The little ghost

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under The Little Ghost (disambiguation) .

Das kleine Gespenst is a children's book by Otfried Preußler from 1966 with illustrations by Franz Josef Tripp . It was published by Thienemann Verlag and has been translated into 44 languages. The work is one of the author's most famous books and is considered a classic of German children's and youth literature .

content

The little ghost lives at Eulenstein Castle. His best friend is an eagle owl named Schuhu . With a bunch of 13 keys, the little ghost can open whatever it wants without touching it simply by shaking it, be it doors, windows or chests. The little ghost's greatest wish is to see the world in daylight. But all attempts to stay awake after the end of the witching hour fail. One day, after the little ghost has given up hope, it actually does not wake up at midnight, but at noon. While exploring the castle in daylight, the little ghost is hit by a ray of sunshine and turns black while fleeing from a school class visiting the castle museum. The little ghost jumps into the castle fountain and enters the sewer system of the town of Eulenberg through a small door. Since it can no longer find its way to the castle in the tangle of canals, the ghost looks for every canal exit to see whether it leads back to the castle. As a result, it causes a lot of mischief among the residents of the city, who call it black strangers .

Finally, the little ghost turns the 325th anniversary of the siege of Eulenberg by the Swedes into a disaster. It attacks the actor who played the Swedish general Torstenson , believing that the general had returned after the ghost had driven him away because he was disturbed by the noise of the cannons. Finally, in desperation, the little ghost turns to the apothecary children for help. At night they question the owl Schuhu in the castle, who blames the wrongly placed town hall clock for the ghost's misfortune, since every ghost has to obey a certain clock. After the master watchmaker has set the town hall clock from noon to midnight, the little ghost wakes up again at night and can return to the castle. When it is hit by a moonbeam and turns white again, the little ghost's happiness is complete and it dances with joy on the castle battlements for the whole witching hour.

characters

The little ghost

The little ghost is a harmless night ghost. During the day it sleeps in an iron-studded oak chest in the attic of Eulenstein Castle. The little ghost doesn't really hurt anyone unless it's annoyed. It not only drove away the Swedish General Torstenson at the time because of the loud thunder of cannons, but also frightened the burgrave Georg-Kasimir so much that he jumped into the muddy moat because he had boasted that he would throw the ghost out of the window himself. The mayor of the city of Eulenberg was also terrified because he had claimed not to believe in ghosts. On the other hand, the little ghost is also very helpful, curious and friendly. She got her valuable earrings back for the Countess Palatine Genoveva Elisabeth Barbara, which a magpie had stolen from the windowsill and is sad that the inhabitants of Eulenberg are afraid of his black appearance.

Eagle Owl Schuhu

The eagle owl Schuhu is the little ghost's best friend and lives in a hollow oak on the castle hill. As an old and very wise bird, the eagle owl does not allow itself to be referred to and always has good advice for the little ghost. The two like to tell stories to pass the time. With his help, the little ghost manages to return home to Eulenstein Castle.

General Torsten Torstenson

The Swedish general once besieged the city and castle. Since the little ghost could no longer sleep during the day from the noise of the cannon, it grabbed the general in his tent by the collar and frightened him so much that he broke off the siege the next day and went headlong with his army. His painting hangs in the knight's hall of Eulenstein Castle and the little ghost often talks to him. With his valuable pocket alarm clock, which Torstenson had lost during the siege, the little ghost tries unsuccessfully to stay awake after the witching hour. At the 325th anniversary of the siege of Eulenberg, the general is portrayed by the brewery director Kumpfmüller and the ghost believes Torstenson has returned.

The pharmacist children

Eleven-year-old Herbert and his siblings, the nine-year-old twins Jutta and Günther, help the little ghost to return to the castle. When the little ghost was sleeping in the pharmacy's cellar, the children heard during a conversation that Torstenson's elevator with his army was just a staging. At night the three sneak to the hollow oak and ask the eagle owl Schuhu for advice. They can understand the eagle owl with the help of the little ghost's keychain. Thereupon they get the master watchmaker Digitle to set the town hall clock around and use the ghost to write a letter of apology to the mayor.

Emergence

When Otfried Preussler was a child, his grandmother Dora often told him stories. One of these stories was about a white woman . She announced births and deaths in the family of her descendants, but also often protected her home. Once the White Woman chased the dreaded Swedish General Torstenson out of her fathers castle. The white woman shooed him out of bed at midnight and gave him a lecture. This scene, when General Torstenson, dressed in a nightgown, begs the White Woman for mercy, is something that Preussler will remember forever. After he started writing, the story of the White Woman and the dreaded General Torstenson became a book. Except that the White Woman became a ghost.

expenditure

The original Thienemann edition also appeared with different title pages from other publishers, such as B. the German Book Federation, the Book Guild Gutenberg , at Bertelsmann Lesering (RM Book and Media) and its successor Club Bertelsmann .

The original drawings by Franz Josef Tripp were mostly used for international publications. But there were also editions whose title pages were provided with new illustrations, such as B. the Spanish version El pequeño fantasma or several Russian editions by Маленькое привидение ( Malenkoe Prividenie ). The Dutch version of Het spookje was completely redrawn by the illustrator Ingrid Schubert.

In 2013, on the occasion of Preussler's 90th birthday, Thienemann published two new editions of the little ghost. One edition, like Der kleine Wassermann , Die kleine Hexe and the three volumes by the robber Hotzenplotz , was first published in four colors as a book and e-book . The original black and white drawings were colored by the illustrator Mathias Weber. This was to fulfill a long-cherished wish of the author. Another new release bears the title Das kleine Gespenst - Das Buch zum Kinofilm . This edition was published together with the feature film Das kleine Gespenst , also on Preussler's birthday. However, apart from the design of the title page, it is not based on the film version and has the same content as the original edition. Otfried Preußler did not live to see the new editions of his books being published or the film premieres, as he died at the beginning of 2013.

For the 50th anniversary of the little ghost, Susanne Preußler-Bitsch, the author's daughter, published a picture book under the title Das kleine Gespenst - Tohuwabohu at Eulenstein Castle in 2016 . The idea came from Otfried Preußler. Daniel Napp carried out the illustrations.

Awards

• 1967: Shortlist for the German Youth Book Prize
• 1988: IBBY Honor List for the Greek translation

Adaptations

Audio media

In the 1970s, Phonogram released a very successful radio play version of the book on records and cassettes on their Philips and Fontana labels , which is still available today from the successor company Universal Music on the Karussell label . The voice of the little ghost speaks Christa Häussler , the narrator is Hans Baur . In 1996 the radio play was awarded gold . A new edition, released in 1984 by Karussell under the label Spectrum Junior, received platinum status in 1998. In 2000, a song album was created for this radio play under the title Hui-Huh! Little ghost! - Funny and sensual dreamlike ghost and ghost songs published. In 2008 there was a two-part new production of the radio play with Michael Habeck as the little ghost and Peter Striebeck as the narrator. The first part was awarded the gold record (Kids Award) in 2014.

Audio Verlag brought out another radio play by WDR in 2008 with Fritzi Haberlandt as the narrator, Jens Wawrczeck as the ghost and Friedhelm Ptok as the owl Schuhu. In 2011, the same publisher published the work as an audio book . Nora Tschirner will hold the unabridged reading .

Together with the real version from 2013, another radio play was created that takes the actors' original voices from the film.

In 2016, Audio Verlag released a radio play entitled Das kleine Gespenst - Tohuwabohu at Burg Eulenstein with Anna Thalbach as the little ghost, Susanne Preußler-Bitsch as the speaker and Santiago Ziesmer as the Uhu Schuhu. The audio CD is based on the picture book by Preußler and Susanne Preußler-Bitsch published in the same year.

Learning media

In 1996 Ursula Hänggi published a literature index for Otfried Preussler's children's book at Verlag an der Ruhr . The card index contains u. a. Worksheets, language and spelling games, and puzzles for language lessons.

In 1998 and 2005, two different language radio plays with the title Learning English with the Little Ghost were published under the label Karussell . The 2005 production received the Gold Record (Kids Award) in 2014. Two French versions were created in 2002 and 2005. In addition, an English language radio play was also published by Audio Verlag in 2005.

In 2000, Thienemann Verlag published a book entitled The Little Ghost - Learning English with the Little Ghost , in which at the end of each chapter, less common or difficult words are translated.

In 2004 Edizioni Lang published another learning book with an accompanying CD for learning the Italian language under the title The Little Ghost - Words and Pictures .

In 2008 a school edition was published as a paperback. In the same year Björn Bauch published accompanying materials for the second and third grades in the original school script for this issue under the title Das kleine Gespenst - Commentary and templates for teaching .

Film adaptations

In 1969 the little ghost was first released for television as a two-part marionette and puppet film. Participating puppeteers were Rudolf Fischer and Albrecht Roser , who also directed.

The Soviet television published in 1987 under the direction of Anatoly Slyassky the live action spirit of Eulenberg ( Russian : Привидение из города Ойленберга , transliteration : Privideniye iz goroda Oylenberga ), whose plot is based on Preußler work. Anatoly Ravikovitch can be seen in the role of the ghost.

In 1992, the German animator Curt Linda produced a cartoon under the title Das kleine Gespenst with the voices of Elfriede Kuzmany as the little ghost and Gustl Weishappel as the eagle owl.

In 2013 Universum Film released the feature film Das kleine Gespenst , directed by Alain Gsponer . The voice of the computer-animated little ghost speaks Anna Thalbach , that of the eagle owl Schuhu Wolfgang Hess . Uwe Ochsenknecht can be seen in a double role as Mayor and General Torstenson, Herbert Knaup plays the master watchmaker Digitle.

Games

In the 1970s, the Berliner Spielkarten GmbH published a quartet - card game with motifs of Preußler book.

Kai Haferkamp brought out a board game called Das kleine Gespenst at Kosmos-Verlag . The memory and skill game was voted children's game of the year 2005. In 2010 Haferkamp started a search game with the title Das kleine Gespenst - Mitbringsel .

In 2016, Haferkamp released three more games for the toy company Haba . One game is a puzzle with three motifs based on Preussler's book, and he also brought out a memory game entitled The Little Ghost - Race to Eulenstein Castle . The third game is a three-dimensionally expandable memory game and is entitled The Little Ghost - Spook at Eulenstein Castle .

theatre

Otfried Preußler also wrote a stage version for Das kleine Gespenst . The world premiere was in 1989 at Theater Rosenheim. The performance rights have been granted by the Verlag für Kindertheater since 1990 . Further productions took place u. a. from the Augsburger Puppenkiste and Gerhards Marionettentheater .

Yevgeny Sitochin staged a children's opera based on Preussler's book. The world premiere was in 2011 at the Graz Opera House . Walther Soyka composed the music for it, the libretto came from Bernhard Studlar . The Wiener Taschenoper was responsible for the production in cooperation with the Graz Opera.

literature

• Otfried Preußler, Franz Josef Tripp (Illustrator): Das kleine Gespenst , 52nd edition, Thienemann, Stuttgart / Vienna 2011 (first edition 1966), ISBN 978-3-522-11080-8

Web links

• The little ghost on the author's website
• The little ghost as a reading sample from Thienemann-Verlag (PDF, 1.59 MB, 14 pages)
• Review of Das kleine Gespenst on KinderundJugendmedien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otfried Preußler, Susanne Preußler-Bitsch, Daniel Napp: Das kleine Gespenst - Tohuwabohu at Burg Eulenstein , Thienemann, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3522458092
2. ^ Wilhelm Kühlmann : Killy Literature Lexicon - Authors and Works of the German-Speaking Cultural Area , Volume 9, Verlag Walter de Gruyter , Berlin 2010, p. 333, ISBN 978-3-11-022044-5
3. ^ Bettina Hurrelmann : Classics of children's and youth literature , Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 1995, p. 438, ISBN 978-3596126682
4. ↑ Information on the creation ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the author's website  
5. ^ Otfried Preußler, Ingrid Schubert (illustrations), Lidi Luursema (translation): Het spookje , Verlag Lemniscaat, Uitgeverij, Rotterdam 1995, ISBN 978-9060693797
6. ^ The Little Ghost ( Memento from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
7. ^ Otfried Preußler: Das kleine Gespenst - Das Buch zum Kinofilm , Thienemann-Esslinger Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3522183512
8. ↑ Information on the picture book from Thienemann-Esslinger-Verlag
9. ↑ www.karussell.de ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ^ Otfried Preußler: Das kleine Gespenst , radio play of the WDR; Editing: Ingeborg Tröndle, director: Annette Kurth. Der Audio Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89813-772-0 (2 CDs, 116 minutes)
11. ↑ Otfried Preußler: Das kleine Gespenst , unabridged reading with Nora Tschirner, Der Audio Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86231-092-0 (2 CDs, 111 minutes)
12. ↑ Ursula Hänggi: Das kleine Gespenst - Literature card index for the children's book by Otfried Preußler , Verlag an der Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr 1996, ISBN 978-3860722688
13. ↑ Otfried Preußler, Isabella Brugnerotto: The Little Ghost - Words and Pictures , Edizioni Lang, Milan 2004, ISBN 978-8842461869
14. ^ Otfried Preußler, Franz Josef Tripp (illustrator), Björn Bauch (ed.): Das kleine Gespenst, school edition , Thienemann, Stuttgart / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-522-17937-9
15. ↑ swr-media.de: Das kleine Gespenst ( Memento from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
16. ↑ kinopoisk.ru - Spirit of Eulenberg (Russian)
17. ↑ The little ghost on Filmportal.de
18. ↑ Notes on the play on the author's website
19. ↑ www.augsburger-puppenkiste.de
20. ↑ Accompanying material for the children's opera ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF, 116 kB, 16 pages)