He frowned on the friendship between his daughters and the poverty-stricken Grimm Brothers. Dortchen's father was cruel and autocratic, and he beat and abused her. The Grimm brothers began collecting fairy tales that year, wanting to save the old stories told in spinning-circles and by the fire from the domination of French culture. Napoleon created a new Kingdom of Westphalia, under the rule of his dissolute young brother. In 1806, Hesse-Cassel was invaded by the French. Dortchen was the same age as Lotte Grimm and the two became best friends. One of six sisters, Dortchen lived in the medieval quarter of Cassel, a town famous for its grand royal palace, its colossal statue of Herkules, and a fairytale castle of turrets and spires built as a love nest for the Prince-Elector's mistress. Dortchen first met the Grimm brothers in 1805, when she was twelve. Growing up next door to the Grimm brothers in Hesse-Cassel, a small German kingdom, Dortchen Wild told Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in the famous fairy tale collection. "One of the great untold love stories - how the Grimm brothers discovered their famous fairy tales - filled with drama and passion, and taking place during the Napoleonic Wars. North Sydney, NSW : Penguin Random House Australia, 2013 National edeposit: Available onsite at national, state and territory libraries National edeposit: Onsite at National Library of Australia.
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