The Klabauter flag or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip

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The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most remarkable long journey is a story by the German writer Hans Leip (* 1893; † 1983).

The Klabauterflagge is an exciting adventure story that has been reissued almost continuously since it was first published in the Insel-Bücherei in 1933 and is very well suited as a story for young people.

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"Of the many stories that Captain Pott told me from his eventful, voyage-rich seafaring life and which were mostly briefly mumbled into the wind in half-self-talk, I mostly remember nothing but a surging, breath-tight fog in my memory The words sparkle intoxicating and consuming: the sea, the sea, the wide world. Only one story was longer: that of the Klabauter flag ... "

The old captain Pott tells a story from his childhood. Orphaned, he came to his aunt in Cuxhaven at the age of ten. She also lives with the clairvoyant fisherman Matten, who has a strange habit of tapping on the houses and saying: “Dee is dat!”, Which he used to indicate that something unusual was going to happen in this house.

One day Matten takes little Atje Pott with him to the Dogger Bank in his fishery . However, they have to throw the rich catch overboard again because of a severe storm at sea, whereupon Matten decides to continue to England first. There their boat is stolen from them in the harbor of Hull when they sit in the tavern to the pig's head in the evening. But it gets worse. In the dark, Matten is ambushed to be kidnapped on a steamship as a stoker. Atje also comes on board and, as the boy of the rich passenger Mr. Betterfield, finds a position that protects him from the rough crew of the ship. Matten, on the other hand, disappears as a stoker in the depths of the ship and Atje no longer sees him.

Mr. Betterfield tells the boy his story. He found an important gold treasure belonging to King Agamemnon on a small, inaccessible Greek island , but was attacked by robbers and could only get away with his life with great difficulty. Now he has chartered this ship to drive the robbers off the island with a secret plan and the wild crew and to regain the priceless treasure. But it soon becomes clear that the captain cannot be trusted because he is trying to get hold of the treasure himself. A poison attack narrowly fails because Tom the ship's cat happens to eat the food that was meant for Mr. Betterfield first.

On board, Atje saw the notorious Klabauter flag on the highest mast for a short time, which promised great disaster. Before they reach the island, old Matten appears for a moment and takes the secret treasure map. The crew finds the island empty. Mr. Betterfield leads the greedy captain to a cave, which in truth is not the treasure. Before he finally gives up, the Englishman and Atje are searched to see whether they have not hidden the plan with themselves. Since nothing is found, the two are left alone on the island. Before the ship departs, Matten manages to escape and swim ashore. In possession of the treasure map, Mr. Betterfield finds the place where he once hid the gold, but also his loyal servant Adolar, who had guarded the treasure the whole time. Betterfield and his servant now remain on the island to devote themselves to the scientific development of the find. After a long time, Matten and Atje return home safe and with rich gifts. But the steamship, on which the Klabauter flag had shown itself, perished in the Bay of Biscay .

The old captain Pott said that the junk flag really does exist, and anyone who says it doesn't really exist has no idea. There are those who have died, whose souls find no rest and who haunt many a ship. They hoist the Klabauter flag on board. Anyone who sees this knows that great calamity will happen to this ship.

expenditure

  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Leipzig: Insel-Verlag 1933 ( Insel-Bücherei 448)
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Dresden: Reuter, 1935 (edition in German shorthand)
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1937
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Flensburg and Hamburg: Wolff, 1948
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1950
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Stuttgart: Reclam, 1956 (since then repeatedly reissued and still available today)
  • Hans Leip: The Klabauterflagge or Atje Pott's first and most strange big trip . Recklinghausen: Paulus-Verlag, 1967 (edition as youth book)