I've never heard of the Seven Ravens fairy tale. Both the tale and illustrator and new to me! it is an incredible find.

Unfortunately, after searching for more than an hour, I was only able to find one illustration for this book.

To observe the beauty of the artistry, I highly recommend purchasing this book. I found this edition on Thriftbooks.com

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This is a tale of a couple who longed for a daughter after having seven sons. When a baby girl was born, she was tiny, nonetheless, her parents were overjoyed even though she was hospitalized at once.

Her father sent one of the sons to fetch water for the baptism. Excited, the other six accompanyed him. In their excitement, the pitcher dropped into the well.

They were very afraid to go home. Waiting, the father assumed the sons forgot and were playing instead of obtaining water for the baptism. He wished they would turn to ravens, and alas the wind began to whirl and seven black ravens flew away.

When the spell could not be undone, they were sad, but found a lot of joy in their daughter. When she grew, she overheard mention of the seven brothers and that she was to blame for their curse. Her parents told her the spell was heaven's wish.

The beautiful daughter could not rest until she found her brothers and helped to undo the curse. She left her home and took a small ring reminding her of her parents, a loaf of bread and water. In addition, she took a chair to rest when she was weary.

Her travels took her to the world's end where so found the sun that was way too sorching. Fearing the sun would harm her, she continined on and found the wicked moon who told her he liked the flesh of human children. Again she fled. The stars that she found were kind and had their own chairs.

Finally, she found the morning star who gave her a chicken leg and told her her brothers would be found inside the glass mountion, but the chicken leg would be needed .

As the story progressed, she opened the cloth that previously held the chicken leg, but it was gone. Here is where the story gets a gory as the girl cuts her find with a knife to unlock the door to the glass mountain.

As usual, a fairytale, has to contain some type of nastiness. The little figer unlocked the door into the glass mountain.

Now, the long journey proceeds as she discovers a dwarf who tells her the brothers are ravens, and she should wait and eat a tad from eachof the seven plates placed before her.

Whirling back to the beginning, the ring she originally took, now is mistakenly dropped in a cup. In doing so, the raven flapped inside and much like the story of Goldilocks, the ravens asked "Who's been drinking from my cup. With that the ravens recognized the ring as belonging to their parents of lond ago.

Knowing now only their sister can break the spell, and the ravens became the seven brothers of long ago.

The ending is happy, and they all traveled home happily.

This story is new to me. As I journey through illustrated books with their exquisite illustrations, it again becomes abundantly clear that fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm all have much in common:

A longing for a beautiful, life, different than the one currently lived. A journey to a far away mountain, castle or woods where others are found to help unlock the spell wether it is a kiss, a ring, a glass slipper. Along the way there is either an individual or a group who will help, perhaps dwarfs or others who either assist to find the way to find the end where the spell is broken and the main character find his/her fulfillment.

The stunning illustrations made this tale special.

I thought that this story was enjoyable enough but not anything particularly exceptional. This is a traditional fairy tale, and it reads like one (although, the girl cutting off her own finger is definitely an exciting twist that we wouldn't expect in more recently written children's stories). The illustrations were interesting, and I thought that a couple of them were downright odd, but I still liked them nonetheless. All in all, I'd keep this book in my classroom, and I'd read it to my students, but I don't think that it's anything to write home about. ( )

This Brothers Grimm tale is about a young girl who searches the world for her brothers who were turned into ravens. After sacrificing her finger, she was able to bring her brothers home. Though a dark story, The Seven Ravens is a story about perseverance and family love. ( )

Praaaaaachtig prentenboek dat ik via dit systeem opsnorde, n.a.v. de titel Bontepelsje, uitgegeven bij de bijzondere uitgeverij De Vier Windstreken. Ooit in de Slegte getroffen !

In this classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, a young girl must go out into the world and find her brothers who have been transformed into ravens by her father's curse. Meets the Sun, Moon, and Stars in her journey to save her family. ( )