The shadow
The shadow (Danish: Skyggen ) is an art fairy tale by the Danish poet and writer Hans Christian Andersen . The fairy tale was first published in 1847.
content
Once a learned man from the northern regions of Europe went on a journey south. One night he was sitting on the balcony of his house while the fire behind him cast its shadow on the balcony of the house opposite. As he sat there, the man watched with amusement how his shadow copied his every move, as if he were actually sitting on the other balcony. When he finally got tired and went to sleep, he imagined the shadows as he did in the house across the street.
The next morning, however, the man discovered with dismay that he had really lost his shadow overnight. However, when a new shadow grew from the tips of his toes, he thought no more about it and returned to his Nordic homeland to write again.
Several years passed until one night a man knocked on his door. To his surprise, it was his shadow that he had lost years ago in the south. This shadow now stood in his front door with an almost perfectly human appearance. Amazed by his sudden reappearance, the learned man invited him into his house. Both sat by the fireplace, where the shadow told the man how he had become a man himself.
The learned man was a calm and gentle person. His main interests lay in the good, the true and the beautiful. These were the subjects he often wrote about but which nobody else seemed to care about. The shadow told his master that he did not understand the world, but that even in the house opposite, where the poetry lived, he had seen the true world, with its wickedness and the bad people in it.
After a few years, the writer became seriously ill. His former shadow suggested a trip to a spa at his own expense, but on the condition that the former shadow himself was allowed to act as the master, while the writer had to pretend he was the shadow. As absurd as this suggestion sounded, in the end the learned man accepted it. They went traveling together and the shadow played the Lord. In the health resort, the shadow met a beautiful princess. After both talking and dancing together for a night, the princess fell in love with the shadows.
Shortly before the wedding was due, the shadow offered his former master a high position in the palace, on the condition that he would now finally become his own shadow. The writer immediately refused and threatened to tell the princess everything, but the shadow had him arrested. Feigning his dismay, he met the princess and told her:
In the original it says:
- "Jeg har oplevet the worst, who can opleves!" say Skyggen, "tænk Dig - yes, saadan en stakkels Skyggehjerne kan ikke holde meget ud! - Tænk Dig, min Skygge er blevet gal, han troer at han er Mennesket og at jeg - tænk dig bare, - at any he hans Skygge! "
- "Det he frygteligt!" say Prindsessen, "han he dog spærret inde?" "Det he han! Anyway he's afraid han commer sig aldrig."
- "Stakkel's Skygge!" say Prindsessen, "han he meget ulykkelig; det he en sand Velgjerning at frie ham fra den Smule Liv han har, og. Naar Any rigtig tænker over det, saa troer Any det bliver nødvendigt at det bliver gjort af med ham i al Stilhed! "
In German :
- “I have experienced the most horrific thing that can be experienced!” Said the shadow, “think to yourself - yes, such a poor shadow brain cannot take much! - think to yourself, my shadow has gone crazy. He thinks he is the person and I - just think - I would be his shadow! "
- “That's terrible,” said the princess, “isn't he locked up?”
- "That's him! I'm afraid he'll never regain his senses. "
- “Poor shadow!” Said the princess, “he is very unhappy. It would be a real boon to rid him of what little life he has. If I think about it correctly, I think it will be necessary to deal with him in silence. "
By the time the shadow and princess married later that night, the learned man was already dead.
interpretation
The shadow is an example of Andersen's rather gloomy fairy tale. The story portrays the writer as a moral person who deals with the good and the true in the world. But the people around him didn't seem that interested. His shadow even claims that the writer does not see the world as it really is.
The shadow claims to have seen the world and everything in it, but it has no soul of its own. He longs for his own shadow and later gets his old man to switch roles on their journey. When the learned man finally realizes how deep his shadow has sunk, it is already too late.
The ending is especially bleak for a fairy tale, as Andersen suggests that it is not always good that triumphs and that evil does indeed wield great power over what is good and just.
Movie
- The shadow or Stín fairy tale film directed by Ludvík Ráza , Czech Republic 1998
