The four clever fellows

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The four wise fellows is a fairy tale . It is in Ludwig Bechstein's German Book of Fairy Tales at position 73 (1845 No. 85) and comes from Antonius von Pforr's The Book of Examples of the Wise Men (Chapter 15: From the King's Son and His Companions ).

content

A prince, a nobleman, a merchant and a worker wander together, have no more money and reach a town. In order to obtain something, the prince recommends trust in God, the merchant prudence, the nobleman beauty, the worker practice. He earns them two silver pennies for food with wooden stretcher bars. The next day, it's the nobleman’s turn, hesitant at first, but beguiles a widow who gives him a hundred gold pennies. The merchant says his father's name at the port and negotiates a profit of five thousand gulden. The prince's son sits there so lost, just as the king is being carried to his grave, that he is being arrested. He tells how his brother took the kingdom away from him when his father died. Many knew him and are now making him the new king. He tells how he bought two lovebirds from the market for his last two pfennigs, who showed him a treasure in return and knew that no one escapes God's providence. He employs his traveling companions.

origin

Bechstein names the source, Pforr's book of examples . Hans-Jörg Uther notices Mot. N142: happiness and unhappiness are close together. The structure is similar to the competition stories of craftsmen such as Grimm's Die Drei Brüder , The four artful brothers . The author uses heightening and retarding moment, in that the king's son is first locked up, probably as a test of faith. Lovebirds are biblical offerings, on the last money cf. Mk 12.42  EU , as in Bechstein's The King's Munster .

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. 337-344, 392-393.

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 , pp. 392-393.