The Green Brothers.

On January 4, 1785, the famous German linguist, fairy tale writer Jacob Green was born.

He also has a brother, William Green, who is also a linguist. The two brothers were the founders of German linguistics, and they collected and edited the German Children¡¯s and Family Fairy Tale Collection, known worldwide as the Green Fairy Tale, which is a valuable wealth in world children¡¯s literature.

Green brothers were born in Harbour on the Rhine, their father was a small officer. Their youth was spent during the Napoleonic occupation of Germany. At that time, Germany suffered the double oppression of foreign aggression and powerful feudal forces. After graduating from the university, they studied history, inspired by the folk song collections of German romantic writers Arnim and Bhagavad-Tanno, The Strange Numbers of the Children, began collecting, sorting up folk fairy tales and ancient legends in 1806, and published three volumes of German Children's and Family Fairy Tale in 1814, 1815 and 1822.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the reactionary forces in Europe re-emerged, and the German divisions remained severe. This gave the Green Brothers the confidence that politics had to be reformed. In 1837, seven renowned university professors, including the Green Brothers, lost their professorship for protesting that the Duke of Hannover violated the Constitution. During this period, they tried to combine the study of historical heritage with the demands of the people for freedom, democracy and unity. They studied the German language, wrote the German Language Law and the German Language History, and the unfinished German Dictionary these research works, launched the study of German linguistics, and provided arguments for the German nation as a unified nation.

William Green died in 1859 and Jacob Green died in 1863.