The white calf
The white calf is a fairy tale . It is included in the first place in the Irish fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm , which they translated from Fairy legends and traditions of the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker in 1825 .
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Elves live on a mountain in Tipperary . Her queen drives out one shepherd after the other, the flock is shrinking. The desperate tenant meets Lorenz Hulahan on the highway. He whistles to the elf for her tricks. She pretends to be a tame white calf, but he jumps on her back and lets himself be carried across the River Shannon and back with one jump . As a reward for his fearlessness, he is allowed to watch over his life in peace, whistle and drink at his master's expense. Otherwise he has no wish.
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According to Grimm: The mountain is called Knocksheogowna in Irish , which means "the mountain of the elf calf". On the character of the hero cf. KHM 4 fairy tales of one who set out to learn to fear .
Cf. also KHM 101 The Bearskin on the hero's saying: "I should be a real bearskin".
literature
- Irish fairy tales . In the broadcast by the Brothers Grimm. 1st edition. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1987, ISBN 978-3-458-32688-5 , p. 104-108, 249 (the text follows the edition: Irische Elfenmärchen . Translated by the Brothers Grimm. Friedrich Fleischer, Leipzig 1826. Orthography and punctuation have been slightly normalized).