The rising of the sun
The rising of the sun. Hausmärchen is a fairy tale collection by Paul Scheerbart . It contains four art fairy tales by Scheerbart and was published in 1902 by JCC Bruns in Minden . Later editions were published in 1984 by Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag (with illustrations by Horst Hussel ) and in 1990 in the sixth volume of the Scheerbart Complete Edition in Edition Phantasia .
content
World shine. A sun fairy tale
The ten-year-old boy Adam passes an inn called “Zur Sonne”, a door to the upper floor of the house is labeled “Aufstieg zur Sonne”. The naive boy thinks he can really get to the sun through this door. He asks a poet dressed in black, whom Adam takes to be the devil, to lead him up. After a fantastic ascent through the clouds, Adam actually reaches the sun: It is a large, magnificent palace in which festivals are celebrated every day and the Sun King and his court live a splendid life. Adam would like to stay there, but has to promise the king never to return. However, when he looks down at the earth through an opera glass, he notices what worries his parents are about him. He wants to go back and floats down in a balloon blindfolded. He wakes up in his bed, his parents and a doctor are worried about him - the trip to the sun was just the feverish dream of a sick child. He recovers, but when, while taking a walk with his father, he sees the old inn "Zur Sonne" being torn down and shortly afterwards he encounters the poet / devil again, he suffers a relapse and dies soon after.
Sea jellyfish. A maritime tale
The dwarf Bellermann lives with his son Kix in a house at the bottom of the sea. Bellermann has to travel to a congress with his friend, the dwarf Bullermann. So that Kix is safe at home for as long as possible, he calls up the poisonous sea jellyfish to repel enemies. But they are so beautiful, shiny and colorful that Kix goes out in a diving suit despite his father's warning. When Bellermann returns and does not find Kix in the house, he is frightened, but then discovers him in the water. Kix returns to the house and Bellermann "pressed him so tightly to his chest that he screamed".
The old rock castle. An animal fairy tale
King Axular lives in the Indian jungle and spends so much time hunting that he has killed countless animals and all animals are afraid of him. Axular has two children, Buxo and Makka, who are very good with animals and are very much loved by their father. In the “Rock Palace” the animals advise how Axular can be punished for his cruelty and kidnap the children. When the General Assembly of Animals debated what to do with the children, Buxo asked that he and his sister be kept alive because they were always kind to the animals. They want to stay with the animals in the rock palace, and the king, who has not killed an animal since they were kidnapped, is punished enough. So it is decided, and the children grow up as Prince and Princess of the Animals.
The new machine. A storm tale
At the request of a fairy godmother, the old dwarf Napari builds a machine to make miraculous pills. These pills are supposed to calm people down so that they can finally enjoy their lives and thus save humanity. The machine must be ready by the end of the year. But it is two days before New Year's Eve, and because a storm is raging outside, Napari cannot concentrate on his work. Napari's wife Knubbel tries to calm him down and warns that the people would not have deserved this anyway. On New Year's Eve, Napari's furious cut the machine short and sweet. The disappointed fairy says that people will have to wait many years for their rescue again. The storm has finally passed and Napari and Knubbel are enjoying their quiet New Year's Eve.
style
A common feature of the four stories is their very colorful, embellishing narrative style. The story Sonnenglanz differs from the others on the one hand by its sad ending, on the other hand by the fact that the journey to the sun described is ultimately "exposed" as a feverish dream and thus tied back to the real world. In the other stories, however, pure fantasy worlds are described that are populated with typical fairy tale characters such as dwarfs, fairies and talking animals.