Shepherd's novella

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Hirtennovelle is a short story by the German writer Ernst Wiechert . It is set in an East Prussian village in the first years of the 20th century before the First World War and was first published in 1935.

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"His father was killed by a falling tree around noon on a blue summer day". So begins the story of Michael, who lost his father as a boy. In a small East Prussian moorland he grew up largely left to his own devices, his mother getting through with herself and her son more poorly than well. He was "Michael, the son of a widow", as the teacher wrote in his class register, and the poorest boy in the village. But life taught him more than school, so he acquired many practical skills. Because of his difficult fate and his simple but awe-inspiring quiet manner, he enjoyed the respect of the village and the other boys. When he was twelve years old, he was given the office of village shepherd, taking responsibility for all the cattle, including the village mayor's bull. As a matter of course, without fear or shyness, but with an awareness of his responsibility, he approached the task.

The village had the advantage over others that a forest was also part of its municipality. One day the shepherd from a neighboring village started to visit the forest with his animals. But Michael defeated the older and stronger competitor in a duel with the help of his slingshot, without putting his victory on the big bells afterwards. One only found out about it in the village after a detour. So the youth went on their quiet pace. The sons of the wealthy villagers liked to visit Michael in his forest loneliness, even when they later had to go to higher schools in the city. They secretly envied him for his natural life. Only once, when a painter came into the village to paint and draw him, did Michael's life get a little out of hand. The woman made him erotic advances and showed him a picture on which she had painted him naked. But Michael tore up the picture, filled with a chastity that suited his natural life. The challenge in the form of the artist then left the village very quickly.

Rumors of an impending war reached the moor. And soon it was so far that the enemy was actually at the door. Since the cattle entrusted to Michael were almost the only property in the village, Michael looked for a very secluded place in the forest where the enemy should not find them. As a matter of course, in this critical situation he took responsibility for his community, whose residents confided in his leadership, perplexed and frightened. But just as he was bringing the residents and the cattle to safety, a lamb broke loose, left the herd and ran out onto the flat heather, where three enemy riders were already approaching. But Michael did not want to accept the loss of a single lamb, for which he was responsible as the village shepherd. He ran after the animal, although the riders here had to see him, and actually caught it again. But the enemy had caught up too. The Russians did not want to harm the penniless young man at all, they only demanded that the lamb be handed over, which they could use as food here. But Michael defended the Lamb with his life and died. But the village and its animals were saved. At Michael's grave, the teacher said, “It was not the fatherland for which this young and noble person fell, not the emperor and not a throne or an altar of this earth. But he had fallen for the lamb of the poor man, of whom it is written in the Bible, and in this lamb of the poor man all the fatherlands and crowns of this earth are now decided, because no shepherd of this world can be granted greater than death for the poorest of his flock. "

About the book

Ernst Wiechert was one of the most successful authors in Germany in the 1930s. Despite a conservative attitude, he was far removed from National Socialism , but stayed in Germany during those years. The shepherd's novella, published in 1935, is a typical work by Wiechert. In the story, formally and linguistically sophisticated and emotionally appealing, the constants of his art and view of life meet - the praise of the simple life, a romanticizing-mystical glorification of nature and the practical test of Christian attitudes. The main difference to contemporary blood-and-soil literature lies in this Christian meaning . Numerous biblical allusions, names and especially the shepherd symbolism express the Christian spirit on which the shepherd novella is based. At the end of the book, the author expressly emphasizes that his hero did not act for patriotic reasons, but that his behavior could serve as a model for his people: “But the German country, over which the dark cloud of war and bitter misery is now without mercy stand, could not be destined by God for extinction after the same God had laid a soul in the poorest and least of all of this German earth, as it shone and burned in this young shepherd. And nothing else he could pray at this young grave than that the soul of this dead man should live at all times over the village as over the whole fatherland. Then, perhaps in distant times to come, it will come to pass that the essence of such a soul will permeate all lands and help to establish the rule of him who has been called the Lamb of God. "

expenditure

  • Ernst Wiechert: Hirtennovelle . Albert Langen-Georg Müller Verlag, Munich 1935
  • Ernst Wiechert: Hirtennovelle . Verlag der Arche, Zurich 1946
  • Ernst Wiechert: Hirtennovelle . Langen Müller, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7844-1958-5
  • Ernst Wiechert: Hirtennovelle / The white buffalo . Paperback and large print editions. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-548-40122-8

Translations

  • Ernst Wiechert: Novella pastorale . Translated by Massimo Mila. Frassinelli, Turin 1942 (Italian)
  • Ernst Wiechert: La Vie d'un berger et autres nouvelles . Translated by André Meyer and Charles Silvestre. Stock, Paris 1946 (French)

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