The monkey and her children
The monkey and her children is the title of a fable that has been handed down in various versions since ancient times.
content
In these versions, the mother monkey always gives birth to twins, but she only loves one child and neglects the other.
When she is pursued by hunters, she grabs her beloved child and carries it in front of her chest as she escapes. The unloved child, who does not want to be left behind, crawls on her back against her will and clings to her.
As the burden of the two children interferes with her on her escape, she is forced to drop her beloved child in order to save herself. The unloved child survives on her shoulders.
The tradition of the fable in antiquity and the Middle Ages
Tradition begins with the ancient versions of Babrio , Avianus and Solinus . The source for the vernacular versions of the Middle Ages is the Latin version of the Avian. The oldest High German fable adaptation is that of Strickers (No. 12), another Middle High German version is available in the Wartburg War (Str. 90, 91, 98, 99, 100), two early New High German versions before 1500 are in the Nuremberg prose Aesop (Hs. : Bl. 56rb-56va; No. 34) and in the Esopus by Heinrich Steinhöwel (No. 139). A Middle Low German version is available in the Magdeburg prose - Aesop (Avian's Fables, No. 25, Bl. 3r-3v).
The narrative part
This reads in the version of the knitter:
A jeger vuor in a walt
if the monkeys were unpunished,
dâ wolder hunt.
dô sach he an effine.
the dogs he vaste dar scream.
diu effine het ir kint two:
who brings what si a vil,
the other would have ruined her,
daz ez hinder we would remain,
there was something ir even unmære.
si truoc daz love kint hin,
dô het daz suffer the sin,
daz ez si umbe the neck gevienc
and ir sô vaste ane hienc,
daz siz also wear it muose.
dô discover the hunters alsô hunt,
there is no escape from mohte.
you waited inside
and rather threw kint from ir.
add what ir will and ir gir,
daz the suffering would be discharged;
daz machete ir vil grôzen harm:
ez hienc ir an unz an die vart,
daz si dâ with happened.
Teaching part
In the German versions up to 1500, the narrative is interpreted in a spiritual and allegorical way .
At this point the hunters are an image of death that overtakes everyone. The monkey mother represents the sinner who prefers pleasure and wealth to virtue. The child she loves and wants to protect represents the vices or worldly goods. The unloved child embodies the sin that weighs on people's shoulders.
The authors warn against the fixation on worldly goods, lust or, more generally, against a way of life that is too oriented towards this world and call for timely repentance for one's own salvation . Otherwise, the sinner who cares for his body and wealth while neglecting his soul runs the risk of going to hell after death .
now hear and notice me
what the hunter is like,
who brewed the effine in need:
in addition, the vil is certain tôt,
which is made for all of us;
the hunted many monkeys.
now you notice both,
daz love and daz suffer:
daz love kint is absolutely good,
of which one has done müelîche abe;
daz had vil maniger unz on the tac,
besides that, I didn't have mac.
sin sint daz suffer kint;
how do you guide man,
si stuck in vaste.
sô erz guot muoz throw down
and ez can't bring vürbaz,
sô hangs in the sin,
unz in the tîvel dar with vâhet.
if he had forgiven him
and if I had done
so he would not learn a lot.
the monkeys sîn junc or old,
ir all muot is so form ,
daz si vremde vröude borgent
and seldom worried
change your future nôt-
there is a lot of monkeys dead.
Only Heinrich Steinhöwel dispenses with a spiritual interpretation and instead sticks to his template.
Monkey fables in German-language tradition from the Middle Ages
When looking through the fable catalog by Dicke and Grubmüller, 33 monkey fables can be identified, including all those in which the monkey plays a role and which are available as German-language adaptations before 1500. If one makes a comparison with other mythical animals, such as the lion, who appears in 56 fables or the wolf, who appears in 83 fables with existing German versions, the number of monkey fables is less than these. This does not seem surprising, since the monkey is an exotic animal that only appeared in Gibraltar in the Middle Ages in Europe.
| Monkey fables | Catalog number |
|---|---|
| Monkey, fox and wolf (monkeys, fox and wolf) | 11 |
| Monkey and jupiter (monkey and lion / monkey, lion and bear) | 12 |
| Monkey and her children | 13 |
| Monkey as doctor, lion and fox | 14th |
| Monkey and dolphin | 15th |
| Monkey and fox 1 | 16 |
| Monkey and fox 2 | 17th |
| Monkey and fox 3 | 18th |
| Monkey as a hunter and a crow | 19th |
| Monkey with lentils (monkey with nuts) | 20th |
| Monkey, adder, snake and man in the pit (monkey, dragon and man in the pit / thankful animals) | 21st |
| Monkey and nut (monkey and nut) | 22nd |
| Monkey, raven, boatman and fox | 23 |
| Monkey and turtle | 24 |
| Monkey in the mirror | 25th |
| Monkey and minstrel | 26th |
| Monkey and donkey | 27 |
| Monkey and Wanderer (The Monkey Emperor / The Monkey King) | 28 |
| Monkey and carpenter (monkey and lumberjack / monkey and cobbler) | 29 |
| Monkey and dragon (monkey and snake) | 30th |
| Monkeys as city founders | 31 |
| Monkey, bird and firefly | 32 |
| 85 | |
| Donkey, monkey and mole | 100 |
| Fox and monkey 1 | 172 |
| Fox and monkey 2 | 173 |
| Fox and monkey 3 | 174 |
| Fox and monkey 4 | 175 |
| 204 | |
| Calf on the tree | 327 |
| The lion's breath (the court runny nose / the wolf's breath) | 400 |
| Raven, fox and monkey | 474 |
| Wolf, fox and monkey (wolf, fox and lion) | 611 |
literature
- Maryvonne Hagby: You gave us for Unless the truth ... geseit . In: Studies and texts on the Middle Ages and early modern times . tape 2 . Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-8309-1013-4 , p. 29 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Individual evidence
- ^ Cf. Barbara Könneker. The reception of the Aesopian fable in German literature of the Middle Ages and the early modern period. In: The reception of antiquity. On the problem of continuity between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Edited by August Buck. Hamburg 1981. p. 209.
- ↑ The knitter. Stories, fables, speeches. Ed., Trans. and commented by Otfrid-Reinald Ehrismann . Stuttgart 1992 (Reclam Universal Library 8797). P. 74, p. 76.
- ↑ Wartburg War, The. Ed., Geord., Trans. and ext. by Karl Simrok. Stuttgart and Augsburg 1858. p. 119, p. 127, p. 129.
- ↑ Nuremberg prose aesop. Edited by Klaus Grubmüller. Tübingen 1994. pp. 58-59.
- ↑ Steinhöwel's Aesop. Edited by Hermann Österley. Tübingen 1873. pp. 289-290.
- ^ The Magdeburg prose Aesop. A Middle Low German arrangement of Heinrich Steinhöwel's “Esopus” and Niklas von Wyle's “Guiscard and Sigismunda”. Text and Investigations ed. by Brigitte Derendorf. Cologne; Vienna 1996. pp. 442-443.
- ↑ The knitter. Stories, Fables, Reden, 1992, p. 74.
- ↑ ibid.