The legend of the proud Aggäus

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The legend of the proud Aggäus , even the history of the proud Aggäus ( Russian Сказание о гордом Аггее , Skasanije o gordom Aggeie ), is a legend of the Russian writer Vsevolod Garshin that in 1886 in the April issue of the magazine Russkaya Mysl in Moscow appeared.

Ilya Repin 1884: Vsevolod Garschin

The Lord God had given Aggaeus full power in one country. Lonely - down from his palace - Aggäus ruled. He didn't want to know anything about the common people. The ruler lived in harmony with his wife. However, she was not allowed to simply speak to him, she was only allowed to reply to his address. When the high priest preached God's word during the service, which prophesied: “The rich will be poor, but the beggars will get rich”, Aggäus had the clergyman imprisoned. This made God angry.

When Aggäus was hunting a deer, the supposed prey jumped into a river and swam to an island. Aggäus looked around the bank. The entourage had remained out of sight. The ruler undressed and swam to the island.

God, who was still angry with Aggäus, took the opportunity and sent an angel to earth. This landed next to the clothes around the bank, had to assume Aggäus' form on divine instruction, put on his clothes and take the place of ruler in the palace.

While the angel ruled in the palace, the naked Aggäus was not recognized by any of the subjects, but laughed at and mocked. A compassionate shepherd put him in a sack. In his city, Aggäus was given worn clothes and was allowed to wear bricks on the building site. His letter to his wife went unanswered. The angel ruled the land for years. When Aggäus recognized the reigning ruler not his image, but the angel of God, he fled the city in horror. The wife complained because there was no more conjugal duty to be performed. The angel replied that he had vowed not to touch the woman.

When the angel had invited all the beggars and needy people in the country to his palace, Aggäus also came to accompany a crowd of the blind. The angel beamed and announced to the guide that his sentence had been served. He may rule again. Aggäus refused and stayed with the blind crowd. The angel left the ruler's body. The latter was weeping and buried. The angel stood before God.

German-language editions

Output used:

  • The legend of the proud Aggäus. An old Russian legend . P. 422-434 in Vsevolod M. Garschin: The stories. Transferred and with afterword by Valerian Tornius . 464 pages. Dieterich'sche Verlagbuchhandlung, Leipzig 1956 ( Dieterich Collection , Vol. 177)

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