ABSTRACT
Nationalism seems in many ways too weighty and portentous a concept to bring into the orbit of the fairy-tale universe. Folktales in general have often been seen as what Wole Soyinka calls “mythology’s poor cousin,” and they encapsulate little more than folk wisdom, operating as “moral monitors” and charged with “social regulation”. In Finland, nationalism and the implementation of Finnish as the official language emerged concomitantly with the “study of folklore and the rediscovery and piecing together of popular epic poetry,” along with “the publication of grammars and dictionaries”. What the Brothers Grimm had begun as a project with distinctly nationalistic aspirations ironically turned into a cultural heritage that moved in the direction of creating an international repertoire, a shared body of stories that acquired a recognition factor beyond the J. Grimms’ wildest dreams of commercial success.
