Sleeping beauties: Five hundred new fairytales are set to live happily ever after following discovery in German archive Historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth collected the stories in the 1800s Many were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz in Germany But von Schönwerth's collection of fairytales gradually faded into obscurity They have now been discovered after 150 years in a German archive A collection of around 500 fairytales left forgotten in an archive for more than 150 years have been discovered in Germany. The stories - written around the same time as the Brothers Grimm folk tales - offer a new selection of entrapped princesses, evil witches and dashing young princes. Historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth gathered the unique collection of stories in the 1800s from across the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz in Germany. The fairytales were collected by historian Franz Xaver von Schonwerth in the 1800s - around the same time the Brothers Grimm were writing tales such as the Town Musicians of Bremen, shown in a sketch by Carl Offterdinger in 1829 Many of the tales were told to him by local country folk, labourers and servants which had previously only been passed on through the generations by word of mouth. He completed a book on his findings called Aus der Oberpfalz - Sitten und Sagen, which came out in three volumes in 1857, 1858 and 1859, which included the fairy tales and historical background on them. In 1885, Jacob Grimm said this about him: 'Nowhere in the whole of Germany is anyone collecting [folklore] so accurately, thoroughly and with such a sensitive ear.' But his book never gained prominence and faded into obscurity. It was only when Oberpfalz cultural curator Erika Eichenseer was sifting through his work which had been stored in an archive in Regensburg, Germany, for 150 years, that his work re-emerged into the public domain. Ms Eichenseer has now published a selection of fairytales from Von Schönwerth's collection, the Guardian reports. The book is called Prinz Roßzwifl - meaning 'scarab beetle' which is better known in English as a 'dung beetle'. Legends: Von Schonwerth's collection has never-heard-before tales but also more well-known stories like Brothers Grimm's Little Red Riding Hood, depicted in a drawing by Ludwig Pietsch Ms Eichenseer chose the beetle because it buries its most treasured possession - its eggs - which she says is symbolic of the hidden knowledge and wisdom to be found in fairytales. Many of the fairytales in the collection had been completely lost to the public consciousness until now. One story tells of a maiden who escapes a witch by transforming herself into a pond. The witch then lies on her stomach and drinks all the water, swallowing the young girl. But once she has drunk the pond, the girl uses a knife to cut her way out of the witch. Ther are also more well-known but local examples of tales such as Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin. Ms Eichenseer says the fairytales were invented for people of all ages. She said: 'Their main purpose was to help young adults on their path to adulthood, showing them that dangers and challenges can be overcome through virtue, prudence and courage.' Ms Eichenseer helped to found the Franz Xaver von Schönwerth Society, an interdisciplinary committee devoted to analysing his work and publicising it.