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"Grimm" stars Silas Weir Mitchell and Bitsie Tulloch read Grimm fairy tales Saturday afternoon at Wordstock at the Oregon Convention Center.

(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

As members of the cast of

and

usually spend their time in Portland pretending to be, respectively, a reformed werewolf and the girlfriend of a Portland Police detective who's descended from an ancient line of supernatural criminal profilers. The fantasy series is loosely inspired by the work of the Brothers Grimm -- who, the show suggests, were supposedly writing about actual, strange creatures in their famed fairy tales.

On Saturday afternoon, though, the actors went back to the source, and read Grimm fairy tales as part of the schedule at

the Portland literary and book festival. The Oregon Convention Center is notoriously lacking in magical atmosphere, but Mitchell and Tulloch both managed to put enough of a spell on the audience to make them sit still and pay attention, despite competing clamor from neighboring stages.

Mitchell, who wittily plays the fan-favorite character of Monroe, showed touches of Monroe-like humor, self-deprecatingly apologizing for the length of the story he chose. He also seemed amused by the retro-style microphones provided for panelists.

"I feel like I'm in a 1940s radio play," Mitchell joked.

Mitchell introduced his Grimm tale as

and he read with conversational ease the saga of a young man who goes out into the world determined to feel fear. "If only I could shudder," the boy repeats. "If only I could shudder."

Despite encountering assorted frights -- including some ghoulish bowling, and two deadly black cats, whose cry of, "Au, meow! How cold we are!" Mitchell delivered with high-pitched, feline relish -- the young man still can't shudder.

He can't, that is, until he marries the daughter of the king, whose chambermaid comes to the rescue. She goes out to the brook, and collects a bucket of cold water filled with wriggling minnows. While the young man sleeps, his wife pulls back the covers and pours the water and minnows on him. The young man wakes, and at last declares, "Yes, now I know how to shudder."

For her turn, Tulloch read "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," the famous Grimm tale about a veteran soldier who solves the mystery of how the 12 princesses manage to sneak out of the castle every night and dance until their shoes are worn through.

Tulloch -- whose "Grimm" character, Juliette Silverton, has endured her boyfriend's strange behavior and an amnesia-inducing spell -- said "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" was one of her favorites. Smiling, she said that, in comparison to Mitchell's choice, hers was "a little bit girlier." She read in the smooth, reassuring voice of a parent sharing a much-loved story with her child.

After the stories, Mitchell and Tulloch were asked why they selected the stories they did. Taking the microphone, Mitchell slipped into '40s-movie style patter: "Well, it's like this, see...I feel like Walter Winchell."

Mitchell thanked the audience for sticking with his story, despite its length, and referenced the work of

-- a pioneer in the study of human psychology -- in alluding to the story's theme of something compensatory going on in the boy's psyche. When you feel you lack something, you feel like you've got to go get it, Mitchell said, even though "What he wants is something not great" -- that is, he wants to learn how to be afraid.

As to the ending, in which the young man finally learns to shudder at the hands of his wife, Mitchell said it also speaks to the idea that "We can't be whole unless we have someone...that we can relate to." It's the "other," he said, that makes the boy whole.

Mitchell then added that was "one of a thousand possible interpretations of the story."

Tulloch had a personal connection to her story. She wanted to read it from the book she had with her, she said, "Because my sister gave this to me when 'Grimm' was picked up for series two years ago."

Coming from a military family, she added, she responded to the character of the wounded war veteran being the one to solve the mystery of the princesses' midnight dancing. She also liked that when given the choice of which princess to marry, the soldier acknowledges he's not young anymore, and so decides to marry the eldest princess.

Tulloch went on to talk about Portland as a particularly appropriate place to share stories. To her, she said, everything about Portland is a story: the trees wrapped in moss, and the bridges, with their individual, distinctive qualities.

Mitchell echoed Tulloch's fondness for the elegance of the St. Johns Bridge, which Mitchell said was like a small Golden Gate Bridge. He added that fairy tales have a timeless appeal because the allure of a "primal, non-rational, fantasy world is eternal."

Warming to the topic of writing and reading, Mitchell praised events like Wordstock. He and Tulloch both said they were proud to have participated and grateful for the opportunity to share stories.

"Books and reading, we need that in our culture," Mitchell said.

continues today at the Oregon Convention Center. And "

returns Oct. 25 for Season 3 on NBC (8).

-- Kristi Turnquist