The salvation of Fatme
The Salvation of Fatme is a novella by Wilhelm Hauff from the fairy tale almanac for the year 1826 : Mustafa, the son of Kadis von Akara, is responsible for the kidnapping of his sister and his bride into slavery. With the help of the robber Orbasan and a strange slave, he can free both of them. It is the fourth fairy tale in the frame story Die Karawane . The other contributions are: The story of Kalif Storch , The story of the ghost ship , The story of the hand cut off , The story of Little Muck and The fairy tale of the false prince .
Prehistory and plot
A caravan of merchants moves through the desert, always in fear of the notorious robber chief Orbasan. A rider pretending to be Selim Baruch, nephew of the Grand Vizier of Baghdad, joins them. He recently escaped the violence of a band of robbers and asked to be allowed to join. He is gladly allowed to do so, all the more since he uses a mysterious sign to keep a band of robbers from attacking. He suggests telling stories to one another as a way to overcome the monotony. The merchant Lezah tells an adventure between his younger brother Mustafa and the noble robber Orbasan. He heard about it and was not a witness himself.
Mustafa organized a big party for his younger sister Fatme's 16th birthday and invited all of her friends, including his bride Zoraide. He kept his marriage plans from his father, who was a kadi in Akara, since Zoraide's parents were poor and of little origin. In the evening he invited the girls to go on a boat trip . At the insistence of the girls, he drove far out to sea and got into dangerous waters, where a ship with armed men soon approached. The girls panicked and capsized the barge. After help came from the mainland, it was found that two of the girls were missing: Fatme and Zoraide. Instead of them there was now a strange man in one of the boats, as it turned out, a pirate who had been left behind by his companions. He reported that Fatme and Zoraide were on board the pirate ship and that they would soon be sold on the slave market in Balsora ( Basra ). Mustafa's father was furious and cursed his son. Only when this man brings Fatme back should he be free from the curse. Mustafa rode off at once, but soon fell into the hands of the notorious robber Orbasan. He did not meet him immediately, but was brought before Hassan, who posed as Orbasan's deputy. This soon threw Hassan out of the tent angrily because he had not recognized him. Mustafa now saw that the robbers took him for the Bassa ( Pascha ) of Sulieika. He was supposed to be caught and hanged because, contrary to his promise, he had a gang member executed. When the real Bassa von Sulieika appeared shortly afterwards, the mix-up quickly cleared up. When Mustafa told Orbasan the reason for his trip, the latter assured him of help and even gave him a dagger and a bag of gold. Upon arrival in Balsora, the slave market was over and the sister and bride were sold. He learned that they were now the property of a certain Thiuli-Kos, who was formerly Kapudan Pasha , and who had now retired. His castle was forty hours from Balsora. Since Mustafa looked similar to the Bassa of Sulieika, he decided to go to Thiuli-Kos disguised as it. However, there he met Hassan, who had since fled from Orbasan's band of robbers. Still angry about the humiliation, he challenged Fatme as his bride, otherwise he would betray him. Mustafa fled hastily and came back again as a fake doctor. He examined the slaves , of whom he saw little. Called by name, one after the other stretched an arm through a hole in the wall. When he thought he had found his sister, he let her fall into a death-like sleep with a potion and then faked his own death. After the slave was carried to the burial house in a coffin, Mustafa is shocked to discover that he had freed a fake one. He gave her the antidote anyway, and the slave informed him that Thiuli-Kos had given the women new names: Fatme and Zoraide were now called Mirzah and Nurmahal. To thank him for her liberation, help him: A head-high water pipe leads from a spring to a large well in the courtyard. One could penetrate here, but he needed the help of several men. Now he remembered Orbasan's promise, who promptly accepted and came with two of his men. After the slave girl Fatme had described the interior of the castle and the whereabouts of the girls in detail, they broke in and freed Mustafa's sister Fatme and Zoraide. Orbasan caught the renegade Hassan and hung him by the well. The next day Orbasan and the slave Fatme said goodbye. She went to Balsora to travel on from there to her homeland. When Mustafa arrived home with his sister Fatme and his bride Zoraide, there was great joy. His father lifted the curse and allowed Zoraide to marry.
interpretation
As in the frame narrative and the previous story of the severed hand , Orbasan is one of the central characters. While in the first example he appears as a mysterious stranger who brings misfortune to the narrator, here he is a positive figure who helps Mustafa to be happy through her energetic actions. Orbasan is also one of the listeners to Lezah's story as Selim Baruch.
The story takes place in a world of lawlessness: Fatme and Zoraide are stolen by pirates. Mustafa's father is a judge, but does not become active himself, but sends his son out. Mustafa soon falls into the hands of robbers who want revenge on a pasha for a broken agreement. When he sees that Fatme and Zoraide have been sold, he tries to steal them back himself, but only succeeds with the active help of the robber Orbasan. Further motifs are mix-ups, exchanges and masking. It is not always clear to the people involved what they have to think of their counterpart: Mustafa is taken for a pasha, Hassan pretends to be Orbasan's deputy before he is chased away by him. The otherwise brutal robber captain generously grants Mustafa the hospitality and presents him. Mustafa chooses two disguises to get into the castle of Thiuli-Kos. When the liberation seems to succeed the second time, it turns out that he has freed the wrong slave because Thiuli-Kos had given new names.
As with all of his children's fairy tales, the author fades out eroticism out of consideration for his target audience: the main goal of the hero is to save his sister and thus to lift his father's curse. In his masquerade as a doctor, if he had succeeded, he would have freed his sister, but initially left his bride in slavery.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes . Stuttgart: Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1869 pp. 11 to 14 (accessed on November 20, 2013)
- ↑ Summary according to: Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes . Stuttgart: Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1869 pp. 60 to 80
- ↑ a b c Helmuth Mojem: Held und Action in: Wilhelm Hauff, or, The virtuosity of imagination Wallstein Verlag 2005 ISBN 978-3-89244-860-0 p. 214 ff
