because two of the six tales are ones that I really grew up with (thanks to Disney) little red riding hood and Cinderella. so I watch it and HOLY SHIT, I was hook because i found out that both the story of Cinderella and little red riding hood wasn’t a Disney original. which was a surprise to me, considering that I was under the impression that Disney were the one behind those stories, not to mention all of the other “Disney princess movies as well”. so I did a little research on these tales and the brother Grimm in general and that leads to the next stop.

ASMR BEDTIME STORIES

so while i was researching some of the fairy tales that the show gives and the concept of “Grimm fairy tales” as a whole, it research come to a Youtube channel known as abitfrank and the ASMR channel abitlate. in fact the very video that got me to this channel was known as “the most psychologically disturbing fairy tale” about a fairy tale by the brother Grimm called “the juniper tree”

one of the fairy tale made by the brother grimm

so naturally i started watching her video and I’ve been hook. from the art style she had to the way she’s explain the tale make wanna to read to see how Grimm it is. after watching this video I found she did other video’s on other media and tales, including both Cinderella and little red riding hood, so I’ve watch her videos about those and just like the last video the way she explores both texts was really fascinating, from the different versions of the tales she brings up to the humors she makes really glued me to her analysis for these tales.

the great landing

ok, so with all that being said, you may be wondering “what dose this has to do with fairy tale I’m talking about?????” well because of both the Netflix shows and abitfrank, this summer I’ve made the decision to go to Barnes and nobles and got a hardcover copy of the book and so far some of the fairy tales I’ve read a really fun. some of them were really peculiar (I’m looking at you Bremen musician’s) while others had a oddly, very satisfying conclusion (cough, cough the fisherman and the wife) but there is one fairy tale that really got to me. and that the fairy tale this post is all about.

I’m talking about the fairy tale known as “the wonderful musicians” or “the strange musicians”. for those who don’t know this tale is about a musician who has a unique talent for music, and has the ability to charm anyone with any musical instrument

the experience

now that we got ALLLLL OF THE context out of the way, what was my experience with the tale. well to put it in simple terms the musician is an ABSOULTE DICK. excuse my language but Jesus Christ this man done the animals so damn dirty. the way that he use the animals interesting in learning how to play and using it against them was so uncalled for, and i was so mad that he was able to get away with it, especially since in the end of the story we don’t know if he felt any remorse for the animals. for example with all three animals, he would do this routine. he plays a musical instrument near the animal, they fixated on that one musicals instrument. the animals wish to be their disciple in the instrument he plays, he agrees, and then plays them by asking them for a favor and then leaving them on the spot. one instance of this is what he did to the fox. in the story after the fox heard the music he ask the musician to be is pupil, saying “Oh, dear musician, you play very well. I too would like to learn to play.” which he agree, following up with “Oh, musician,” answered the fox, “I will obey you like a pupil obeys his teacher.” after that the musician pretend to give him an “order” so he can “start teaching him how to play”, only to leave him there saying “Wait here until I return,” said the musician, and went on his way.

another thing that came to mind when I read the story is the fact that it was easy to understand. they way that the grimm brother wrote this tale was mostly conversation focus with a little bit of imagery. from the way they describe even situation that the musicians get in with animals to the conversation that they have. it’s easy to understands what the situation is and depending on where you are in the story you can easily figure out the pattern of the of the story. the main instance of this is the conversation the musicians has with each of the animals. as i already stated in the previous example, the conversation between the musician and the animals was able to give me an understanding of the patten. beside the conversation with the fox, the conversation with the hare is another example of this where the hare ask the same question to the musician which the musician responded the same “You can learn quickly,” said the musician. “You will only have to do what I tell you.” and the hare respond with the same exact things as the fox “Oh, musician,” replied the little hare, “I will obey you like a pupil obeys his teacher.” and the same thing happens to the hare just like it did to the fox.

but…um…yea that’s my experience with a fairy tale that thousands of years old. highly recommend to read it if you ever get the chance. if you want to by the hardcover copy, the either by it on amazon or find it in Barnes and noble.