Before collecting fairy tales, Jacob Grimm chose a different path in life

Another interesting fact about Jacob Grimm was that before collecting and studying fairy tales, Jacob Grimm was going down a different path in life. Prior to discovering his love for linguistics, Grimm intended to become a lawyer. He enrolled at the University of Marburg in 1802, where he pursued his father's original career path of studying law. After recovering from a serious illness, his brother joined him in Marburg a year later and started studying law as well. Up to this time, Jacob Grimm had only been driven by a general need for knowledge, and his energies had been directed purely toward the practical goal of securing his place in life.

They were influenced by Friedrich Karl von Savigny, a co-founder of the historical school of jurisprudence, and Clemens Brentano at Marburg. Friedrich Karl von Savigny taught them a method of antiquarian study that served as the true foundation for all of their later work.

Jacob, however, came to realize that he greatly liked being a linguist through a variety of influences, and by 1816, the brothers were cooperating in the Elector's Library in Kassel, Germany. Jacob had given up his legal career to pursue literary analysis. He did not want to follow his father's way.