The harp in the forest

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Peter Rosegger around 1865

The Harp in the Forest is a short story by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger , which appeared in the Grazer Tagespost from April 8th to 18th, 1871 .

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Despite all the bad weather in Styria at the time of the Franco-Prussian War : The world seems to be all right around the hut belonging to the charcoal burner Kilian in the deep mountain forest . His marriageable daughter Agnes receives a visit from the neighboring Edelwald. Her groom, a foreman for the wood people, visits his bride. The Köhlerhütte, which is also a smithy, distillery and tavern, is a hospitable place in general. The poacher Hans a versa, carousing and invites passing his gun with powder and lead. He wants to be constantly on the lookout for the hunter Franzinger, who has already sent him to arrest once. Shoot the intimate enemy from ambush? So far Hans has not been able to bring himself to do this. Because there is Franzinger's wife Kathel and their children. Hans had once loved Kathel, but the hunter was the better match for the practical dirndl at the time.

The old pitch hacker , an uncle of Kilian, enters the hut and brings an elderly couple with him; Bohemian musicians who got lost in the almost impenetrable wilderness during the bad weather. The harpist Susanna is seriously ill. Agnes cares for the sick; puts her in a soft bed. In the meantime, the harp is played in the dining room. On the plucked instrument that suffered along the way, three strings jump at once. The musician waves it away. Most of the recent appearances with his sick wife would have been displeasing. Immigrated to Bohemia from Prussia in their youth , the couple would have married thirty-two years ago. All the misfortune had started when the Prussians invaded Bohemia four years ago , destroyed the house and shot their only son.

The harpist dies in the Koehler hut. The neighboring village down the valley is called Feichtau. The widower goes to the pastor there. In view of the struggle “between church and state” , the clergyman is not allowed to bury a Protestant in his Catholic cemetery . The pastor might even appear at a burial in the forest.

A forest wilderness also spreads uphill above the Köhlerhütte. The harpist Susanna is buried next to the little wooden church of St. Hubertus , with the sympathy of the Catholics living in the forest. Her harp with the three broken strings is leaning against the tree next to the grave.

Hans, wounded by one of the hunters while poaching, lies in wait for the Frenchman. Now Hans is ready. Come what may. When the enemy gropes into the ambush next to the Hubertus Chapel, then the last hour has struck. The hunter Franzinger actually comes. The poacher cocks the rooster and when he aims at the hunter, a drooping branch moves the harp in the wind. Hans hears the sound of the harp and drops the shotgun. The rifle discharges. Franzinger followed Hans into the thicket, cursing. A few days later the defective string instrument sounds again in the manner described, just as the foreman walks into the forest chapel with Agnes on his arm for the wedding ceremony.

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  1. ↑ cf. Karl Wagner, Max Kaiser, Werner Michler 2003, p. 579.
  2. ↑ Rosegger Studies , p. 9, Rudolf Latzke anno 1905