The Swedish rider

The Swedish Rider is a novel by Leo Perutz published in 1936. It is about a story of confusion, set in Silesia at the beginning of the 18th century.

The preliminary report of the book mentions in a few pages the life of Maria Christine von Blohme, who had a father whom she only calls "the Swedish rider". When she was still a child, he was officially killed as a highly decorated soldier in the army of King Charles XII of Sweden . 1709 in the Battle of Poltava . In fact, for reasons unknown to her, he had always secretly visited her at night in the last months of his life. Why that was so, and how things were connected, remained forever hidden from her. The preliminary report ends with the words: “The story of the 'Swedish rider' should now be told. It's the story of two men. "

In the following four chapters “The Thief”, “The Robber of God”, “The Swedish Horseman”, “The Nameless”, the lives of these two men are presented - one in great detail, the other briefly outlined.

Leo Perutz's novel takes place at the end of the baroque period . The world still shows the scars of the Thirty Years' War , customs are rough. The language adapts to this time, is peppered with sloppy phrases, old words and French sprinkles. They open up a panorama on the background of which the figures develop. In addition to the real people, magic spells keep their validity, a dead miller appears as a mediator between heaven and hell, and in the middle of the book the protagonist has the vision of a heavenly judgment.

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Part one: the thief

In the winter of 1701, a thief and a Swedish aristocrat meet when they accidentally spend the night in the same barn. They become friends and want to continue on their way through the country together. The thief, whose name the reader never learns, comes from Pomerania and was employed as a servant by a Swedish landlord before he became an outlaw.

After the Thirty Years War, hardship and misery still prevail in the country. Outlaws are mercilessly hunted down by dragoons . The thief wants to seek refuge in a diocese and to be safe from lynching by working in the smelting furnaces and quarries there. He has worked there before and is therefore familiar with the hard day's work that is carried out under the supervision of a bishop who, because of his severity and heartlessness, is only known in the country as "the devil's ambassador ". The thief, however, fears for his life, which is threatened by the dragoons roaming the country, and sees this "limbo" as his only chance of survival, since he would be provided with food and drink there.

The Swede is Christian von Tornefeld. He deserted from the army because he no longer wanted to serve "foreign masters". He comes from an old family of officers, feels like a Swede at heart (his father was Swede and lost an arm in the assault on Saverne ) and would now like to join the troops of the Swedish King, Charles XII, who he admires. because he sees his calling in it:

“[…] We Swedish nobles, we were born for war, we are not suitable for driving grain to a farmer and sweeping the stable […] The Tornefelds have always been soldiers, why should I lie behind the stove. My grandfather, the colonel, commanded the blue regiment near Lützen, stood next to his king, Gustav Adolf, and covered him with his body when he fell from his horse. And my father has fought in eleven battles and skirmishes […] ”.

Despite his arrogant speech, Christian is cowardly, unlike the thief, and finds it difficult to endure the hardships of fleeing. When he loses courage and wants to stay in the snow, it is the thief who forces him to move on, although Christian's behavior is not only endangering his own life, but also the life of the thief.

The two arrive at a mill that is said to be visited by the ghost of its miller every few years. This is said to have hanged himself ten years ago because the bishop's bailiff seized all of his property. Every year when he gets up from his grave, he starts the mill to pay off his debt to the bishop. The thief notices that the mill wheel is running and smoke is rising from the chimney.

However, he does not believe in the haunted story known to him, but suspects that the mill has a new owner. In fact, the two men find a table inside. Famished, the two start eating and drinking. Christian thus takes up new courage and swings grandiose speeches about the dazzling future, which in his opinion, due to the possession of an Arcanum , in the Swedish army of Charles XII. is imminent.

The thief begins to envy the young man for his future prospects, but secretly despises him for the weakness he has shown outside in the cold winter night. He begins to feel the need to see the mysterious Arcanum once. But his taunts, which on the Swedes and Karl XII. aim only get Christian to attack the thief with a beer mug. The thief pulls out the bread knife and threatens to stab Christian if he doesn't show him the Arcanum.

In this precarious situation, the two men suddenly notice the presence of a third person in the mill: a man with leather, yellow and wrinkled skin, a crooked mouth and eyes like " hollow nutshells " sits on the bench and watches them. He wears a red doublet and a wide wagoner's hat with feathers and rough riding boots . Although Christian, unlike the thief, does not know the legend of the miller, he too is shocked by the eerie appearance, but begins to speak to the old man.

Meanwhile, the thief is quite sure that he has the ghost of the dead miller in front of him and tries a few protective spells to protect himself from the ghost. Since these don't work, the thief only stares at the old man in horror. The miller speaks to him about it and the thief confronts him with his knowledge and describes the hell from which he believes the miller has come, so that the old man believes he is talking about the bishop's smelting and lime kilns. The old man denies his acceptance and the thief tells him about the legend.

The old man confirms that he is that miller, but reports that when he tried to hang himself ten years ago, he was found in time by the bailiff and the servants of the episcopal monastery. He was cut off the rope and he recovered completely after a bloodletting by a field shear. Now he has been hired as a carter for the bishop and is traveling all over Europe for him. However, the superstitious thief thinks his words are a lie and never ceases to believe that the bishop's carter is not a man of flesh and blood but the spirit of the dead miller.

The miller asks the thief and Christian about their plans. He ridiculed Christian for his desire to join the Swedish army and criticized the war life in the strongest possible terms. He thinks it is pointless to die in war: “ You fool! [...] You are a child of death if you are not helped. Sixteen bullets are for a pound of lead, and one of them has already been cast for you. Now all fools want to join the Swedish army, and when they are there they will scream woe upon woe ”. He tells the thief that if the two of them pay for the food they ate, he will take him to the furnace.

Since the two do not even have a cruiser, Christian von Tornefeld sends the thief to the nearby estate of his cousin and godfather Christian Heinrich Erasmus von Krechwitz to get money with which they can compensate the carter. On the one hand Christian doesn't want to face his relatives in his bad physical condition, on the other hand he doesn't dare to go out alone. The rich cousin is supposed to give the thief, who after some hesitation agrees to this friendship service, also clothes for Christian so that he can easily cross the Polish border and join the army of the Swedish king. So that the thief can prove that he was sent by Christian, the Swede gives him his silver coat of arms ring.

When the thief arrives at Christian's cousin's estate, he notices to his annoyance that the fields and the cattle on Kleinroop are in a miserable condition and he also witnesses the fraudulent machinations of the rent manager employed there.

His curiosity is aroused and instead of introducing himself directly to the landlords and bringing his concerns forward, he secretly tries to find out more about the estate and its inhabitants in the manner of the thieves. He listens and learns that the rulers have already moved jewelry and other valuables to settle their debts. When a couple of dragoons, who, to the astonishment of the thief, are on the estate of Maria Agnetas, notice him, he hides in the bedroom of the manor house for fear of being recognized as an outlaw.

He thinks he is alone and is terrified when he realizes that there is a couple in bed. The thief believes that these must be Christian's cousin and his wife. The two do not notice him and the thief hesitates to speak to them in their marriage bed. So he desperately thinks back and forth as to how best to bring the Swede's concerns to the fore and at the same time draw attention to the grievances on his estate that keep him going. Thereby he becomes a witness of the conversation between the "married couple".

The woman accuses the man that his love for her has already cooled down considerably and that he is no longer showering her with gifts as he used to. The man is relatively indifferent and the two tease each other. The thief who listens has to giggle at a remark the woman hears.

He is discovered and, to his horror, has to discover that the man is not Herr von Krechwitz, but of all things Dragoon Captain Hans-Georg Lilgenau, who is staying on the estate (the gentry rents rooms due to their debts), who has just met for a rendezvous with Margret, the maid of the manor.

This small and persistent man is known far and wide by the nickname Malefizbaron, because “he had made it his business [with the permission of Emperor Leopold I] to destroy the band of robbers who pillaged Silesia and Bohemia [in the political turmoil] destroy". The thief is frightened to death because he has already heard a lot about the cruelty and mercilessness of the maleficent baron, who usually gives those captured by him a brand, an L for Lilgenau, so that the world recognizes them as criminals for a lifetime:

"He [the Maleficent Baron] ceaselessly roamed the country with his dragoons, and all who lived on foreign property, the vagrants and rascals, the highwaymen and the market thieves, the big and the little evildoers - they all feared him like Satan himself . The executioner he carried with him never had enough rope and his mercy was: the branding on the forehead, and afterwards lifelong bondage on the galleys ”. Now the reader also learns that the thief wanted to take refuge in the bishop's work hell because of the Maleficent Baron and his men.

The Maleficent Baron calls his dragoons there. The thief says he wants to speak to the rulers of the estate. However, since the maid does not know him, the Maleficent baron asks one of his dragoons named Lienhard, who has joined the robber band of the black Ibitz in the last few days in order to spy on them, whether the thief belongs to this group. When the dragoon says no, the thief finally reveals himself to be the envoy of the godson of the manor, the Swede's Christian von Tornefeld.

The Maleficent Baron then laughs at him and has the thief arrested. Before he is led away, the thief is completely confused by the words " ... our rule has nowhere in the world a godchild ... " by the maid.

He thinks about the person who could not have a godchild anywhere in the world and wonders whether this person might not be a Christian, a Turk or something similar. The riddle is solved, however, when the Malefic baron brings him to rule: This is not Christian von Tornefeld's cousin, as he died a long time ago, but his daughter: the seventeen-year-old Maria Agneta, Christian's beautiful cousin . Now it becomes clear to the thief why everything is going haywire on the estate. In his opinion, everyone exploits Maria Agneta, like "a poor little lamb from whom [...] everyone likes to [take] wool".

Maria Agneta is in conversation with her godfather, Baron von Saltza, when the Maleficent Baron brings in the thief. The thief learns that Maria Agneta owes her godfather. He believes he can force her to marry because of her precarious situation. However, Maria Agneta points out to her godparent that she has sworn allegiance to her cousin Christian von Tornefeld and will therefore marry no other than him.

The Malefic baron informs Maria Agneta that he is leaving because he and his men have now surrounded the band of robbers from the black Ibitz, who attacked many carters in Pomerania and Poland. When Maria Agneta asks again for her horse and her greyhound, which the godfather takes away from her because of the debts, the Maleficent Baron also takes the side of the young woman, for whom he feels sorry. However, the godfather does not allow himself to be softened and once again points out to the girl his condition for remission.

After he leaves, the Maleficent Baron lets his anger run wild with him. When the language comes to her fiancé and she tells the dragoon captain that this is her father's godchild, he suspects that the thief might have spoken the truth and confronts him.

The thief decides not to explain again that he was sent by the godchild of Mr. von Krechwitz, although by revealing this information he could save his life and now easily clear up the misunderstanding. He now wants to keep a secret that Christian is not far from the estate in the mill, because he believes Maria Agneta would then give up everything she had left for the Swede. In addition, the thief is of the opinion that Christian, who only ever spoke of the Swedish army, is completely indifferent to them, because he did not even want to go to the estate himself. Another, the most important reason for the thief's silence is the fact that he immediately falls in love with the beautiful, young woman and therefore does not want to leave her to the cowardly and plaintive Swede.

Because Maria Agneta stands up for the life of the thief (she thinks he can have information about Christian) and pity him for his bad fate, the Malefic baron refrains from hanging the thief. Nevertheless, he lets him, assuming he must be one of the black Ibitz's henchmen, beaten up by his henchmen before he is chased away. The thief makes his way back to the mill, with the burning desire to be able to call Maria Agneta and the estate his own one day.

Once there, he reports to Christian von Tornefeld that his godfather is dead. He also claims that Maria Agneta hardly remembered him and refused to help him because she was impoverished and did not own anything. He also scares Christian by telling him that the dragoons billeted on the estate are already on his heels because of his desertion .

In his desperation, Christian von Tornefeld gives the thief his Arcanum so that the thief can hand it over to the King of Sweden in his place and join the Swedish army for him. This is a Bible of the Swedish King Gustav Adolf inherited from his great-grandfather , which he allegedly wore under his armor at the Battle of Lützen . The Swede then lets the miller take him to the bishop's smelting furnace, which the thief recommended as a refuge. However, the “miller” already suspects that he will see the thief again: “ He makes off [...] I haven't seen such jumps in my life. Did he run away from you? The miller shook his head. It won't slip away from me, he said with a silent laugh. I'll see him again. He says he wants to join the Swedish army, but he can't get there. Gold and love sit by the wayside ”.

Second part: The robber of God

While Christian von Tornefeld is working for the bishop, who is in the process of creating a new pleasure garden in his Franconian residence, the thief approaches a gang of robbers whose captain has spotted fever and is dying. He warns them of the ambush of the Dragoons and the Maleficent Baron.

A field sergeant urges him to confess and the fire tree, another robber of the gang, tries, in a maddened fever, to get his captain to hide his gold. In his fear of death (he considers the thief to be a figment of hell when he appears) the black Ibitz promises him his robbers. After his death, the thief takes on the role of captain of the band of robbers.

Shortly afterwards he puts the Maleficent Baron's dragoon unit to flight by throwing a hornet's nest at them. However, he is injured in the shoulder by a shot. After recovering from this, he forms a new gang. According to information from the dragoon and the robber Wendehals, the robbers of the black Ibitz included: the Afrom, the crooked Michel, the owl man, the hanged Adam, the Pfeiferbub, the Brabanter, the Zinnengießer-Hannes, the baptized Jonas, the Klaproth, the Veiland , the fire tree, the red Konradsbub, great Matthes and the red Lies, the mistress of the late robber captain. The thief keeps four of the robbers: the Veiland with the sharp ear as a watchdog, the fire tree, who is a runaway priest and can open any lock, the Brabantian, who can very easily pretend to be a nobleman and act, and the turning neck. The red lie is also allowed to stay because the thief finds out that it knows the blessing, which he believes has healing properties.

For a year he and his gang rob churches in Pomerania , Poland , Brandenburg , Silesia , in Neumark and in the Lusatian Mountains .

In the spring of 1702 he gathered enough booty to pretend to be a nobleman without any problems: even though his men grumble, he insists that everyone take their share and go their own way. He also breaks up with the red Lies, who has since become his lover. Her pleading to take her with you cannot ease him either.

Third part: The Swedish Rider

When the thief comes to Kleinroop dressed in a Swedish officer's uniform, he immediately sees that Maria Agneta is still unmarried, because the situation on the estate has not improved, on the contrary: in the meantime everything that was left has gone to the Baron von Saltza has been mortgaged. The thief shows Maria Agneta the heraldic ring, identifies himself as Christian von Tornefeld and claims to have come straight from the Swedish king's army. The Swedish rider - as he is called from now on because of his uniform - pays her debts, dismisses the deceitful rentmaster, marries Maria Agneta and ensures that the estate flourishes.

After six years, the Veiland and the Wendehals appear, two of his former robbers, who have long since managed to get their share of the wealth stolen from the churches and are again on the road as vagabonds. They knew of the Brabant, who with his prey part as a respected merchant in Ratibor has established itself and even sitting in the City Council, where they would find their old robber chief.

To keep his secret, the Swedish rider decides to kill the two of them, but when he watches them frolic with his little daughter Maria Christine, he realizes that the two are good guys who mean no harm to him and takes them as Knechte to himself: “The Swedish rider was amazed that a friendship and intimacy had developed so quickly between his child and the two ragged journeymen. His heart felt light. ".

A year later, the Brabanter also appears on his estate. He has turned all his belongings into money and is on his way abroad, because the maleficent baron and his dragoons are still looking for the church robbers, and one of his corporals is now married to the red Lies, whose love for the Swedish rider is growing turned into hatred when he left her.

The Brabant warns the Swedish rider and advises him, following his example, to leave the country. He is sure that otherwise the Rote Lies will sooner or later betray him to the maleficent baron that one of the church robbers is now staying in the area as a nobleman so that her husband can be promoted. Then it is only a matter of time before the Maleficent Baron will appear in Kleinroop and uncover him.

The Swedish horseman gets scared and seeks a way to protect his family from the dishonor and expropriation that his arrest as the leader of the church robbers would entail. So the next morning he told his wife that he considered it his duty to fight the Muscovites with the King of Sweden . Maria Agneta tries in vain to dissuade him: Accompanied by Veiland and Wendehals, he sets off.

Fourth part: the nameless

When they spend the night in a Polish tavern, the Swedish rider decides to turn back. He hopes to be able to convince the Rote Lies to keep quiet about his secret by reminding her of her former love for him: If she does not betray him, he need not fear the Maleficent Baron and not leave his beloved family: " I have to try, there is no other way for me ," he said to himself. If I succeed, I will return to my farm and the misery of these days was a wild dream. If it fails, the executioner may dismiss someone who is nameless. ".

The dragoons have their camp in Schweidnitz . Rote Lies and her husband Jakob have been quartered in a tailor's house. While the corporal is in the house, the Swedish rider sneaks into the house and surprises the red Lies. He realizes that there is no point in appealing to her pity and decides to kill her. The red Lies suspects what he is up to, pretends not to suspect it and starts to prepare the food for her husband. In doing so, she places the Maleficent Baron's branding iron with the capital L in the embers.

When she thought she heard her husband on the stairs, she struck with the brand and hit the Swedish rider on the forehead. Although he is in great pain, he manages to point his pistol at Rote Lies. She is paralyzed after her act. She shouts to her husband what happened before the Swedish rider shoots her: “The red Lies had in mind to blow out the light when the deed had happened and then to win the door in the dark - but now she was standing as if paralyzed, so terrible was the look of the Swedish rider, she could not move from the spot, she could only scream. She heard Jacob's steps at the door, she had to warn him. Watch out! The robber of God! she shrieked, and in her voice there was horror and triumph and agony and wild joy. Don't come in! I burned the gallows [the L upside down looks like a gallows ﬢ] in his forehead! Run what you can, scream the alarm! I hit him in the forehead ... The shot boomed across the room. The red Lies fell silent and fell over ”.

In the mill, where he once said goodbye to Christian von Tornefeld, the Swedish rider seeks refuge - and there again meets Christian von Tornefeld, who on his order from the “dead miller”, the bishop's carter from the smelting furnaces, went there has been brought.

There Christian was exploited for nine years as a pack animal, stone crusher, digger, burner, applicator, coal knife, smelter, foundryman, furnace master. The Swedish rider gives Christian von Tornefeld his horse, sword and pistols, his money bag and the servants.

As a nameless man, he goes to the bishop's hell in his place, while Christian von Tornefeld rides to the Swedish king, accompanied by the Veiland and the Wendehneck. At night the nameless man steals away, runs to Kleinroop and knocks on the window of his now six-year-old daughter Maria Christine. He talks to her briefly, then he has to leave to be back in the bishop's hell in time for the morning roll call. He does the hard work without complaint, but visits his daughter regularly at night.

In the meantime Christian von Tornefeld has quickly made it to the army of the Swedish king to become captain and commander.

One day the nameless man can no longer stand to be separated from his family. He decides to confess everything to Maria Agneta and to rely on her forgiveness. But on the way he falls into an abyss. A guard finds him and wants to quickly get the field clerk. The nameless man's only burning wish is for someone to tell his daughter about his death so that she does not think he is no longer coming because he has forgotten her.

Suddenly, however, the nameless person hears a familiar voice. It is the tree of fire that has again hired itself out as a priest, this time with the bishop. Just like the black Ibitz, the fire tree is now trying to get him to reveal to him as he dies where the former captain buried his gold. That is why the nameless is denied the last confession. Shortly before his death, a cherub with a sword appears to him again, who visited him many years ago and took away his fear of dying and asks him to inform his daughter of his fate, so that it can benefit his soul can pray.

The next day a Swedish officer brought Maria Agneta von Tornefeld the news of the death of "her husband" in the Battle of Poltava, which occurred three weeks earlier. Maria Christine can't believe it, her father was still at her window the night before last. She therefore refuses to speak an Lord's Prayer for him. But when she saw a cart with a coffin in the street, which came from the bishop's estate, she said a prayer for this dead man, without realizing that it was her father: “Slowly the cart pulled led the nameless to the grave, past the windows of the house ”.

expenditure

• First edition: Zsolnay, Vienna 1936. 273 pp.
• Verlag Alemann, Buenos Aires 1945. 224 pp.
• Zsolnay, Vienna 1950. 2nd German edition
• Zsolnay, Vienna, Hamburg 1980.
• Zsolnay, Vienna, Darmstadt 1990, ed. and with an afterword by Hans-Harald Müller.
• Droemersche Verlagsanstalt Th. Knaur Nachf., Munich 1993, ed. and with an afterword by Hans-Harald Müller.
• Zsolnay, Vienna 2002. ISBN 3-552-05213-5
• Paperback: dtv, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-423-13160-8 . With an afterword ed. by Hans-Harald Müller.

Secondary literature

• Yvonne Hütter: The amalgamation of agency, determinism and freedom in Leo Perutz '"The Swedish Rider" . In: Journal of Austrian Studies 47, No. 1, 2014, pp. 79–101, doi : 10.1353 / oas.2014.0018 .
• Peter Lauener: The Hero's Crisis. The ego disorder in Leo Perutz's narrative. Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2004 (especially pp. 36–52).
• Dietrich Neuhaus: Memory and horror: the unity of history, fantasy and mathematics in Leo Perutz's work . Lang, Frankfurt / Main 1984 (especially pp. 21–92).
• Marina Rauchbacher: Paths of Narration. Subject and world in texts by Leo Perutz and Alexander Lernet-Holenia. Praesens-Verlag, Vienna 2006 (especially pp. 34–64).
• Simone Winko: conveying emotions in Leo Perutz's Swedish rider. In: Tom Kindt, Jan Christoph Meister (Hrsg.): Leo Perutz 'Novels: from structure to meaning. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2007, pp. 107–121.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. pp. 28f.
2. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 30.
3. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 34.
4. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 57.
5. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 57.
6. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 61.
7. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 62.
8. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 87.
9. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 186.
10. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 209.
11. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. pp. 219f.
12. ↑ Perutz, Leo: The Swedish rider. Hamburg, Vienna 1980. p. 243.