The blacksmith and the devil
The blacksmith and the devil (original spelling: Der Schmidt and the devil ) is a fairy tale ( ATU 330). In the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm, it was only in the first edition of 1812 in place 81 (KHM 81a).
content
When a lively and militant blacksmith is broke and wants to hang himself in the forest, the devil offers him endless wealth. In return, the blacksmith should belong to the devil after ten years. The blacksmith accepts and receives an additional sack from the devil from which no one can escape.
When the devil wants to pick up the blacksmith after ten years, he demands that the devil - as proof of identity as at the first meeting - first turn into a fir tree and then into a mouse. The blacksmith puts the mouse in the sack and beats the transformed devil until he agrees to cancel the pact.
Now the blacksmith lives unmolested, and when he dies of natural causes, he has a hammer and two nails put in the coffin with him. When he is not allowed into heaven or hell, he makes a noise until two little devils look out of hell. He nailed these to the gate with his nails. The devil then causes the blacksmith to be let into heaven.
origin
The Brothers Grimm heard the Schwankmärchen on December 1, 1812 from Marie Hassenpflug in Kassel. From the second edition onwards, it was replaced by Brother Lustig as No. 81 and was retained along with many other variants in the annotation text to No. 82 De Spielhansl . Both are thematically similar. To outsmart the devil by making big and small, cf. also No. 99 The spirit in the glass .
literature
- Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : Children's and Household Tales. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin not published in all editions . Ed .: Heinz Rölleke . 1st edition. Original notes, guarantees of origin, epilogue ( volume 3 ). Reclam, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , p. 148-149, 478 .
- Royal Society: Comparative phylogenetic analyzes uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/1/150645
