The blacksmith from Jüterbog

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The blacksmith of Jüterbog is a folk tale that the writer , librarian and archivist Ludwig Bechstein published in his German fairy tale book in 1845 . It is about a blacksmith who gambled away his salvation by choosing the wrong three wishes . The Brothers Grimm repeated it in their comment on the similar fairy tale De Spielhansl . Bechstein's fairy tale The Three Wishes alludes to it and also belongs to the narrative type “ Blacksmith and Devil ”.

Location and time

Dam gate in Jueterbog , 15th century

The setting of the fairy tale is the Brandenburg town of Jüterbog , which is considered the capital of the Lower Fläming and played an important role in the Reformation . The story dates back to the 12th century, when Albrecht the Bear founded the Mark Brandenburg in 1157 and initiated the expansion of the German state to the east. During this time, German and mostly Flemish settlers came to the area named after them and also to the soon-to-be Magdeburg Jüterbog and took over the Slavic settlement that already existed there . The Jüterbog craft could quickly develop a good reputation.

For Oskar Schwebel in his description of the ridge in 1881, the now almost forgotten story was still of great importance and its cunning main character was one of the most popular characters in German fairy tales. Schwebel, however, wrongly attributed the story to the Brothers Grimm . Schwebel: [...] who doesn't know him, the "Smith von Jüterbogk", [...]. Who doesn't know how to hold death on the apple tree and how to blue the devil in his coal sack [...]?

Brief description

The blacksmith is described as extremely cunning and skillful. As Barbarossa's imperial quartermaster, he produced a tincture that made armor and armor impenetrable.

Depiction of Barbarossa at the Kyffhäuser Monument

When his guardian spirit granted him three wishes and, in view of the first two foolish wishes, warned him: Don't forget the best , the blacksmith chose an always full bottle of schnapps last. The contents of the bottle turned out to be the elixir of life and, together with the silver that the disguised guardian spirit had left as thanks for the free inn and the horseshoe fitting of his donkey, gave him a long and prosperous life. The fulfillment of the first two wishes also enabled him to first reject death and then the devil when they knocked on his door. Much later, and tired from a long life, he sought redemption in heaven , which however refused to accept him: lift yourself away, heaven remains closed to you; you forgot to ask for the best: bliss . Even hell remained closed to him, since the devil, who had been beaten up on the anvil , was still a good deal afraid of him.

Thereupon the blacksmith went down to the Emperor Friedrich in the Kyffhäuser and waited there with the red beard and his entourage for the redemption, which according to legend will come on the day when there are no more ravens flying around the mountain and an old, withered dead pear tree fails again. On this day the emperor climbs out of the mountain and fights the great liberation battle, after which everyone (is allowed to) go to eternal rest.

literature

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