The raven

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The raven is a fairy tale ( ATU 400, 401, 518). It is at position 93 in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm (KHM 93).

content

A girl is cursed in raven form by her mother in anger and flies off her arm into a dark forest. She explains to a man how he can redeem her: An old woman is sitting in a house in the forest, and he is not supposed to take her food and drink, but rather wait for her on the tale in the garden. On the first day you arrive in a cart with four white stallions, on the second with four red and on the third with four black. But every time he takes a sip of the old woman's wine and falls asleep. The king's daughter gives him bread, a piece of meat and a bottle of wine that will never be used up, a gold ring and a letter that he can redeem her when he comes to Stromberg Castle. On his way he meets two giants in a dark forest. Because he has the inexhaustible food, they don't eat him, but look for the lock for him and carry him the long way. It's on a mountain of glass . He sees the king's daughter, but cannot go up to her, and lives in a hut downstairs for a year. He takes a magic stick, a camouflage cloak and a horse from three robbers. With it he rides up, opens the gate with his stick and invisibly throws the ring into the golden, wine-filled goblet of the Virgin. She finds her savior on horseback in front of the castle. When she greets him, he dismounts and they get married.

Language and style

Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde , 1909

The raven is the cursed princess, which fits the feminine gender of the word in the dialect. The Lohhucke is evidently a pile of wood (cf. Hucke in KHM 90 ). Some somewhat unclear wording was omitted for the 3rd or 6th edition, e.g. B. “If that is, said the giant, then you are good” and then he saw the cursed maiden drive . The multiple revisions with long retention of such peculiarities perhaps shows Grimm's special appreciation for this text. In addition, there were more common expressions such as to your heart's content (from 3rd edition) and your life has happened (from 6th edition).

The three different horse-drawn carriage and three miracle gifts emphasize the three-part division of the plot with increasing attempts at redemption. The miracle gifts of the princess are followed by those of the robbers. The impatient mother reappears in the encroaching old woman. The imposed meal corresponds to the satisfied greed of the giants, just like the glass of wine on the Lohhucke corresponds to the goblet on the glass mountain.

Origin and processing

Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde , 1909

Grimm's comment notes on origin from the Leine area (by Georg August Friedrich Goldmann from Hanover , like KHM 90 ) and mentions a similar text in Zingerle p. 239 . They compare Brünhild's liberation, to the castle on the Glasberg the flame hall of the Nordic saga , as in Old Danish songs and others. Fairy tale p. 31 and annotation. P. 496. 497 , since the flame and the shimmering glass are very similar, Grimhild's forgetful drink goes with the glass of wine . They also name KHM 25 The Seven Ravens , a text from the Brunswick collection on the carriage motif (without details of the author, Braunschweig 1801 from publisher Friedrich Bernhard Culemann ), which also resembles KHM 92 The King of the Golden Mountain , on the ring in the wine cup the Hildebrand song p. 79 . A fragmentary text from Grimm's estate about the king's son who is not afraid also contains the coach motif.

For the 3rd and 6th editions, the text has been smoothed out in details more logically and linguistically, without significant changes to the plot. From the 6th edition, the mother is expressly queen, the child naughty (instead of restless ). Even the raven is “a king's daughter by birth and has been cursed” (previously: “was cursed and a king's daughter by birth” ). For the 3rd edition, the “yes” from her speech “I already know that he's sleeping” was omitted . From the 6th edition onwards, in response to his question "What should I do" (previously: "How should I start" ), she announces that she will come three times instead of waking him up for each of these. The behavior of the old woman, who only calls him “poor man” from the 3rd edition , shows a clearer increase from the 6th edition onwards, in that she puts the bowls in front of him the third time. From the 3rd edition onwards, the giant says “if that is true, you can stay calm” (instead of “if that is, ... then you are good” ) and otherwise takes up a little less space. From the 3rd edition onwards, he no longer brings his maps down, but spreads them out and, from the 6th edition onwards, just sets it down at the destination, without further speeches or farewell meals. After accepting the miraculous gifts from the 3rd edition onwards, the man mocks the "bear skins" (cf. KHM 101 ), who instead of giants are robbers from the 6th edition onwards. From the 6th edition, the princess drives around the castle in her carriage (see KHM 69 ), where he only sees her driving before . Instead of just “ riding the glass mountain”, the horse can now more consistently “ride anywhere” .

Motif references

Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde , 1909

Seem similar at Grimm for transformation in Raben first KHM 9 The twelve brothers and KHM 25 The Seven Ravens , for salvation rather KHM 92 The King of the Golden Mountain , KHM 193 The drummer and KHM 197 The crystal ball . The transformed are also waiting on the Glasberg , in a castle or at a great height. In KHM 92 and KHM 197 the hero takes from three giants very similar miraculous gifts . Cf. also fairy tales of the virgin in the tower, such as KHM 12 Rapunzel , or the note on KHM 6 The faithful John . The house in the forest and Grimm's phrase, the man slept so soundly as if he were a stone reminiscent of KHM 60 , 69 , 123 or 169 , the witch's turned wine on KHM 22 . See millet thief in Ludwig Bechstein's German book of fairy tales .

The hero's letter presupposes general reading ability in this use, so it seems a more recent addition. Otherwise it often contains his death sentence as Urias letter (KHM 29 , 31 ). Otherwise, the episodic redemption theme would have equivalents in late medieval literature. Here redemption is a return to human life and partnership. However, all eroticism is sublimated into a wedding kiss and a ring in a wine goblet (see also KHM 25 , 65 , 67 , 101 , AaTh 947 ).

The raven belongs to the fairytale type AaTh 400 men in search of the lost woman and according to Holmström's original further subdivision to subtype 2, which is characterized by the sleepy tryst and is documented throughout Europe. It often starts with a poor soldier, gambler, or doe pursuit. The sleeping potion can be replaced by an apple or pinprick of the servant. The black raven figure of the person to be redeemed shows the closeness to versions with nights of torment (such as KHM 92 , 113 , 121 ). According to Christoph Schmitt, the statement that a woman has a lead in maturity, who has already separated from the family and helps the man to grow up, is almost overly clear . Fasting, but also the mountain of glass , can be understood as an expression of a conflict of autonomy . Both the plumage and the glass mountain, according to Hedwig von Beit, signify an inner barrier to life that has fallen or raptured. Bruno Bettelheim believes that since the reason for the curse was not given, the child must have shown taboo sexual behavior, which made it look like an animal to the mother. Walter Scherf only sees a shortening of the swan maiden type to the missed appointment, which does not show a broken ban, but only the weakness of the hero, the motives for finding again are just as indefinite, but the cursed woman herself always attracts the young man in a conspicuous form attentive. Scherf compares Johann Wilhelm Wolf's German House Tales (1851) No. 3 The Princess of Tiefenthal , No. 4 Of the Eighteen Soldiers , No. 13 The Twelve Brothers , No. 34 The Thirteen Cursed Princesses , No. 20 From the Beautiful Swan Maid , No. 5 The golden kingdom , but also fairy tales of the AaTh 465 A type like Alexander Nikolajewitsch Afanassjews I don't know where, I don't know what.

reception

The Raven is the title of a musical theater piece for children from 2019-2020 based on the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm by Claus Woschenko .

literature

  • Brothers Grimm: Children's and Household Tales . Complete edition. With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. Pp. 470-475. Düsseldorf and Zurich, 19th edition 1999. Artemis & Winkler Verlag; Patmos Verlag, ISBN 3-538-06943-3
  • Brothers Grimm: Children's and Household Tales . Last hand edition with the original notes by the Brothers Grimm. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin, not published in all editions, published by Heinz Rölleke. Volume 3: Original Notes, Guarantees of Origin, Afterword. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Stuttgart 1994. pp. 181–182 and p. 483. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-003193-1 )
  • Hans-Jörg Uther: Handbook to the children's and house fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 , pp. 213-215.
  • Walter Scherf: The fairy tale dictionary. Second volume L - Z. Special edition 2007. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3-406-51995-6 , pp. 957-960.
  • Christoph Schmitt: Man in search of the lost woman. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 9. Berlin / New York 1999, pp. 195-210.
  • Otto Holzapfel : The husband's return home. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 6. Berlin / New York 1990, pp. 702-707.
  • Werner Bies: Raven . In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 11, Berlin / New York 2004, pp. 119-131.
  • Jurjen van der Kooi: Dispute over magic objects. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 12. Berlin / New York 2007, pp. 1370-1375.
  • Hedwig von Beit: Symbolism of the fairy tale. A. Francke, Bern 1952, pp. 392, 712, 757.
  • Hedwig von Beit: Contrast and Renewal in Fairy Tales. Second volume of «Symbolism of Fairy Tales». A. Francke, Bern 1956, pp. 145, 147, 271.

Web links

Wikisource: The Raven  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German dictionary by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm zu Rabe
  2. ^ German dictionary by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm zu Loh and zu Hucke
  3. ↑ Lothar Bluhm and Heinz Rölleke: “Popular speeches that I always listen to”. Fairy tale - proverb - saying. On the folk-poetic design of children's and house fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. New edition. S. Hirzel Verlag, Stuttgart / Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-7776-0733-9 , p. 111.
  4. ↑ Wikisource: Grimm's Note on The Raven .
  5. ↑ Rölleke, Heinz (ed.): Fairy tales from the estate of the Brothers Grimm. 5th improved and supplemented edition. Trier 2001. pp. 35-37, 107-108. (WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier; ISBN 3-88476-471-3 )
  6. ↑ Uther, Hans-Jörg: Handbook to the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm. Berlin 2008. pp. 213-215. (de Gruyter; ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 )
  7. ↑ Christoph Schmitt: Man in search of the lost woman. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 9. Berlin / New York 1999, pp. 198-199.
  8. ↑ Hedwig von Beit: Symbolism of the fairy tale. A. Francke, Bern 1952, pp. 392, 712, 757; Hedwig von Beit: Contrast and Renewal in Fairy Tales. Second volume of «Symbolism of Fairy Tales». A. Francke, Bern 1956, pp. 145, 147, 271.
  9. ↑ Bruno Bettelheim: Children need fairy tales. 31st edition 2012. dtv, Munich 1980, ISBN 978-3-423-35028-0 , p. 332.
  10. ↑ Walter Scherf: The fairy tale dictionary. Volume 2. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39911-8 , pp. 957-960.
  11. ↑ https://www.edition-woschenko.de/mt-7101