The eye of the lord
The Eye of the Lord (French: L'Œil du Maître ) is the 21st fable in the fourth book of the collection of fables by Jean de La Fontaine . La Fontaine is referring to an ancient story, which he writes in his masterful language in re-imprints and adds his own elements that did not appear in any other version:
A deer flees from the hunters and therefore seeks shelter in an ox barn. In a touching, fearful address the stag asks the ox for help. The ruminating and - as a result of La Fontaine's appropriately chosen figurative meaning of the word deliberately - swaying their head oxen promise not to betray him. In the following verses the lively hustle and bustle of the grooms is described, who come into the stable and work, but do not see the stag. The deer already thinks it is safe and rejects the good advice of the stable animals to hide in the forest before the gentleman with the 100 eyes appears. When the quarreling gentleman appears with his brief commands, he not only discovers old litter and cobwebs in the stable, but also the intruder. The deer is then beaten to death and stung.
La Fontaine not only hides the "other head" (the stag among the ox) in the text, but also lets the reader be the eye of the Lord and see that there is hidden wealth here, both for the killers and for the master who will turn the salted deer into many meals for many happy neighbors . La Fontaine invites the reader to this festival, just as its narrator regrets those who do not have the wealth that already exists. The feast of the stag was La Fontaine's own invention, it did not appear in its source, as did the unexpected final thought "It is, as you can see, only the eye of the master. I would still fix the eye of the lover on it ."
Background and morality
The fable probably originates from the tradition of the Aesopica . The theme was adopted almost unchanged by Phaedrus . The story then found a broad tradition throughout Europe from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period and led to the saying The Lord's Eye Makes the Horse Fat in various languages. The fable mainly illustrated Christian values and content. In the different version of John Bromyard , there is an affinity to ancient mythology (hunter as Polyphemus and Argus as the all-seeing master).
The proverbial expression means that everyone is in charge of his own, that people are much more careful with their property than with the goods entrusted to them. In addition, there are other moralities that can be derived from the plot: that it is useful to flee early enough to escape a danger, that one never knows from whom one is sure, that good advice is dear, or that one can learn from people Eyes deceive, but the eye of God does not. Even Martin Luther tied this saying in his rhyme Good advice for households one.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jean de La Fontaine (translated by Ernst Dohm ): Lafontaine's fables. P. 199 , accessed on June 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Randolph Paul Runyon, Randolph Runyon: In La Fontaine's Labyrinth: A Thread Through the Fables . Rookwood Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-886365-16-2 , pp. 57–59 ( google.de [accessed June 28, 2020]).
- ^ A b Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, Heidrun Alzheimer, Hermann Bausinger, Wolfgang Brückner, Daniel Drascek: God and the devil on a journey - Hyltén-Cavallius . Walter de Gruyter, 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-087028-2 , p. 863–865 ( google.de [accessed June 28, 2020]).
- ^ Gotthold Ephraim Lessing : Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's all writings . tape 11 . Voss, Berlin 1839, p. 638 ( google.de [accessed June 28, 2020]).
- ^ Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, Heidrun Alzheimer, Hermann Bausinger, Wolfgang Brückner, Daniel Drascek: God and the devil on the move - Hyltén-Cavallius . Walter de Gruyter, 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-087028-2 ( google.de [accessed on June 28, 2020]).
- ↑ Martin Luther : Miscellaneous Writings secular content, fables, seals, etc . Ed .: Richard Neubauer. Verlag der Buchhandlung des orphanage, 1891, p. 129 ( archive.org [accessed June 28, 2020]).