Among summer birds

The image of a butterfly appears repeatedly on the title pages of Wilhelm Grimm's volumes of stories - always in a different form, but always in the same prominent position. The butterfly indicates that the texts to follow are natural poetry (Naturpoesie). It is a symbol that combines mythological and autobiographical allusions. A butterfly is also mentioned in a passage added by Grimm to one of the tales; the significance of the image finds a textual counterpart here.