The prairie

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"The Prairie", title of the original 1827 edition
The Prairie (Soviet postage stamp in honor of JF Cooper's 200th birthday, 1989)

The prairie (English. The Prairie: A Tale ) is an adventure and social novel published in 1827 by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851).

The prairie was published as the third volume of the five-part Lederstrumpf - cycle . In the chronological plot of the series, the novel forms the fifth and last volume and is partly linked in its plot with the second volume The Last of the Mohicans . The German translation of the novel first appeared in 1828 under the title "Die Steppe". In 1845 the translation by Gottfried Friedenberg (1796–1874) was followed for the first time by an edition with today's title.

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In 1804 , Ishmael Bush, who fled Kentucky illegally, travels with his extended family in several covered wagons through the prairie west of the Mississippi . To trek include Ishmael wife Esther, their 14 children, Ellen Wade, the niece of Esther's deceased first husband, Esther's brother Abiram White and the doctor and naturalist Dr. Obet Bat. The group meets the 80 year old trapper Natty Bumppo, who lives with his dog on the prairie. This leads the group to a suitable storage location. When the settlers start to cut some trees, Bumppo prefers to stay outside the camp, as he is very critical of the increasing flow of settlers due to the Louisiana Purchase . The trapper surprises Ellen, who meets her secret fiancé , the beekeeper Paul Hoover. The three are captured by a Sioux group led by Chief Mahtorees. Although the trapper succeeds in distracting the Indians so that the group can flee, he cannot prevent the settlers' cattle and sheep from being stolen. Deprived of their draft animals, the men have to pull the wagons themselves. The trapper recommends Ishmael Bush a rock plateau that offers more security than the open prairie. The trapper notices that one of Abiram White's wagons is being specially guarded.

After the group has set up the new camp, there is a momentous dispute between Bush, who wants to settle here as a farmer, and White, who wants to move on. During the family quarrel Ellen discovered in White's car kidnapped him Creole Inez de Certavallos-Middleton. This fuels the argument to the point that Asa Bush attacks and beats his uncle. To calm the situation and to distract attention from the kidnapping, Ishmael Bush instructs his son and brother-in-law to go hunting with him.

At the same time, Bumppo, Hoover and Dr. Asked the officer Duncan Uncas Middleton. This is to explore the newly acquired land on behalf of President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Dearborn . Middleton explains that his friend Meriwether Lewis should cross the northern part of the area. It turns out that Middleton is the grandson of Major Duncan Heyward , a friend of Natty Bumppo's, and that he suspects White of kidnapping his wife Inez. The trapper reports on his observation in connection with the mysterious car. Dr. Bat agrees to look for Inez at the camp and send her a message.

The next day, Esther Bush and the men of the clan set out to look for Asa, who has not returned from the hunt. His family discover his body in a bush and they discover that he was shot from behind. Bumppo, Hoover, Dr. Bat and Middleton have watched the group leave, they go to the camp, free Inez and clarify the matter to Ellen, after which Ellen agrees to go with her fiancé. On the way, the group meets the Pawnee chief Hard Heart, whose tribe is at war with the Sioux and who therefore does not join the group.

Later the fleeing people are captured by Mahtoree and his people. On the way to Siouxdorf, however, they manage to escape again. They meet Hard Heart again. He reports that the Sioux and the Bush family have allied themselves and that they suspect Bumppo of the murder of their son and the kidnapping of Ellen. With the help of a boat built by Hard Heart, the group manages to cross a river. But they are captured again by the Sioux on the other bank and brought to their village. The Bush family is also camped near the Sioux settlement. There all the chiefs hold a council of war on the prisoners. Mahtoree calls for the death of Hard Heart and the forced marriage with Ellen and Inez to show equality with the settlers. When an Indian threatens Hard Heart with a tomahawk , he manages to steal the weapon and flee the village. On the run he meets other Pawnee warriors, in a subsequent fight Hard Heart kills Mahtoree on a sandbank in the river. Since the Sioux warriors are involved in the battle, the Bush family invades the Indian village and frees the prisoners.

The next day, Ishmael Bush holds court over Bumppo. It turns out that Asa was shot by Abiram White. Esther and Ishmael decide that White should judge himself. Ellen explains that she wants to leave the Bush family and go to Kentucky with Paul. While the Bush family moves on, the others travel together to the village of Hard Heart. There they meet soldiers from Middleton's unit, with whom the group wants to go down the river. However, Natty Bumppo wants to spend the end of his life with the Pawnee Indians because he has a better understanding of their lifestyle.

In the fall of next year, Paul Hoover, Duncan Uncas Middleton and some of his soldiers visit Pawnee Village. There they meet the dying trapper. He asks her to mark his gravestone with his life data and a Bible verse . They promise him this before he dies in the arms of Middleton.

literature

Text output

  • The prairie . Complete edition. Edited translation by E. Kolb u. a. by Rudolf Drescher, illustrations by DE Darley, Insel-Taschenbuch 183, 1st edition, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-458-01883-2

Secondary literature

Web links

Commons : The Prairie  - collection of images, videos and audio files