Faithful John

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Faithful John is a fairy tale ( ATU 516). From the 2nd edition of 1819 onwards, it is in place 6 (KHM 6) in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm . In the second edition, the title was The Faithful John .

content

The dying king makes his most loyal servant John promise to teach his son and show him all the chambers in the castle, except the last one, which has the picture of the king's daughter from the golden roof. The king's son notices how faithful John does not want to show him a room and insists. He faints in front of the picture of the king's daughter and desperately wants her. On the advice of faithful Johannes, a ton of the finest gold crockery is forged, with which they sail as merchants in front of their castle. Faithful Johannes lures her onto the ship with an apron full of gold things and sets off while the king's son shows her the rest of the dishes below deck. She is startled when she notices the deception, but is reconciled when the king's son reveals himself and reveals his love. Faithful John listens to three ravens at the bow. They speak of a fox-red horse that will carry the king away unless someone else jumps up and shoots it first, a bridal gown of sulfur and pitch that will burn him to the bone if someone doesn't throw it into the fire with gloves, and that the bride will fall dead and die at the dance unless you draw three drops of blood out of your chest and spit out again. But whoever betrays this to the king will turn to stone. When faithful John silently preceded the king and made the horse and the dress harmless, he defended him from the other servants. But when he saves the bride by drawing her blood from her breast, he lets him lead to the gallows. There Faithful John explains why he is wrongly condemned and turns to stone. The king repents and has the stone picture set up next to his bed. One day it speaks to him that he can save his faithful servant if he cuts off the heads of his two sons and smears their blood on them. The father does it with a heavy heart, whereupon John comes to life and also revives the little sons. After the queen proves she would have made the same choice, they live happily.

Grimm's note

Grimm's note notes “From Zwehrn” (probably by Dorothea Viehmann ) and gives “another story from Paderbörnischen” (by the von Haxthausen family ): A poor farmer asks whoever he meets first to be a godfather. It is the king who makes Roland grow up with his own son Joseph. When they are twenty years old, he gives them the keys to all rooms, one of which is forbidden. When Roland lifts a scarf in it, he falls in love with the picture of a princess, who, however, is sitting in a locked tower and is only driven back to his parents in the locked car in the evening and before dawn. So their father gives them three ships with cannons and one with fine goods. At Joseph's request, the king passed a law that only one person was allowed on the ship. The king and queen inspect and buy goods, then their daughter is kidnapped and the pursuing ship is shot down by the cannons. At night, Joseph hears one voice telling the other that the head of the black horse has to be cut off, the groom's glass must be knocked off at the wedding and the seven heads of the dragon have to be cut off on the wedding night in order to marry the princess. Joseph does all of that. When he explains himself, he turns to stone. After Roland's wife had three dreams, they smeared it with the child's blood. Joseph wanders around with his body until an old man gives him water of life and water of beauty, with which he revives it.

Grimms still call Wolf's house fairy tale "S. 383 “, also KHM 60 The two brothers . They find out that it is obviously about the story of Amicus and Amelius , and continue to compare the Hildebrandslied , Der arme Heinrich “S. 187 follow. ”And a“ Sage about the child Oney ”,“ further evidence in Athis p. 46 ”, on the shirt that Dejanira sends to Hercules or Medea the Glaucke . The Grimms suspect that the curse of some magical woman as the cause of ruin is missing in the present version, as in Pentameron IV, 9 The raven probably the father of the bride. You still call Dieterich "S. 38 "and Kölle " s. below ”, the“ Poem by Gudrun ”from verse 1060 on the ship's equipment. The content of the fairy tale does not differ in the various editions in Grimm.

Fairy tale research

Fairy tale type AaTh 516, completely first in Basile as The Raven , occurs almost all over Europe as far as India and Siberia, also in Korea, North Africa and America. The best overview of the many variants is apparently provided by a monograph by Erich Rösch from 1928, which took on an original form from the 12th century in southern Hungary. According to Rösch, a distinction is made between “Seefassungen” like ours and “Landfassungen”, here the princess is held by the father with magical power and freed by means of a kind of Trojan horse robbed again and must be freed again ("land versions with return abduction"). The core of the story is the defense of the dangers by the helper, the rest also occurs in other fairy tales. There is a long-distance love with bride robbery in the Skírnismál of the Edda, the kidnapping with ship goods since Herodotus 1.1 often in medieval poetry, the rescue of the prince in Somadeva's Kathāsaritsāgara and Indian stories of suspected lifeguards, e.g. B. from Ichneumon in Tantrākhyāyika , also in Pausanias . On the dangerous bridal night and petrification cf. Tobias in the book Tobit or Lot's wife ( Gen 19.26  EU ) and Niobe . Hartmann von Aues' The poor Heinrich , the Legenda aurea (chap. 12) and Amicus and Amelius fit better with the victim episode than the often mentioned story of Vīravara. According to Christine Shojaei Kawan, Amicus and Amelius in particular have further parallels and could have significantly influenced the development of the fairy tale. The robbery of the bride, anyway absurd since the prince is a suitor according to his status, is rarer in oral "land versions", the child sacrifice is often softened, for example by predicting redemption, providing a prescription for healing, or a few drops of blood or mere willingness to make sacrifices are sufficient. Medieval legends in particular know healing blood, cf. also Basiles Rosella . Long-distance love or love through pictures is a common narrative motif. Like Kawan, Hans-Jörg Uther also criticizes the uncritical applause of many interpreters for the “blood and loyalty mentality” instead of also looking into the socio-historical background of a chivalrous (warlike) society. The helper is often called Johannes in European versions , which a natural mythologist associated with Johannes Baptist , anthroposophists with Johannes Evangelist . The Brothers Grimm knew that too, because they kept the name. The fact that he is an old servant here, however, sublimates the hidden eroticism of the triangle story; he is often a brother of the hero (cf. KHM 1 , 126 , 136 ). The text of the fairy tale did not change in Grimm's content until the last edition.

Comparisons

The plot is similar in Giambattista Basiles Pentameron IV, 9 The Raven , the Blood also III, 9 Rosella . The deadly dress is similar to Deianeira's Nessos shirt from Greek myth.

interpretation

Faithful John resembles a mystical brother in his superior knowledge and paternal protection mandate (see also KHM 1 , 57 , 136 ) in the psychological continuation of the two-brother tale (KHM 60 ). In countless variants from all cultures (e.g. Chadir ) it ultimately corresponds to the Philosopher's Stone or Mercurius . The latter is also imperfect and yet divine, irrational and powerful, has a relationship with stone, metal and unites lovers. In terms of depth psychology , it is the self . According to Hedwig von Beit , the young king corresponds to all the brothers in the Three Brothers fairy tale (see KHM 63 The Three Feathers ) as the father's worldly heir, while the magical helper, otherwise often an attribute of the weakest brother, is separated from him. The name of the princess of the golden roof indicates an enlightened and exaggerated unreality, which must necessarily also have a base or evil aspect. In variants it has inner devils or snakes, is nightmare, vampire or horse. This is indicated here in the forbidden chamber (cf. KHM 3 , 46 , 62a , 73a ), horse, Nessos shirt and drops of blood.

The initial inanimateness of the princess is repeated as an image in the rigidity of the petrified Roland, as well as the blood sacrifices to gain her in his rescue. Wilhelm Salber sees an uncanny obsession as a leitmotif, which young people cannot yet resist. Such people only appear inconsistent on the outside, although behind them there is an incomprehensible, rigid image.

Movie

  • 1987: Faithful John or The Golden Maiden (Original: Mahuliena, zlatá panna ), feature film, 90 min., ČSSR / Germany 1987, director: Miloslav Luther (as Slavo Luther ). Based on the motifs of the Brothers Grimm .
  • 1999: SimsalaGrimm , German cartoon series 1999, season 2, episode 4: The faithful Johannes .
  • 2006: Tischlein deck dich - donkeys, goats, real men , comedy from Die ProSieben Märchenstunde (Germany / Austria, from 2006).

literature

  • Brothers Grimm: Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. 19th edition. Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-538-06943-3 , pp. 66–73.
  • Brothers Grimm: Children's and Household Tales. Last hand edition with the original notes by the Brothers Grimm. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin, not published in all editions, published by Heinz Rölleke. Volume 3: Original Notes, Guarantees of Origin, Afterword. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , pp. 28–31, 445.
  • Christine Shojaei Kawan: Johannes: Der loyal J. In: Enzyklopädie des Märchen. Volume 7. Berlin / New York 1993, pp. 601-610.
  • 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. 15-18.
  • Franz Michael Geraths, Caroline von Heydebrand: Fairy tale and legend games for children, published by the Heil- und Erziehungsinstitut for children in need of soul care Eckwälden / Württ., J. Ch. Mellinger Verlag GmbH., Stuttgart

Web links

Wikisource: The faithful John  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christine Shojaei Kawan: Johannes: Der loyal J. In: Enzyklopädie des Märchen. Volume 7. Berlin / New York 1993, pp. 601-610.
  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. 15-18.
  3. ↑ Hedwig von Beit: Contrast and Renewal in Fairy Tales (second volume of “Symbolik des Märchen”). 2nd Edition. Francke, Bern 1956, pp. 406-441.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Salber: fairy tale analysis. 2nd Edition. Bouvier Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-416-02899-6 , pp. 116-118, 121.