There were two royal children
There were two royal children is a folk ballad , which works on the ancient Greek narrative of the so-called "swimmer saga" (Hellespont, Dardanelle saga). With the Roman Ovid and the late Greek poet Musaios , it washanded downas a poem by Hero and Leander and then spread internationally.
Text of a variant
There were two royal children who
loved each other so much,
they couldn't get together,
the water was far too deep.
Oh dearest,
if you could swim, swim over to me!
I want to light three candles,
and they should light up for you.
A fake nun hears
that who pretends to be asleep;
she would extinguish the little candles,
the youth drowned so deeply.
It was a Sunday morning,
the people were all so happy,
not the king's daughter,
her eyes were closed.
Oh mother, dearest mother,
my head hurts so much;
I would really like to take a walk
to the green sea.
Oh daughter, dearest daughter,
you shouldn't go alone,
wake up your youngest sister,
and she should go with you.
Oh mother, dearest mother,
my sister is still a child;
she picks all the little flowers that
are on Grünheide.
Oh daughter, dearest daughter,
you shouldn't go alone;
wake up your youngest brother
and let him go with you.
Oh mother, dearest mother,
my brother is still a child;
he shoots me all the little birds that
are on Grünheide.
The mother went to church,
the daughter kept going ;
she walked
until she found the fisherman.
Oh fisherman, dearest fisherman,
if
you want to earn big wages,
throw your net into the water
and fish for me the prince.
He threw the net into the water,
it went to the bottom;
the first fish he caught
was himself [!] the king's son.
13. She takes him in her arms
and kisses his dead mouth:
Oh little mouth ,
if you could speak, my young heart would be healthy.
14. What did she take from her head,
a golden royal crown:
Look, noble fisherman,
you have earned your reward.
15. What did she
pull off her finger, a ring of gold so red:
Look there, noble fisherman,
buy bread for your children.
16. She swung her coat around her
and probably jumped into the [!] Sea:
Good night, my father and mother,
you will never see me again.
17. There one hears bells ringing,
one hears misery and distress;
there are two royal children lying here, they
are both dead.
Plot of the folk ballad
In round brackets there are action elements of different variants ( variability ), in square brackets explanatory additions. There is a deep lake between two castles. The virgin writes a letter, the youth also writes [Hero and Leander after Ovid]. He wants to swim over to her; she sets up a light to show him the direction in the water. A bad woman, a false nun, as it says in the text, extinguishes the candle; the noble knight drowns.
The following dialogue, integrated into it the “Elsleinstrophe” handed down early, with the alternating stanzas of direct speech, “Ach Elslein ...” ( Ach Elslein, dear Elselein ) and “Oh mother ...”, belongs to the core of the plot. With the various excuses that "her head hurts" [she has a stomach ache; Due to the same, formative function of the dialogue, the text here mixes with another folk ballad by the "Beautiful Jewess"], and the girl manages to leave the house. She takes an "evening walk" [in other folk ballads this is a "dangerous" walk, the "evening" is a typical time for this] and finds the dead knight. Desperate, she drowns herself.
Lore
The folk ballad of the "King's Children" is a classic example of an ancient song; the tradition extends continuously from the 15th to the 20th century. One of the most recent recordings parodies the protest against a nuclear power plant at the Kaiserstuhl in 1975. At the same time, it is one of the most popular texts, which is reflected in the large number of variants. The text is a model example in numerous anthologies of the genre “Ballad”.
Ovid as a narrative material was taken up again and again in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The oldest reference to this folk ballad is a short text mark [no more] “Elzeleyn, lipstis elzeleyn…” (belongs to: Oh Elslein, dear Elselein ) to a melody in the “Glogauer Liederbuch”, around 1480. This melody continues through the Printed tradition by Hans Gerle (1532), Newsidler (1536) and Schmeltzel (1544), and it is one of the melody types for the "King's Children" with the text beginning "Elslein, dearest Elslein, how I would like to be with you ..." It is also a source for many notes (melodies used for other texts) from the 15th to the 20th century.
With the beginning “A beautiful young man advertised, vber ein braiten see ...” the song is written by Georg Forster (composer) (1540). Achim von Arnim used this beginning of the text and continued composing for “ Des Knaben Wunderhorn ” in 1806 with a “mystifying indication of origin” (Heinz Rölleke), as is typical of this edition of the Romantic texts.
In addition to various strands of tradition such as on printed song pamphlets (see leaflet ) and in books of useful songs (such as: song book for German artists, 1833; Reisert, student Kommersbuch, 1896; Lahrer Commersbuch, 1953 and more often; very often in song books of the Wandervogel and the Bündische Jugend) there is a large number of records from oral tradition (also relatively early ones, e.g. from Schleswig-Holstein or East Prussia in 1814). Usually they can be assigned to two large groups with the beginning of the song "Oh mother ..." (dialogue part) and the common "There were two royal children ...".
The large number of variants reflects the popularity of this song. The text type is rightly used as a model example in numerous anthologies of the “ballad” genre. It is correspondingly frequent in many anthologies and in practically all scientific collections. The diversity of the variants (proof that variability (folk poetry) is a hallmark of oral tradition) is already reflected in the very different beginnings of the song [in a selection]: "Es warb a beautiful young man about a braite lake ..." (1540); "Between two castles that is a deep lake ..." (after 1563) ;; "Oh mother, dear mother, my head hurts so much ..." (Brandenburg before 1804); "Oh mother, dear mother, my head hurts so much ..." (Franconia around 1830); "Et wassen twee Künigeskinner ..." (Westphalia 1842); "Once upon a time there was a countess, a beautiful woman ..." (Baden, late 19th century); "There were two royal children who loved each other so much ..." (Zurich 1912); "In a small village ..." (Lower Austria before 1913); "Was once an old widow, an ancient stone woman ..." (Upper Franconia around 1920/1930); "Dor wiren twee Königskinder ..." (Mecklenburg 1937) and so on.
In addition to the High German text, there is a Low German-Dutch form “Et wasen twei Kunigeskinner…” (for example in Reifferscheid, Westphalia 1879, as No. 1 in his collection; Dutch song type: van Duyse No. 43; also in Breuer's “Zupfgeigenhansl ", 1911/1913/1930 and more often).
International parallels
We know a Danish tradition in handwritten form around 1650 and on song pamphlets from 1689; Swedish also handwritten in 1572/73 and in more recent times often reprinted from records from oral tradition (for example by Otto Andersson from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland, 1934). There is evidence in the Baltic languages (Estonia, Latvia), Sorbian , Polish and Slovenian . In addition to French (song type: Donciex No. 22), the song has been handed down in other Romance languages.
With the widespread use of the song material, details of the content change. The text is adapted to its new environment. The change in milieu when crossing ethnic boundaries is striking. The German versions are set in a courtly environment, while the versions adopted in the Slavic language area of Moravia and Silesia have almost exclusively a backdrop of the village and the river bank.
interpretation
In the antique version Leander wants to swim across the Hellespont to visit the priestess Hero. On a stormy night the lamp goes out and Leander drowns. At the sight of his dead lover, Hero throws himself from the tower. Even if a great fate is dealt with, the result in the folk ballad is a close-knit, "familiarized" event in the dialogue between an uncomprehending mother and a daughter in love. The singers around 1912 [see the beginning of the text] were able to recognize themselves in this small space of everyday problems. Tension is not built up in an explanatory manner, but in the abrupt sequence of scenes the events steer towards the catastrophe: death of the knight, suicide of the king's daughter. Another possibility does not seem to be imaginable. In terms of ideology and mentality, the lyrics of the song call for adapted passivity, it calls for suffering and endurance.
A "bad fate" separates the lovers; the role of the apparent adversary "false Norn" is relatively weak. She is not an independently acting person, but a tool, and is by no means an embodiment of evil, but has the narrative function of a damaging woman as in a fairy tale. In a version from 1912, the king's son wants to go to his "sweetheart"; three candles, lit by the adored princess, are supposed to help, but a “false nun” prevents it. Even the diminutive relativizes this role, but the consequences of that overly attentive neighbor are tragic. While others are happy about the day off Sunday morning, the king's daughter has tearful eyes. She argues with her mother, but finds no excuse to leave. Only when the mother goes to church does she see her chance. She pays the fisherman with her crown and the ring to rescue the drowned man. She no longer needs both crown and ring, worldly honor and marriage vows. She commits suicide, and the farewell to her father and mother thus also contains the reproach to them, not to the minor Norn . That is the aim of their lawsuit: this is not how parents should treat their children. One shouldn't hinder lovers.
The main ideological point is the generation conflict. The difficulties that arise are not solved individually, but made universally valid and frozen in stereotypical, impersonally rigidly repeated parts of the dialogue. Direct speech is the common narrative form of the folk ballad, but here it is also a reflection of talking past each other in the generation conflict between concerned parents and unadjusted children. The content of the song is used to practice civil adaptation and socialization that conforms to the milieu. Singers “learn” social behavior patterns that a society bound by tradition values, which - at first, perhaps sounding contradicting - is mixed with criticism of such thinking. However, the ballad does not offer a solution to the conflict between the generations.
Literary effect
The fate of Hero and Leander is the content of Franz Grillparzer 's tragedy Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen, premiered in 1831 .
A copy is available from Franz Magnus Böhme , Volksthümliche Lieder (1895), no. 362, from Goethe's collection of Sesenheim songs from 1771; Goethe was made aware of this folk poetry by Herder in Alsace . In addition to “ Graf und Nun ” and other folk ballads, these have significantly influenced high literature, compare art ballads . Friedrich Schiller writes an art ballad Hero and Leander , but without reference to the “royal children”.
The romance of Ludwig Hölty , Hero and Leander , handwritten in 1769/70, is also based directly on the Greek epic of Musaios , which Hölty translated in parts; the distance to the Königskinder folk ballad is huge.
Theodor Fontane quotes a few stanzas from the ballad in Grete Minde , his novella from the early 17th century.
Engelbert Humperdinck's long-forgotten fairy tale opera Königskinder (New York 1910) was re-performed in 2007 at the Zurich Opera House and gained surprising topicality thanks to the new interpretation as an experience of xenophobia: both title characters are rejected by society because one does not believe in their identity.
Literature (selection)
- Rosenmüller, Ernst: The folk song There were two royal children. A contribution to the history of the folk song in general . Dresden 1917 (Dissertation University of Leipzig 1917)
- Kommerell, Hilde: The folk song There were two royal children . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1931 (Tübingen German Studies, Volume 15; Dissertation University of Tübingen)
- Heiske, Wilhelm: "Königskinder und Elsleinstrophe". In: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 3 (1932), pp. 35–53.
- Weber-Kellermann, Ingeborg: “The folk ballad of the beautiful Jewish woman in a European context with the song of the two royal children”. In: Swiss Archives for Folklore 58 (1962), pp. 151–164.
- Glaser, Gert: The Carinthian folk ballad. Investigations into the epic Carinthian folk song . Klagenfurt 1975, pp. 98–114 ("Zwa blonde Königskinder, de liabtn si 'so much ..."; with commentary).
- Springer-Strand, Ingeborg: [interpretation of the Königskinder ballad]. In: Meid, Volker (Ed.): Gedichte und Interpretationen , Volume 1. Stuttgart 1982, pp. 21–31.
- Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales, Volume 6, 1990, Col. 845-851, Articles Hero and Leander
- Otto Holzapfel : The great German folk ballad book. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2000, pp. 206-213 (several variants, with commentary).
- Otto Holzapfel: List of songs. Volume 1–2, Olms, Hildesheim 2006, ISBN 3-487-13100-5 = Otto Holzapfel : List of songs: The older German-language popular song tradition . Online version since January 2018 on the homepage of the Folk Music Archive of the District of Upper Bavaria (in PDF format; further updates planned), see the song file "There were two royal children ..." with further information.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ This legend was localized in antiquity with the strait of the Dardanelles between (today's) Çanakkale and the (Ottoman) castle of Kilitbahir on the European shore. A corresponding (Ottoman) castle is located on the Asian side north of Çanakkale in a military area and is not accessible.
- ↑ In a few texts, printed in the beginning of the 19th century, a norn appears instead of the “nun” or the “false nun” (in many other texts it is “a bad woman” and similar; see also notes on interpretation, the classifies this role narrative as secondary). The corresponding "sources" do not stand up to scientific criticism and come from a time in which people liked to "mythologize": Bothe 1804, von der Hagen 1807, Baumstark / Zucallmaglio 1835, partly also Droste-Hülshoff 1842 (see notes on the Talk page).
- ^ Otto Holzapfel: The great German folk ballad book , Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2000, p. 209; recorded in Zurich in 1912
- ↑ William Heiske "King children and Elsleinstrophe". In: Jahrbuch für Volksliedforschung 3 (1932), pp. 35–53.
- ↑ Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : "The folk ballad of the beautiful Jewess in a European context with the song of the two royal children". In: Swiss Archives for Folklore 58 (1962), pp. 151–164.
- ↑ Des Knaben Wunderhorn [...] by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano (Heidelberg 1806–1808). Edited by Heinz Rölleke . Stuttgart 1975–1978. Reclam Edition, Volumes 1-3. Stuttgart 1987. The page number of the original is quoted: Volume 1 (1806), p. 236, with the beginning of the song “A beautiful boy advertises there over the wide lake ...”, headline “The lost swimmer, oral”. Arnim only uses the beginning of the song by Forster and continues to write with the (fictitious) indication of origin "communicated by H. Schlosser" [Goethe's brother-in-law]. Arnim's poetry was probably not written until 1806 and has replaced “Oh Elßlein, dear Elßlein ...” from the print manuscript for the Wunderhorn.
- ↑ The chronological order does not matter here.
- ↑ Cf. Otto Holzapfel: Liedverzeichnis. S. 559. However, the song is quoted by Heinrich Heine in Journey from Munich to Genoa , Chapter XII: "It's an outdated story that nobody believes even now ...", 1829.
- ^ Fontane, Theodor: Grete Minde. in: Fontane, Theodor: Complete novels, stories, poems, estate, WBG, Darmstadt 2002, vol. I, p. 43 u. 47.