Fairy Tale Road (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo

[Author’s Note: I remember hearing about this road of mystic proportions somewhere in Germany a while back, along which the Brothers Grimm drew inspiration for the collection of fairy tales they gathered. Famous fairy tale locations exist along the route, including the town of Hamlin and Bremen. Enjoy!]

Someday I would love to venture

along that mystical pathway

known as “Fairy Tale Road”—

      which weaves among foothills and forests

             deep

                      in

                          Germany

                              to trace the lives

                                      of the Brothers Grimm

                     from their birthplace in Hanau

       off to locations where they preserved

           fairytales like literary butterflies given

               havens within the pages of books

                   such as Alsfeld

                                   …where “Red Riding Hood” first

                                              risked the woods for her grandmother

                          or Bad Wildungen

                                    …that saw “Snow White” grace their streets

                                             with her lordly father who controlled

                                                                the mines

                           to Reinhardswald

                                     …near which “Sleeping Beauty” once slept

                                                                    in Sababurg Castle

                            and Hamelin

                                      …famed for the desertion  

                                                    of rats and children

                                                        lured away by music

                   all the way to Bremen  

                                        …animal musicians sought to reach

                                                      and their statues

                                                              at last succeeded

A road traveled

     over the course of centuries

           alluded to in beloved stories—

                which offers a journey

                     between fantasy and reality

                                  …like a dream

                                              from once

                                                           upon

                                                                a time

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