Dorothea Viehmann
Dorothea Viehmann (November 8, 1755 – November 17, 1816) was a German storyteller. Her stories were an important source for the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Most of Dorothea Viehmann's tales were published in the second volume of Grimms' Fairy Tales. Life Dorothea Viehmann was born as Katharina Dorothea Pierson in Rengershausen near Kassel as a daughter of a tavern owner. Her paternal ancestors were persecuted Huguenots who fled from France to Hesse-Kassel after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. As she grew up, Viehmann picked up numerous stories, legends and fairy tales from the guests of her father's tavern. In 1777 Dorothea Pierson married the tailor Nikolaus Viehmann. From 1787 to 1798 the family lived in Niederzwehren, today part of the city of Kassel. After the death of her husband, she had to provide for herself and her seven children by selling products from her garden at the local market. She became acquainted with the Brothers Grimm in 1813 and told them more than forty tales and variations. Because of Viehmann's Huguenot ancestors, a number of her stories are based on French fairy tales. Wilhelm Grimm wrote that it was an amazing coincidence that he and his