The shepherd boy
The shepherd boy is a farce ( ATU 922). In the children's and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, from the 2nd edition of 1819, it is in place 152 (KHM 152).
action
A king summons a shepherd boy known for his wise answers. He offers to adopt him if he answers three questions well.
The first question is how many drops of water are in the ocean. The boy replies that the king should first block all the inflows so that no more drops can come in; then he would name the number.
The second question is how many stars there are in the sky, whereupon the shepherd boy draws an innumerable number of points on a sheet of paper, each point representing a star.
The third question is how many seconds is there in eternity? The boy replies with the story of a little bird that whips its beaks on a mountain every hundred years. When the mountain is worn away, the first second of eternity has passed.
The king likes the shepherd boy's answers, and he keeps his promise.
Origin and comparisons
Grimm's note notated from Bavaria (by Ludwig Aurbacher ) and compares other versions: Stricker's Pfaffe Amis ; Eulenspiegel chap. 28; The Old English Song of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury ; Pauli's joke and seriousness ; Maasäbuch, chap. 126 (Helwig's Jewish Histories No. 39).
Ludwig Aurbacher published a different version than the one sent to the Brothers Grimm in the Little Book for Young People in 1834.
More puzzle solvers at Grimm: KHM 22 The Riddle , KHM 94 The Clever Farmer's Daughter , KHM 114 The Clever Little Tailor , KHM 134 The Six Servants , KHM 191 The Sea Bunny .
literature
- Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : Children's and Household Tales. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin not published in all editions . Ed .: Heinz Rölleke . 1st edition. Original notes, guarantees of origin, epilogue ( volume 3 ). Reclam, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , p. 248-249, 501 .
- Hans-Jörg Uther : Handbook to the "Children's and Household Tales" by the Brothers Grimm. Origin, effect, interpretation . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 , pp. 317-319 .
- Walter Anderson : Kaiser and Abbot. The Story of a Swank. Folklore Fellows' Communications 42, Helsinki, 1923, ISSN 0014-5815 , p. 29.
