Purple bandReady now · Open and print today

Catherine and Frederick

A tale retold from Grimms' Fairy Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

This tale comes from Grimms' Fairy Tales, collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and first published in the early nineteenth century. The Grimms gathered traditional folk stories told across Germany, and many, like this one, are funny rather than frightening. Catherine means well, but every choice she makes turns out wrong in a silly way, and Frederick learns that sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to keep trying. Children enjoy the silliness of the cheeses rolling away, the door dropping from the tree, and the thieves thinking a monster is coming for them — all because Catherine does not stop to think. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5

Length

short · about 370 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Grimm's Fairy Stories, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

Report a concern about this reader · What’s in a HummingRead reader