The devil's sooty brother
The devil's sooty brother is a fairy tale ( ATU 475). It is in the children's and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm at number 100 (KHM 100).
content
The resigned soldier Hans wanders penniless and hungry through the forest until he meets the devil. He offered him a seven-year job as a house servant in Hell on the condition that he was neither allowed to wash nor do his hair for the entire time. The soldier agrees and has to stoke the hellfire, keep order and carry dirt behind the door. The devil strictly forbids him to look into the cauldrons of hell, which Hans, driven by curiosity, does anyway. In the cauldrons he finds his former sergeant, his ensign and a general and then heats the fire even more. That's why the devil lets him go anyway after the seven years have passed and as a reward gives him the rucksack full of dirt that turns into gold. A landlord steals it from him, introducing himself as "the devil's sooty brother, and my king too" . The soldier then returns to hell and complains to the devil. He washes and hairdos him, gives him new gold and sends him back to the landlord with the threat that he will have to work at the soldier's place in hell if he does not return the stolen gold. Hans is now rich and goes home to his father. He travels through the country as a minstrel in simple clothes because he learned to make music in hell. Finally, delighted with his music, the king of the country wants to give him his eldest daughter, and when she prefers to drown herself, he gives him the youngest to wife. Hans inherits the empire.
Origin and comparisons of motives
Grimm's comment notes on the origin “From Zwehrn” (by Dorothea Viehmann ) and for comparison Müllenhoff No. 592, Meier No. 74, Zingerle No. 18, Pröhle No. 71, Simplicissimus (3, 896), “JF hor. subseciv. 4, 355 ", Happels " relat curios. 2, 712 ”, Arnim's Comforts Solitude and Isabelle of Egypt . Tacitus describes the idea of a bearskin in Germania 31. Baldur's avenger in Völuspá 33 does not wash or comb his hair until he burns his enemy, Harald Haarsager does not do his hair before he has conquered Norway. Letters from a deceased "1, 139" tell of a local Irish legend about a house in which anyone who does not wash, shave or cut nails can live in order to come to the royal court after seven years. In a legend in Harsdörfer's murder stories “S. 672 “the devil seduces two daughters with riches and falls with them into hell when he wants to sue the steadfast youngest child and her father. The Brothers Grimm are amazed that the soldier learns music in Hell, as it lures to the Venusberg . They also refer to the similar KHM 101 Der Bärenhäuter .
According to Hans-Jörg Uther , the narrative type, which is documented in over 180 variants in Europe, was apparently only known in the 19th century, probably through Grimm's version. Innkeepers have long been underestimated in stories (cf. KHM 36 , 64 , 120 ). While that is hell Christian ideas here under described as of horror, but for the little guy is last stop social justice, the devil long demonized. Compare v. a. KHM 101 The bearskin , where a discharged soldier as a result of a pact with the devil also has to be physically neglected for seven years. Individual similar motifs can be found in KHM 29 The Devil with the Three Golden Hair , KHM 31 The Girl Without Hands , KHM 81a The Blacksmith and the Devil , KHM 82 De Spielhansl , KHM 120 The Three Craftsmen , KHM 125 The Devil and His Grandmother , KHM 165 The Griffin , KHM 199 The Buffalo Leather Boot , and Fragment No. 3 The Strong Hans in Grimm's Annotation Volume. Cf. Vom Büblein who did not want to wash in Ludwig Bechstein's New German Book of Fairy Tales .
According to Edzard Storck , the fairy tale tells of the dangers associated with neglect of the physical body. The homeopath Martin Bomhardt compares it with the symptom picture of Sulfur .
literature
- Grimm, Brothers: Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 498-501. 19th edition, Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf and Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-538-06943-3 )
- 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, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , pp. 193-194, 485
- 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. 228-229.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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. 228-229.
- ↑ Edzard Storck: Old and new creation in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Turm Verlag, Bietigheim 1977, ISBN 3-7999-0177-9 , p. 294.
- ^ Martin Bomhardt: Symbolic Materia Medica. 3. Edition. Verlag Homeopathie + Symbol, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-9804662-3-X , p. 1315.
