The wren

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The wren is an animal tale ( ATU 221). It is in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm from the 4th edition from 1840 at position 171 (KHM 171) and is based on a version by Johann Jakob Nathanael Mussäus in the yearbook of the Association for Mekleburg History and Archeology from 1840.

content

In the old days everything still makes sounds that can be understood. The birds, whose language you understand, want to choose a king. Only the lapwing wants to stay free ( “Where ick? Where ick?” ) And retreats into the swamps. The birds gather, only the hen doesn't know anything about it. They decide, despite a frog's misgivings, that the king who can fly highest will become the king. All rise, the eagle at the highest. When he sees that no one can come with him, he comes down again, but then a small, nameless bird rises from his breast plumage ( "King bün ick! King bün ick!" ). The others do not recognize the ruse. He should be the king who could fall deepest into the earth. The bird is looking for a mouse hole. You want to starve him and put the owl in front of it. She alternately wakes up with one eye, but then forgets to open one and he escapes. Since then, birds have hated the owl and they hate the mice, and the wren hugs fences.

origin

Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde , 1909
Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde , 1909

Wilhelm Grimm combined The King's Choice among the Birds by Mussäus with a version by Karl Goedekes , which has also survived . Narrative researcher Hans-Jörg Uther praises the way he takes into account the structure of the plot and yet connects and illustrates motifs and reinforces onomatopoeic traits. Grimm's note mentions further evidence going back to Pliny ' Naturalis historia 10,74,203 and Aristotle 's Historia animalium 9,11-14, in the Middle Ages according to " Wolfs Zeitschrift 1, 2" in Barachja Nikdani , furthermore Aurbacher's "Büchlein für die Jugend (1834) P. 242–248 "," von Halling in Mones Anzeiger 1835. P. 313 ", Kuhns " Sagen und Märchen P. 293. 294 ", Firmenich " in the dialect of the principality Calenberg 1, 186 ", Pröhle " in the children's fairy tales No. 64 ”, Woestes folk traditions from the county of Mark “ S. 93 ”, at the beginning also“ the New Prussian Provincial Papers 1, 436 follow. ”You notice how a little bird wins with cunning, as with Koelle in Africa over the elephant.

In fact, the material is richly documented, of which Jacob Grimm showed knowledge as early as 1834 in Reinhart Fuchs and Wilhelm 1853 with a further variant in the magazine for German mythology . A king's choice of animals usually organize smaller animals out of displeasure with stronger or human-like desire for order, the cunning wins. AaTh 221 The Election of Birdking is a three-episode full form with soaring (AaTh 221 A), traps (AaTh 221 B) and guard owl only recently, otherwise documented since ancient times, for example in Aesop's fables, always as an etiological animal story to explain the name of the wren . He especially excels as a trickster . The wren is called in Greek "Basileus" (king) or "Basiliskos" (little king), also in Japan "king of the birds".

The wren also wins in KHM 102 The wren and the bear . KHM 172 Die Scholle , the hoopoe mentioned in the text KHM 173 bittern and hoopoe also shows a king's choice of animals . The fact that birds attack owls when they see them during the day also occurs in KHM 174 The Owl . See Bechstein's Vom Hasen und dem Elefantenkönig .

literature

  • Brothers Grimm: Children's and Household Tales. With the original notes of the Brothers Grimm. Volume 3: Original notes, guarantees of origin, epilogue (= Universal Library 3193). With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin, not published in all editions, published by Heinz Rölleke . Reprint, revised and bibliographically supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , pp. 258-259, 507.
  • Manfred Eikelmann: The king's choice of animals. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales . Volume 8: Clergy - Maggio. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1996, ISBN 3-11-014339-9 , pp. 181-186.
  • Heinz Rölleke: Grimm's fairy tales and their sources. The literary models of Grimm's fairy tales are presented synoptically and commented (= literature series literary studies. Vol. 35). 2nd, improved edition. WVT, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier 2004, ISBN 3-88476-717-8 , pp. 320–327, 573.
  • Hans-Jörg Uther: Handbook to the children's and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 , pp. 353-357.

Web links

Wikisource: The Wren  - Sources and Full Texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Rölleke (Ed.): Fairy tales from the estate of the Brothers Grimm (= series of literature studies. Vol. 6). 5th, improved and supplemented edition. WVT, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier 2001, ISBN 3-88476-471-3 , pp. 69-70, 112.
  2. ↑ Hans-Jörg Uther: Handbook on the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm. de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 , pp. 353-357.
  3. ↑ Manfred Eikelmann: King's Choice of Animals. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 8. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1996, pp. 181-186.
  4. ↑ https://www.nabu.de/tiere-und- Pflanzen/aktion-und-projekte/vogel-des-jahres/2004-zaunkoenig/ 02027.html