The thankful animals

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The thankful animals is a fairy tale ( AaTh 160). It is in Ludwig Bechstein's German Fairy Tale Book at position 72 (1845 No. 82) and comes from Antonius von Pforr's The Book of Examples of the Old Wise Men (Vol. 1, Chapter 14: From the goldsmith, the monkey, the adder and the snake ).

content

A pilgrim frees a goldsmith from a pit with a monkey, a snake and a grass snake. They're faster, climb the rope, say thank you, but warn against the ungrateful goldsmith. At last he climbs up and thanks verbally that the pilgrim should visit him. On the way, the animals entertain the pilgrim, the snake gives him gold from the palace. He shows this to the goldsmith, who therefore reports him to the king, he should be hanged. On the way to the place of execution the snake bites the king's son, doctors cannot help, but astrologers see the pilgrim's innocence. The king's son gets well, the goldsmith is hanged.

origin

Bechstein names the source, Pforr's book of examples of the ancient sages . The monkey, snake and adder are reminiscent of the ancient Roman punishment for parricide. Doctors have theriac , an ancient antidote. Title and plot are similar to Grimm's The Faithful Animals and Basiles Der Stein des Gockels . Bechstein's ingratitude is the world's wages contains an allusion to the fairy tale.

The ingratitude in The Oldest Fairy Tales of Europe (1983) is similar.

literature

  • Hans-Jörg Uther (Ed.): Ludwig Bechstein. Storybook. After the edition of 1857, text-critically revised and indexed. Diederichs, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-01372-2 , pp. 334-337, 392.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Jörg Uther (Ed.): Ludwig Bechstein. Storybook. After the edition of 1857, text-critically revised and indexed. Diederichs, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-01372-2 , p. 392.
  2. ↑ Karel Dvorák (ed.): The oldest fairy tales in Europe. 2nd Edition. Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1986, pp. 33–38 (Artia Verlag, Praha 1983, translated by Ingeburg Zpĕváčková).