Language through Literature

Rothkäppchen — Little Red Cap


Brüder Grimm, 1857 · 1264 words in German · part of the library.

How long «Rothkäppchen» is, and how hard

Length in German 1264 running words · 59 sentences · about 5 printed pages
Time to read about 11 minutes at a learner's pace, with the glosses to hand
Different words 345 dictionary words, averaging 21.4 words a sentence
Words glossed 345 of 345 — every one that appears in the tale
Words that appear once 186 — 54%. A word met once is a word you will not learn from this text alone
Where it stands 6 of 8 by length in the German room

282 of this tale's own 345 words, most frequent first, carry 95% of it; 126 carry 80%.

How it begins

Es war einmal eine kleine süße Dirne, die hatte jedermann lieb, der sie nur ansah, am allerliebsten aber ihre Großmutter, die wußte gar nicht was sie alles dem Kinde geben sollte.

There was once a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who so much as looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, who did not know what to give the child next.

That first sentence is the free sample, and the only one: «Rothkäppchen» is part of the library — the eight German tales and the fifteen Russian books, every word glossed, sentence-by-sentence English — for €5 a month or €39 a year, cancel whenever you like, one subscription for both shelves. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, if you would rather taste the room first.

Shorter and longer in the same room

Rumpelstilzchen — 1003 wordsDie Bremer Stadtmusikanten — 1189 words Der Froschkönig — 1291 wordsHänsel und Gretel — 2676 words

All eight German tales · the fifteen Russian ones