The mystery of Grimm's Godfather
 

This has been really bugging me. I've read this story 3 or 4 times over and cannot figure out this story. I've been looking for metaphors and can't really come up with a coherent explanation besides this is simply a whimsical story.

I am aware of Grimm's other version of the Godfather tale, but I consider it to be too different and better to try and analyze the original story alone.

I do enjoy Grimm's fairy tales. They have a definite rhythm to them and the endings are playfully grotesque.

Something lost in translation, perhaps? I have collections of Fairy Tales( I used to buy them based on their illustrations), including one of the Grimm Brothers-that one doesn't have that story in it.
The Grimms wrote Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood(originally entitled Little Red Cap); It's quite possible the Godfather story was just never completed. If I recall correctly, quite a few manuscripts from the Grimm Brothers were found a while back, outlining tales, incomplete stories, etc., among them.

Other than it teaching you cant cheat death, Im not sure what else you're looking for out of it?

**sorry, I just realized my comment didnt go along with the version you said you were trying to figure out

My first thought is that it seems unfinished. There's no punch-line or resolution, it just rambles on and never makes a point. I don't think there is anything to figure out about this story other than "Not all story ideas are good ones". [/2 cents]

I think this is pretty straightforward as a general warning against scientific knowledge and usurping God's domain of living and death. Sort of smacks of the old Baba Yaga stories.