Hans my hedgehog
Hans my hedgehog is a fairy tale ( ATU 441). It is in the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm in place 108 (KHM 108).
content
A rich farmer is mocked by others because he has no children. At home he said angrily: "I want to have a child and it should be a hedgehog". Then his wife has a boy with the upper body of a hedgehog whom she calls Hans my hedgehog . He has been lying on straw by the stove for eight years. Then he lets his father, who wants to get rid of him, buy a bagpipe and shod the rooster, and then flies into the forest with pigs and donkeys. There he sits in a tree, tending his flock and playing the bagpipes. Two kings get lost one after the other in the forest. Hans my hedgehog shows them the way. To do this, they have to prescribe what they come across first at home. With both of them it's the daughter, but the first wants to cheat on him. Hans my hedgehog rides his now huge herd of pigs home to the village, has them slaughtered and re-shod his rooster. Then he rides into the first kingdom, where he flies away from the soldiers and forces the king's daughter. But when he was sitting with her in the carriage, he undressed her, stabbed her and chased her home. In the second kingdom he is welcomed and married. When the princess goes to bed, she is afraid of the spikes, but he has four men light a fire and throw the hedgehog skin, which he strips off in front of the bed, into the fire. Now he's human, but all black. A doctor makes him white with water and ointments. His bride is relieved, and his father also comes to him into his kingdom.
At the end of the 3rd edition there is a poem (similar to Hansel and Gretel , Der Eisenofen ):
- My fairy tale is over
- and goes to his house in front of Gustchen.
Grimm's note
The fairy tale is in the children's and house tales in position 108 from the second part of the first edition from 1815 (there no. 22). Grimm's comment notes on the origin from Zwehrn (i.e. from Dorothea Viehmann ). You list many other versions as well. They categorize as related: Frog King (No. 1), The singing, jumping Löweneckerchen (No. 88), The Iron Stove (No. 127), from their Irish fairy tales No. 5 The Little Bag Piper , regarding the return at the end The Boy Giant (No. 90). They give examples of the fact that people who beg God too impetuously for the blessings of children are often punished in fairy tales with such frauds, who afterwards, when the parents are humiliated, turn into people. They point to a folk song from 1620 which says:
- oh, dear hedgehog, let me live
- i want to give you my sister
interpretation
The souvenir from the father and the unwitting prescription of the child are reminiscent of the fairy tale girl seeks his brothers ( the goose-girl at the fountain , the twelve brothers , the iron stove , the singing, jumping lion , the king of the golden mountain , the mermaid in the pond ). There, however, the daughter's wish is characterized by modesty. While the father takes on a more dominant role, the daughter goes on a hike in search of lost happiness, with the forest often being the threat. On the other hand, Hans experienced his ascent up the tree and growth there until the herd was very large . The bagpipes as a military instrument and the soldiers' victory over hitting, stabbing and shooting by simply flying over them combine the trait of exaggeration with masculine attributes. Instead of an issue of guilt, this is about an inferiority complex, a topic that all Hans fairy tales share: The clever Hans , Hans in luck , Hans marries , Der Eisenhans , Der stark Hans , Hans Dumm ; see. The brave little tailor : ride the unicorn.
In almost all variants of AaTh 441, the hedgehog asks the king's daughter directly, not what he meets first at home; the first two daughters commit suicide (see The Bearskin ). The type of salvation also varies (whipping, slashing, decapitating, kissing, tearing; see Frog King ). On the other hand, the relation to the motif of the quest , which can be triggered by the bride's premature attempt at redemption, is confirmed. Instead of the hedgehog there is (rarely) a thumb, pig or porcupine, which according to the Brothers Grimm is mythologically one . This becomes understandable when comparing the plump, short-limbed physique of the three animals, visually reinforced by the spiked dress. Hedgehogs make grunting noises similar to pigs and, like porcupines, live very shyly. The spines form from bristles shortly after birth.
According to von Beit , the (here cursed) magical birth belongs to the archetype of the hero. Lingering at the stove and riding on the rooster , the symbol of the sun, shows the dominance of the unconscious, it has a ridiculous effect on the conscious mind. The fact that the upper body is prickly serves as a mask, a shame that can be overcome through wholeness (four men). It remains a burned person , but apparently freed from the shadow .
The hedgehog has been known as a remedy since the ancient Greeks and Romans, in Christianity the allegedly snake-eating animal was considered a symbol of Christ, as a supposed collector of supplies he was considered a symbol of prudence. The burned spines were supposed to stimulate fertility and growth, the prickly skin served as a chastity belt. It should cure hair loss, leprosy, dropsy, kidney disease, epilepsy, and bladder weakness. In homeopathy , the porcupine is used as a sphingurus with a very similar indication (rarely). When caught, the hedgehog urinates, which was interpreted as an attempt to make its spines unusable for the catcher. It was imagined that a pair of hedgehogs could only mate while standing, which was both comical and unchaste (which is why they were roasted alive over the fire). According to many authors, he shakes fruit from the tree and carries it home and can be just as clever as the fox (see The wolf and the fox , the hare and the hedgehog ).
According to Lutz Röhrich, the subject of transformation into an animal and salvation through marriage is spread across different types of fairy tales, no other story has so many variants recorded in the whole world (see KHM Der Froschkönig , Das singende jumping Löweneckerchen , Das Eselein , Schneeweißchen and rose red ). Defloration on the carriage ride is a common literary motif, e.g. B. in Effi Briest . The homeopath Martin Bomhardt compares the fairy tale with the remedy picture of Antimonium crudum . Heinz-Peter Röhr concludes from the existence of topics such as division, lack, creativity, flight, achievement, anger, injury and relationship with Hans mein Igel that he has a borderline personality disorder .
Cf. in Giambattista Basiles Pentameron I, 2 The Little Myrtle , II, 5 The Snake .
parody
In Janosch's parody, the spiky-haired child learns the harmonica and becomes a film star as Jack Eagle with a motorcycle, whom the girls want to marry.
Opera
The composer Cesar Bresgen and his librettist Ludwig Andersen processed motifs from the fairy tale into an opera for young and old , see main article The hedgehog as a bridegroom .
watch TV
- The Storyteller , English-American television series 1988, season 1, episode 5: Hans my Hedgehog .
- Long Ago and Far Away , US TV series 1989–1993, episode 12: Hungarian Folk Tales .
literature
- Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : Children's and Household Tales. Complete edition . With 184 illustrations by contemporary artists and an afterword by Heinz Rölleke. 19th edition. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 2002, ISBN 3-538-06943-3 , pp. 528-533 .
- Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm : Children's and Household Tales. With an appendix of all fairy tales and certificates of origin not published in all editions . Ed .: Heinz Rölleke . 1st edition. Original notes, guarantees of origin, epilogue ( volume 3 ). Reclam, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-003193-1 , p. 201-202, 488 .
- Walter Scherf: The fairy tale dictionary . tape 1 : A-K. Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39911-8 , pp. 565-568 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Köhler, Ines: Hans my hedgehog. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 6. pp. 494-498. Berlin, New York, 1990.
- ↑ By Beit, Hedwig: Contrast and Renewal in Fairy Tales . Second volume of the symbolism of fairy tales . Bern 1956. pp. 25-32. (Verlag A. Franke AG)
- ↑ From Beit, Hedwig: Contrast and renewal in fairy tales. Second volume of «Symbolism of Fairy Tales». Bern 1956. p. 28. (Verlag A. Franke AG)
- ↑ Goerge, Rudolf: Igel. In: Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales. Volume 7. pp. 32-37. Berlin, New York, 1993.
- ^ Röhrich, Lutz: Fairy tales and reality. Second expanded edition, Wiesbaden 1964. pp. 92–93. (Franz Steiner Verlag)
- ^ Martin Bomhardt: Symbolic Materia Medica. 3. Edition. Verlag Homöopathie + Symbol, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-9804662-3-X , p. 101.
- ^ Röhr, Heinz-Peter: Way out of the chaos. Understand the borderline disorder. 4th edition, Munich 2009. (Patmos Verlag; ISBN 978-3-423-34286-5 )
- ↑ Janosch: Hans my hedgehog. In: Janosch tells Grimm's fairy tale. Fifty selected fairy tales, retold for today's children. With drawings by Janosch. 8th edition. Beltz and Gelberg, Weinheim and Basel 1983, ISBN 3-407-80213-7 , pp. 170-175.