The accident in Rieselwang

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Rosegger in 1893

The disaster in Rieselwang is a story by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger , which appeared in January 1895 (19th year, issue 4) of the Graz Heimgarten under the pseudonym Hans Malser.

content

In Rieselwang in the Alps, the civil servant Hans Malser owns a summer house. Located on a hill, the building is protected by a rock wall. Tied to the city by office, Malser can rarely visit his wife Natalie, the three children and their mother there in summer. At the same time, of all times, when Malser heard rumors that the storms in the Rieselwanger area had been terrible, his wife dispatched him: “Come on, if at all possible this night! Natalie. "

So it was a misfortune! Malser takes the next train. The first stop is in the village of Kalten. Those waiting in the Kalten station restaurant have a bottle of Bordeaux and promptly misses the connecting train while drinking alcohol. For an excessively large amount of money, he wins a Kaltener Kutscher in the middle of the night who wants to take him to Rieselwang until dawn. On the way, a toll gate secured with a lock blocks the way. The Mautner cannot be found. The travelers get an ax and smash the wooden barrier . On the onward journey the Mautner appears, is threatened by the angry Malser in response to his toll demand and searches for the distance. It goes forward. The Altbach waterfalls roar in the dark and soon they come into view as three giant silver chains out of the dark. Then the driver pulls his two horses back. White water washed away the bridge. A tremendous flow of rubble crosses the path. The water trickles between the stones. The coachman relaxes, has to leave the carriage and goes back with the horses. Malser covers the rest of the “path” in a two-hour march. At dawn he sees his summer house in the distance on the other side of the river. It still stands! However, no trace of the four- yoke wooden bridge at his feet. Desperate, Malser throws himself into the raging floods and is washed away in no time.

The family man wakes up in his summer house. The rescuers from home surround his sick bed. They had pulled him out of the water with poker hooks. Malser's children ask: "Dad, are you all right?" He asks about Natalie.

That woman took the train to see him in town last night. The almost drowned man finally realizes: Natalie had saved the first word, an “I”, in her dispatch.

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The accident in Rieselwang. An experience, told by Hans Malser , Heimgarten , 19th year, January 1895, pp. 300–306