The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats

Once upon a time a Mother Goat lived in the forest together with her seven children. One day she left them at home alone to get food, but warned them about the Big Bad Wolf, who will try to come in to eat them by pretending to be their mother and convincing the kids to open the door. Her white feet and sweet voice however will reveal the real Mother. After she is away, the Wolf tries twice to get in, but both times the young goats realise that it is not her Mother who is at the door. The Wolf himself is not stupid and disguised his gruff voice with honey and black feet with flour.

Now for third time the Wolf is again at the door and says "Let me in children, your mother has something for each and every one of you", this time the children hear the honey-softened voice and see the flour-whited feet and open the door for what they think to be her Mother. As soon as he is inside, the Wolf eats six of the young goats and only the youngest is able to hide in a clock. After that the Wolf is so pigged out that he can not move anymore and falls asleep under a nearby tree.

Later that day the mother comes back home and is shocked to find the open door and just her youngest child. Together they make a plan to get their children and siblings back. With a pair of scissors the mother opens the belly of the Wolf and the six children spring out miraculously unharmed. Together they fill the Wolf with rocks and the Mother uses needle and thread to sew him back up again. After his sleep the Wolf is very thirsty and goes to the river (or well) to drink, but falls in and drowns under the weight of the rocks.

The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats was chosen this year for the new annual welfare stamps about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm (issued 06-02-2020). Apart from the three stamps above I will also keep one self-adhesive coil stamp for my collection.

Unlike the Brave Little Tailor last year this fairy tale was already featured on a West German stamp set, as it was included in the old welfare stamp series about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm in the 1960s. You can see those old stamps here. Four Young Goats and a Big Good Wolf were also shown on one of the Swiss fairy tale stamps of 2018.

The Brothers Grimm and their Fairy Tales

On Thursday the new Welfare stamps will be issued and lucky for me they feature, like the last years, my favourite theme, fairy tales. The series of Welfare stamps has the Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm as theme. Hansel and Gretel and the Sleeping Beauty were already featured, this year the stamps will show motives about the Little Red Riding Hood.

In my collection I already have many stamps about the Brothers Grimm and their fairy tales, so it is now time to show some of them.

The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were born in Hanau. Jacob Grimm was born in 1785, Wilhelm Grimm in 1786. They are especially known for their collection of fairy tales, although they published also other works like the German dictionary. Wilhelm Grimm died in 1859, Jacob Grimm in 1863.

On 10th January 1985 a stamp was issued about the 200th birthday of Jacob Grimm. It shows Jacob Grimm together with his brother Wilhelm and a part of the German dictionary.

The Brothers Grimm did not invented the fairy tales on their own. They collected them from different sources. Three persons who helped them with their collection were Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff.
In my collection I have three stamps featuring the three persons. They were issued on 17th August 1978 in the Federal Republic of Germany, on 15th January 1981 in Berlin and on 27th December 2003 in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The first collection of the Children’s and Household Tales of the Brothers Grimm was published in 1812. It was the first systematic compilation and the first scientific documentation of the entire European and Oriental fairy tale tradition. Today the fairy tales were translated in over 160 languages and are one of the most well-known and most widely distributed books worldwide of German cultural history. Since 2005 they are a part of the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO.
On 14th June 2012 a stamp was issued about the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the Children’s and Household Tales. In my collection I have a mint block of four, five stamps issued in a coil, the stamps with the First Day Postmarks from Berlin and Bonn and the First Day Sheet. The stamp shows an opened book and various fairy tale characters, the First Day Postmarks show the signatures of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

It is not the first time that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are shown on the Welfare stamps. Already the Welfare stamps issued between 1959 and 1967 had the fairy tales as theme.

The Star Money and Brothers Grimm (issued 01-10-1959)

Little Red Riding Hood (issued 01-10-1960)

Hansel and Gretel (issued 02-10-1961)

Snow White (issued 10-10-1962)

The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids (issued 23-09-1963)

Sleeping Beauty (issued 06-10-1964)

Cinderella (issued 06-10-1965)

The Frog Prince (issued 05-10-1966)

Mother Hulda (issued 03-10-1967)