The story of little Muck

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Bertall : Children mock the old little Muck

The story of little Muck is an art fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff , which was published in the “ Fairy Tale Almanac for the Year 1826 ”. The narrative, like the general plot of the almanac, “The Caravan”, takes place in the oriental milieu of the fairy tales from Thousand and One Nights . The story itself, which a merchant tells in the frame story, is again a frame story: in his childhood he knew a small eccentric in his hometown , the "little Muck", whom he initially teased because of his deformity until he was told by his father, the told him the story of Little Muck's life, was confronted and punished.

Hauff also borrowed this narrative technique of the multiple nested frame narration from the fairy tales from “A Thousand and One Nights”.

The tale

Frame story "The Caravan"

The participants of a caravan tell each other stories as a means of combating boredom. The contribution of the young businessman Muley is the story of little Muck . It is the fifth and therefore penultimate fairy tale in the frame story. The other contributions are: The Tale of Caliph Storch , The Tale of the Ghost Ship , The Tale of the Hand Chopped off , The Salvation of Fatme and The Tale of the False Prince .

Plot of the fairy tale

Reading of the fairy tale, LibriVox 2008

As a child, Muley knew a small eccentric in his hometown of Nicea , called "the little Muck". He lived alone in a house that he rarely left. Due to his physical deformity and his improper clothing, he drew ridicule from Muley and his comrades. After getting it too bad one day, Muley's father announced that he would tell a story so that his son would stop laughing at little Muck. Before and after there would be “the ordinary”: twenty-five blows each with a pipe pipe. When the first 25 were full, the father began his story:

Muck's father, Mukrah, was a respected but poor man who lived almost as lonely as his son now. He was ashamed of Muck's dwarf figure and therefore gave him no training. When the father died after a fall, his relatives, to whom he owed a lot of money, confiscated the inheritance, and Muck received only a suit with wide trousers, a wide belt, a coat, a turban and a Damascus dagger which he tucked into his belt . His father was tall, so Muck simply cut off the trouser legs and sleeves that were too long for him without changing the width. Then he left the city to seek his fortune, as his relatives advised. In a strange city he found accommodation and a job with the strange woman Ahavzi , whose cats and dogs he had to look after . After entering a forbidden room and accidentally breaking the lid of a crystal bowl, he decided to flee from duty. However, he considered himself harmless for withheld wages and unjust punishments by taking two objects with him from this room that, it turned out, had magical powers: a pair of slippers in which he could run faster than any other person and fly to any place and a walking stick to indicate buried treasure. In another city, thanks to his slippers, he gained the favor of the king and a position as a courier , but also attracted the envy of the other servants. When little Muck discovered a forgotten treasure in the castle garden, he wanted to make friends by distributing gold, but was soon accused of theft and thrown in prison. The theft of royal property meant death; however, he was able to save his life by enlightening the king about the power of the stick and slippers. However, since he did not show the king how to hold the slippers, the king passed out in them. Out of anger about it, the king confiscated the magic objects and chased Muck out of the country. After eight hours of walking, he reached the border of the small country. By chance Muck soon discovered two fig trees in a forest , with the fruits of which he could retaliate: The consumption of one kind of figs made a person grow huge dog-ears and a long nose; eating figs from the other tree returned the figure to normal. Disguised as a trader, he smuggled the first variety of figs onto the king's table, only to offer the second variety a little later as a scholar as a cure for the deformities of the king and his court. After a proof of the effectiveness of his cure, the king took little Muck into the treasury so that he could choose a reward. Muck immediately seized his magic objects, revealed himself and flew back to his homeland with the help of his slippers - leaving the faithless king with a deformed face as punishment. Since then he has lived in his hometown in great prosperity, but lonely because he despised people. Little Muck had become wise through experience, his father finished, and therefore deserved more admiration than ridicule.

The father waived the remaining half of the sentence, and Muley told the Muck story to his comrades. They were also impressed: "We honored him as long as he lived, and we always bowed down to him as low as we did before Kadi and Mufti ".

  • Bertall: Muck accepts Ms. Ahavzi's “invitation”

  • Bertall: Muck competes with the king's fastest runner

  • Carl Offterdinger : Muck grow dog-ears and a huge nose after eating figs

  • Carl Offterdinger: The king and his court also grow huge ears and noses

interpretation

Map of the German Confederation 1815–1866

The father communicates to the son that it is short-sighted to only pay attention to external appearances. After all, old Muck, despite his grotesque appearance, is a respected man. However, he remains an outsider, unlike other fairy tale characters with magic attributes. Even if the fairy tale is set in the Orient , the system of rule described is a criticism of the states of the German Confederation : The country is so small that Muck can leave it on foot within eight hours without magic slippers. As the ruler, the king stands above all criticism, yet, like the duke in dwarf nose , he is incapable: first he does not see through the intrigue of his courtiers, and then he passes out in Muck's slippers. Out of anger, he confiscates the magic objects and sends Muck out of the country. This takes revenge with figs that grow noses and ears. According to the balance of power, the king eats most of them and is punished most severely because Muck refuses to give him the antidote.

Muley and his comrades change for the better through this narration. The fairy tale is a parable about the hoped-for effects of literature.

Film adaptations

Settings

  • 1977: Der kleine Muck , radio play version / director: Joachim Herz; with Klaus Piontek (Muck), Marga Legal (Mrs. Ahavzi), Fred Düren (König), Ekkehard Schall , Wolfgang Greese u. a .; VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin / LITERA, order no .: 865 173
  • 2006: CD Der kleine Muck - The Princess and the Swineherd . Speaker Jens Thelen . Power station, Korschenbroich, ISBN 3-938906-20-0 , 50 min.
  • 2013: 2 CDs The story of little Muck . Text and direction: Janine Lüttmann. Read by Stefan Kaminski . Music: Bernd Keul, recording and production: SANBREEZE Studio, Berlin. Total playing time: approx. 115 minutes. ICESTORM Distribution Berlin GmbH. Audiobook freely based on motifs from the fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff.
  • 2014: Der kleine Muck , audio book version. Text and direction: Michael Schulte. Read by Stefan Kaminski . Production: OHRKA eV Berlin. Free download from Ohrka.de.

Web links

Commons : The Story of the Little Muck  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
Wikisource: The Story of Little Muck  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes. Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1869, p. 80ff.
  2. ↑ Summary according to: Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes. Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1869, pp. 81-103 (accessed November 24, 2013)
  3. ↑ a b Playing with the reader. Wilhelm Hauff: Work and Effect . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, ISBN 3-525-20827-8 , pp. 104-107.
  4. ↑ The black and white cartoon Мультфильм Маленький Мук on vilgelm-gauf.ru (with video), accessed on February 26, 2020
  5. ↑ The cartoon Мук-Скороход on the website of the Russian TV channel Rossija K (accessed on February 26, 2020)
  6. ↑ The real film Приключения маленького Мука on the website of the Russian television station Rossija K (accessed on February 26, 2020)
  7. ↑ The story of little Muck ( Memento from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at derkleinemuck.net
  8. ↑ OHRKA eV: Little Muck. (No longer available online.) In: www.ohrka.de. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015 ; accessed on April 6, 2018 .