I used these resources when researching the annotations for this fairy tale. Most should be available through your local library, but I have included links to the titles on Amazon.com for further reading.
Baryley, Harold. The Lost Language of Symbolism. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2006.
Bettelhiem, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
Biedermann, Hans. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Symbolism. James Hulbert, translator. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1996.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inhardcover or paperback.
Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. Jack Saye, translator. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2002.
Cotterell, Arthur and Storm, Rachel. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology. China" Hermes House, 1999.
Evans, Ivor. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1994.
Jones, Alison. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Saints. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1994.
Keightley, Thomas. The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People: A Compendium of International Fairy Folklore. New York: Gramercy Books, 2000.
Lindahl, Carl; McNamara, John; Lindow, John. Medieval Folklore. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus. 2nd Edition. New York: Berkley Books, 2001.
Tater, Maria, editor. The Annotated Brothers Grimm. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2004.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
Zipes, Jack. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forest to the Modern World. 2nd Edition. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2002.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
Zipes, Jack, editor. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. New York: Bantam Books, 1992.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion. 2nd edition. New York: Roultedge, 2006.
Amazon.com: Buy the book inpaperback.
Zipes, Jack, editor. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.