The owl
The owl is a swank ( ATU 1282). From the 4th edition of 1840 onwards, it is in place 174 (KHM 174) in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm and comes from Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof 's Wendunmuth collection .
content
An owl gets into the barn of a town house at night and no longer dares to leave during the day - for fear of the other birds' screaming. A servant who is frightened by the owl is first laughed at by his master. But he too runs away from the monster and calls for help from the other citizens who come with spears and peasant tools. After three went in, but came out again in shock, the bravest warrior in full armor climbs a ladder. When he, too, has to turn around despite encouragement from the others, the citizens decide to burn the barn and the owl.
origin
Wilhelm Grimm took over Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof's Von der oulen zu Pein (1563), which he calls a good Lalenbürgerstreich in the note and which he also compares to Grimmelshausen's Trutz Simplex . He added the dialogue between a terrified servant and an unbelieving master, which alludes to KHM 162 Der Kluge Knecht and deleted Kirchhof's local reference Piénna zu Hildenßheim and the mocking poem at the end:
- If someone is cheeky, give him pain
- And there go to the beer and wine,
- Ask her what was done in the owl
- Why she burns
- And drink in the last minute.
- If he is unbeaten against hrauss,
- I want in what he forgives in there,
- Duppel pay as he is right.
Comparisons
The short, seemingly simple story resembles a shield prank : the stupid don't know an owl and burn the whole house down. The nature of their reactions, however, refers to the typical attributes of the owl, which appears in fairy tales as a witch bird (e.g. KHM 69 Jorinde and Joringel ). The people who are not yet so clever and mischievous make noise and screams , like songbirds at the sight of the predator. She had "poisoned the strongest man ... and mortally wounded" , where neither war nor weapons help cheers as he should keep male and "push to" . A blackbird is mentioned as a contrast (see Der Kluge Knecht ) and a dead chicken, which one can approach with a stick. Anyone who tries to do this with the owl with a felled spear comes out pale as death (cf. KHM 119 The Seven Swabians ). The owl is also compared to a dragon that St. George killed. In the end, she is burned at the stake like a witch . The hate reaction of songbirds, with which the screaming of people is compared here, corresponds to reality (cf. KHM 171 ), as does the flapping of wings and the clatter of bills as threatening gestures by the owl.
literature
- Grimm, brothers. Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 719-721. Düsseldorf and Zurich, 19th edition 1999. (Artemis & Winkler Verlag; Patmos Verlag; ISBN 3-538-06943-3 )
- Grimm, brothers. 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. P. 259, p. 508. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Stuttgart 1994. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-003193-1 )
- Rölleke, Heinz (Ed.): Grimm's fairy tales and their sources. The literary models of the Grimm fairy tales are presented synoptically and commented on. 2., verb. Edition, Trier 2004. pp. 332–337, 574. (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier; series of literature studies, vol. 35; ISBN 3-88476-717-8 )
- Uther, Hans-Jörg: Handbook to the children's and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Berlin 2008. pp. 361-362. (de Gruyter; ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 )
- Henkel, Nikolaus: The owl. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 4. pp. 531-538. Berlin, New York, 1984.
