The Enemies (Peter Rosegger)

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Peter Rosegger in 1893

Die Feinde is a short story by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger that appeared in the April and May 1900 issue (24th year, issues 7 and 8) of the Graz Heimgarten .

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The sink rushes down from the high gorge from the glacier world to the scene of the action - into a wide, wooded valley. Down in the floodplain, two wooden bridges lead over the river. The manorial estate of Count Alban can be reached via the lower bridge and the farming village belonging to the estate and the train station are close to the upper one.

Georg and Franz had been enemies since they were children. They had fought at school. Although Georg was physically stronger at the time, Franz had already slandered him when he was at school. Everyone had believed Franz the lies he had told about Georg.

It is no different decades later when Franz, now a housekeeper, meets the stray rascal Georg on the estate of His Excellency Count Alban. Usually His Excellency is tied to the capital in government affairs. Now, in the middle of snowy winter, he goes unannounced on foot to his snow-covered property for a week after a train ride lasting several hours. Shortly before the goal of the march, the Count saves Georg's life in the open air. This deserter wants to die. Since the philanthropist Count Alban intervenes, it won't work. When His Excellency involved the caretaker in the half-frozen attempts to pimp up, Franz, as he scolded his schoolmates, made poor Schorschl bad in the well-known manner; suspects this tramp was implicated in three unsolved unnatural deaths that have occurred in the area. The count doesn't care about such rumors. When he was called back prematurely to his government business in the capital, he saves his life for the second time on the way to the snow-covered Georg train station. The unfortunate wanted to drown himself in the village pond. Nothing there! Franz accompanying the count has to take part in the rescue. Returning to the capital, the count speaks to his friend the general. The old cigar-smoking warrior takes the deserter as his personal boy.

A few months later - the severe winter is over - the Count finally has his friend ready. The military can be shown the count's agriculture. On a walk in the forest, the two gentlemen discovered by chance that Franz had larches cut down. The caretaker put the money for the logs in his own pocket. On the same day, the count dismisses his unfaithful estate manager and wants to appoint Georg as the new caretaker. The general's personal boy wants to get married. The Agathl is the lucky one. It doesn't work that way, objects the general and dismisses the bridegroom. The count can now hire Georg as administrator and he - finally becoming a civilian again - could marry on the spot. The first practical test in the form of a flood that leads the raging sink to the new administrator. While villagers keep driftwood away from the upper wooden bridge with poles and hooks, Georg fights the driftwood alone on the lower one. Intimate enemy Franz comes over in the showdown. Instead of a pole or a hook, he enters the lower bridge with an ax. When Franz tries to kill the new administrator, the bridge collapses. The wrestling enemies can cling to a beam construction, are carried down by the river, continue to fight against each other and both drown.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The enemies. A story from the Alps by Peter Rosegger , Heimgarten , Volume 24, April and May 1900, pp. 481–498 and pp. 561–577