The story of the severed hand
The story of the hand cut off is a novella by Wilhelm Hauff from the fairy tale almanac for the year 1826 : Zaleukos, born in Constantinople , studies medicine in Paris according to his father's will. Soon he was traveling through France and Italy as a traveling doctor and businessman. In Florence , he is lured into a trap by a stranger and used to commit a murder. As a punishment, his left hand is cut off. It is the third fairy tale in the framework story Die Karawane . The other contributions are: The story of Caliph Storch , The story of the ghost ship , The salvation of Fatme , 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 one-armed merchant Zaleukos from Constantinople tells how he lost his hand: He was the son of a Christian trader and dragoman (interpreter) at the Sublime Porte . Originally he was supposed to take over the business of his father, but in the end he decided that he should become a doctor, since a doctor can make his fortune in Constantinople if he has learned a little more than the common barkers . A Franconian (French) convinced the father to let his son study in Paris, since it is free and best there. After three years of study, he returned to his hometown. His father had since passed away, and the Christian priest who taught him as a child had collected the inheritance money for the church. When the success failed, he sold his father's house and returned to France as a traveling doctor and dealer. He soon moved on to Italy and rented a vault in Florence as a sales room. In his capacity as a doctor, he received a strange assignment: a mysterious masked man in a costly red cloak asked him to sever the head of a young woman's body and embalm it . So the father of the young woman could see her again. Since the stranger paid a large amount, Zaleukos consented despite reservations. When he cut the woman's throat, however, she opened her eyes briefly and a stream of hot blood streamed towards him. He saw with horror that he had just killed her. Since he left his hat, belt and knife at the scene, suspicion fell on him. He confessed and was sentenced to death. A friend from France who was knowledgeable about law was able to soften the verdict to such an extent that he no longer had to sacrifice his life, but only his left hand. After his return to Constantinople, he was astonished to find that he could move into his father's house again, as a Franconian in a red coat had bought it for him. Zaleukos immediately suspected that it was the mysterious instigator. This stranger continued to support him with money in the future. Despite his well-being, he could not forget the horrific image of the murdered Bianca.
Aftermath
After the end of the journey, the stranger Selim Baruch speaks alone with Zaleukos and reveals himself to be the mysterious masked man in the red coat. He was the son of the French consul in Alexandria, who grew up in Paris . His brother, the father's first secretary, had married Bianca, the daughter of a Florentine nobleman. She fled soon after marrying a Neapolitan she had met in her father's house. Her father promised to clear things up, but actually used his influence against the stranger's family. Ultimately, his brother and father were extradited to France and executed. In retaliation, the stranger decided to murder the unfaithful Bianca in order to take what was dearest of her father, who had meanwhile become governor. He then returned to Alexandria and joined a group of Mamelukes who fought against the French. Even after the end of the French campaign, he maintained the new way of life. However, the fact that he used Zaleukos as a murder tool at the time and thus almost killed him, incriminates him to this day. He asked if he could forgive him. Zaleukos is ready to do this, also because his Christian faith dictates this. At the end of the day, he learns the stranger's last secret: He is the “lord of the desert”, the robber Orbasan.
interpretation
Zaleukos and Orbasan alternate between different cultures several times, which is unusual for the Oriental literature of the time: Zaleukos, who was born in Constantinople, traveled to France and Italy and finally returned to Constantinople. Orbasan is a Frenchman, born in Alexandria, Egypt, who spent his childhood in Paris from the age of ten, traveled several times to France and Italy after his return and finally fought in Egypt against the troops of the French campaign in Egypt . These changes serve as the basis for a confusion of “mix-ups, revelations and fateful encounters”.
In this story of changing identities, lawbreakers such as the robber Orbasan and the unwilling murderer Zaleukos prove to be more noble than the guardians of law and morality.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes . Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1869, pp. 11–14 (accessed November 20, 2013)
- ↑ Summary according to: Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes . Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1869, pp. 103–123
- ↑ Summary according to: Wilhelm Hauff: Mährchen for sons and daughters of educated classes . Rieger'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1869, pp. 124–130
- ↑ Andrea Polaschegg: Hauffs Orient. In: Wilhelm Hauff, or, The virtuosity of the imagination. Wallstein Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-89244-860-0 , p. 143
- ^ Stefan Neuhaus: The game with the reader. Wilhelm Hauff: Work and Effect . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-525-20827-8 , p. 100
