The game killer

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"The Deerslayer", title of the original 1841 edition

The game killer , English original title The Deerslayer, or The First War Path , is an adventure novel published in 1841 by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). The Deerslayer appeared as the last band of the five-part Lederstrumpf - cycle . In the chronological plot of the series, the novel forms the first volume. The first two German-language editions of the novel were also published in 1841, translated by Gustav Pfizer and Otto von Czarnowski. Pfizer chose Der Wildtöter as the book title . Von Czarnowski decided on The Deer Slayer .

The Wildslayer (Soviet postage stamp in honor of J. F. Cooper's 200th birthday, 1989)

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In the 1740s, two rangers, Henry March and Natty Bumppo, known as deer, come to Lake Otsego in New York State . March comes to visit the former seaman Tom Hutter, who lives in a fortified stilt house with his daughters Judith and Hetty . Bumppo wants to meet his friend, the Indian chief Chingachgook, at the lake. He suspects that his fiancée Wah-ta! -Wah was kidnapped by a nearby Mingo tribe.

March and Bumppo row a canoe to Hutter's log cabin Biberburg . Since nobody is at home, the two trappers suspect the residents on the houseboat Arche . When they find the boat in a bay, they can just prevent an attack by the Indians on the family. The group sails together to the log cabin. From there, the men want to bring two canoes hidden on the bank to safety from the Indians. They discover a camp of the Indians. March and Hutter decide to scalp the mingos in order to get a bounty from the governor .

Wildslayer refuses to participate because he has lived with the Delawares since he was ten years old. Even his appeal to Christian values ​​does not dissuade March and Hutter from their plan. Game killer agrees to wait with the boats on the bank. Hutter and March are discovered by the Indians and taken prisoner. Bumppo shoots an attacker in self-defense.

Back at the log cabin, Deer and the women decide to wait for Chingachgook to arrive. Hetty tries to free her father on her own. She rows to the bank and meets Wah-ta! -Wah there, which leads her into the camp. Hetty has taken a Bible and asks Chief Rivenoak to release the prisoners for reasons of charity . He agrees to exchange the men for a ransom. Hetty rows back with an Indian; they agree to release the prisoners against a few ivory chess pieces .

The group decides to sail into the middle of the lake with the houseboat and wait for further developments. The following night, Wildslayer and Chingachgook sneak into the Mingo camp. They manage to free Wah-ta! -Wah, but Bumppo is captured. When the houseboat docks at the Biberburg , Hutter is attacked by a couple of Hurons who are hiding in the log cabin. The others in the group can escape with the houseboat.

Henry March sets out in the canoe to get help at the fort on the Mohawk . After the Indians leave the log cabin, the ark sails back there. There the group finds the seriously injured Tom Hutter. Shortly before his death, he confesses to Judith and Hetty that he is not their biological father, but that he married their widowed mother. In letters they find evidence that Hutter used to be a pirate and that his real name was Thomas Hovey.

In the meantime, Rivenoak presses the killer to join his tribe. When the latter refuses this request several times, the chief announces that Bumppo is to die on the torture stake the next day . March managed to get help at the fort. Together with Chingachgook, the soldiers attack the camp. Wildslayer can be freed, but Hetty is fatally injured in the battle. Judith decides to leave Lake Otsego and moves to live with relatives on the east coast . March joins the English troops. Deer goes back to the Delaware with Chingachgook and Wah-ta! -Wah.

15 years later, Wildköter, Chingachgook and his son Uncas come to Lake Otsego again. Wah-ta! -Wah died when Unca was born. Bumppo and the two Indians look at the remains of the beaver castle . Inside, the ranger discovers Judith's hair bow. He takes it and wraps it on the barrel of his rifle.

literature

expenditure

  • The game killer . Holzinger, 4th edition, 2016, new edition of the translation by Gustav Pfizer (1842)
  • The game killer . Hofenberg, 2nd edition, 2016, new edition of the translation by Gustav Pfizer (1842)
  • Wild killer , newly translated by Günter Löffler. New Life Publishing House, Berlin 1976
  • The game killer . Insel-Taschenbuch 179, 1st edition, revised translation by E. Kolb u. a. by Rudolf Drescher, illustrations by DE Darley, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-458-01879-4

Web links

Commons : The Deerslayer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files