The dairymaid and her friends
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The dairymaid and her friends is a story by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger , which appeared in 1884 in the 8th year of the Graz Heimgarten .
prehistory
The dairymaid is Marthel, who works in summer on the Dotterhasch-Hochalm under the legendary Mandelstein. At the request of the parish priest, the old farmer Dotterhasch took on this "orphan while her parents were alive".
Marthel has two friends - the young Egyd Dotterhasch, called Gidel and old Stefan. The latter is a beggar who appears as a storyteller in the highlands and is called the one-sided by the audience because of his raised right armpit . Marthel's mother had brought the good, mischievous one-sided person in from the street and adopted him as the godfather of the newborn girl, because there was just no better godfather to be had.
action
The old farmer Dotterhasch and his wife are sad. In just three days, on Jacobite Day , the 21-year-old Egyd and other young men will have to enter the army for military service; a life-threatening matter in times of war. For these few days at home, the worried mother advises: stop working and attend church services. Egyd doesn't hear, climbs up to his alpine pasture - armed with a scythe and whetstone - and helps Marthel, who is all alone up there in summer - mowing the grass. Both are getting on well with work. Egyd admires Marthel. How beautiful this 17-year-old has become since he last saw her! The Virgo promptly fends off his advances. Spend the night together in the alpine hut? It's out of the question. Egyd's shy expressions of love culminate in a kiss on the birthmark in Marthel's neck area.
Duty calls. Egyd descends into the valley and takes up military service.
The girl was through and through that kiss. Marthel cannot forget him. The one-sided appears and takes care of the worries of his godchild; serves up one of his stories as a remedy for such grief. After that, the virgin has a wish, who dares to venture into the cave on the Mandelstein during the Jacobin Night and redeem a poor soul resting in it with a " Grüß Gott !"
After the risky ascent between the sharp spikes of the Hochstoll and over the steep slopes of the window dump to the cave entrance, Marthel finds her toothless godfather instead of a poor soul inside the cave. He asks what she would have wished for. Marthel replies: “Should he then perish in the war? That he comes home happy, that's all I want, only that! "
Three weeks later the one-sided goes to heaven with Mary .
Marthel's wish is granted a year later. Down at the Dotterhaschhof, Egyd and Marthel are wedding.
expenditure
- The dairymaid and her friends . A story of the highlands by PK Rosegger. In: Heimgarten . tape 8 . Leykam, Graz 1884, p. 1-19 ( archive.org ).
- The dairymaid and her friends In: Peter Rosegger: The Wanderer's story book . First volume. A. Hartleben's Verlag, Vienna 1890 (3rd edition), pp. 17–54
- The dairymaid and her friends . In: Peter Rosegger: The book of novels. Second volume, L. Staackmann. Leipzig 1915, pp. 188-223.
- The dairymaid and her friends In: Peter Rosegger: Der Herrensepp and other stories . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1925
Audio book:
- Peter Rosegger: The dairymaid and her friends , reader: David Miesmer . Verlag Audiamo, Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-903178-06-9