Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver

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The two main characters in a production by the Mannheim open-air theater (Lena Heuer and Matthias Heckmann)

Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer is a children's book by the German writer Michael Ende from 1960. The next volume from 1962 is called Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 . The illustrations in the original edition are by Franz Josef Tripp ; In 1983 Reinhard Michl created new illustrations for a new edition .

Both books are among the most successful and popular children's books in German-speaking countries. Jim Knopf won the German Youth Book Prize in 1960 and was recognized in the 1962 Hans Christian Andersen Prize list . Translations are sold in the UK, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the USA, among others.

There are well-known adaptations of both books by the Augsburger Puppenkiste . The series was first shot in black and white in 1961/1962 and completely remade in color in 1976/1977. In addition, a cartoon series with 52 episodes was broadcast for the first time in 1999 . A real-life version was released in 2018 .

action

"Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver"

On the small island of Lummerland , next to King Alfonso the quarter-to-twelfth, the locomotive driver Lukas and his steam locomotive Emma as well as the shopkeeper Mrs. Waas and Mr. Sleeves live . One day the postman brings a package with a little black boy in it. The orphan is given the name Jim by Lukas because it "looks the same" and is raised by Mrs. Waas. When Jim turns 14, the king ordered Luke and Emma to come to his castle. He explains to Lukas that Lummerland is too small to accommodate another subject with Jim and, with a heavy heart, asks Lukas to part with Emma. However, since neither Lukas likes to separate from Emma nor Jim from Lukas, they both leave the island with Emma, ​​who has been converted into a ship, in a night-and-fog operation.

After a long sea voyage, they land in Ping , the capital of Mandala . There they want to go to the emperor, but are not allowed into the imperial palace. Unsuccessfully, they try to make money by using Emma as a carousel. Hungry, they meet ping pong , who gets them rice from the palace kitchen. From him they learn that the Emperor's daughter, Princess Li Si , is being held captive in the Dragon City and that the Emperor is deeply mourning her.

Jim and Lukas talk to the big boss Pi Pa Po , who wants to have them thrown into dungeon for insulting bigwigs. Ping pong saves them and enables a conversation with the emperor. He tells that fishermen found a message in a bottle from Li Si in the Yellow River, in which she wrote that she was in the dragon city of Kummerland with Mrs. Mahlzahn in Alte Straße 133 on the "third floor left". Jim realizes that the package in which he came to Lummerland should be sent to exactly this address.

The emperor describes the way out of the city to a mountain range, called the crown of the world . There is only one way to get to the other side: crossing the Valley of Dawn . The two adventurers only barely escape death, as the rock faces in the valley collapse under the thousands of reflected sound waves from the moving locomotive. You reach the desert called the end of the world . With Jim's help, Lukas manages to repair Emma, ​​who was damaged in the rapid escape through the collapsing valley. They get to know the phenomenon of the mirage , but threaten to die of thirst without water in the desert. After hours of driving, they get to know the friendly, dummy giant Mr. Tur Tur , who takes them in his oasis and takes them the next day to the Black Rock region, the next hurdle on the way to the dragon city.

After Jim and Luke pass the Mouth of Death in the Black Rock region, they reach the land of a thousand volcanoes. There they meet the half-dragon Nepomuk , whose defective volcano Lukas is repairing. As a thank you, Nepomuk reveals the top secret route to the dragon city. They also disguise Emma as a fire-breathing dragon and thus get to the dragon city of Kummerland and to Alte Straße 133, where the school of the evil dragon Frau Mahlzahn is located. They learn that many children from all over the world were kidnapped by the pirate gang Die Wilde 13 and sold to Ms. Mahlzahn, among them the missing princess Li Si. With Emma's help, Jim Knopf and Lukas are finally able to overpower Ms. Mahlzahn, capture them and free the children. On the Yellow River , which rises behind Mrs. Mahlzahn's house and flows underground through the crown of the world, they return to Ping with the bound Mrs. Mahlzahn in tow. On the way, Li Si tells the story of how she was caught by the Wild 13 and given to Ms. Mahlzahn.

After the happy return, the emperor promises his daughter to Jim and has Mrs. Mahlzahn locked in a pagoda . She thanks her friends because they overcame her but did not kill her. This enables her to sleep and transform into a Golden Dragon of Wisdom . Already at the beginning of the year-long transformation, she has the wisdom to answer Jim and Lukas how they can return to Lummerland together, even though there is not enough space for everyone. The solution is the floating island . Mrs. Mahlzahn explains the way to them and falls into her yearlong sleep.

On the return trip to Lummerland with the state ship of the emperor they catch the floating island and drag it to Lummerland. There Jim and Li Si celebrate their engagement and Jim experiences another surprise: Emma has had a baby named Molly , so that Jim can now also be a real train driver with his own locomotive.

"Jim Button and the Wild 13"

Since the return of Jim and Lukas after their adventurous journey, life on Lummerland has taken its course. When one day the mailman with his mail boat against New Lummerland encounters because he has not seen it, decided the king to install a lighthouse. However, Lummerland is too small for that. A lighthouse that is huge at the same time and yet hardly takes up any space should be found. Jim thinks of the dummy giant Mr. Tur Tur, who fulfills exactly these characteristics, and the two adventurers set off by water with Emma and Molly to the desert at the end of the world to bring Mr. Tur Tur to Lummerland.

In Barbarian Sea Jim and Luke help the mermaid Sursulapitschi and her father, the Sea King Lormoral when these ask them the Meeresleuchten repair. Sursulapitschi tells them about the crystal of eternity , an indestructible glass that her fiancé, Schildnöck Ushaurischuum , is supposed to make in order to get permission from Lormoral to marry. For this he needs the partnership with a fire being. At the Great Gurumusch Magnetic Rock , Jim and Lukas can restore the sea glow. However, they find out that it must not be permanently activated because this also activates the magnetic rocks, which would attract ships and shatter them. In addition, they would not be able to get away from the magnetic rock because Emma and Molly would also be attracted to the magnet. So a guard is needed to deactivate the magnetism when a ship approaches.

Lukas and Jim use two magnetic rocks and a poker to convert their Emma locomotive into an airworthy “ perpetual mobile ”. You set off again with Emma, ​​but have to leave Molly behind on the magnetic rock. You fly over the crown of the world , land in the desert and visit Mr. Tur Tur there. He fled his house because an alleged "monster" had driven him from there. This, in turn, hides in his house for fear of the dummy giant. He turns out to be the half-dragon Nepomuk. Lukas and Jim introduce Mr. Tur Tur and Nepomuk to each other, after which they both understand that there is no reason to be afraid of each other.

Nepomuk tells Jim and Lukas about his escape from the dragons in the dragon city, as they found out that he had helped Jim and Lukas. Lukas thinks that Nepomuk could be the suitable keeper for the magnetic rocks. The four fly back to the Gurumusch magnetic rock with Emma. Jim and Lukas introduce Nepomuk to Schildnöck Ushaurischuum, who finds in the half-dragon the peacefully-minded fire creature that he needs to make the crystal of eternity .

To Jim's horror, Molly has disappeared. The friends suspect that she might have fallen into the water. They are converting Emma into a submarine to search for Molly on the ocean floor. To do this, they fill the steam boiler of the locomotive with water and let seahorses pull it. Since they forgot to inform Nepomuk about the dive, they only barely escape the attraction of the activated magnetic rocks. They also get tired over time, as the air in Emma's cab is running out. Since they cannot appear, they drive to an island where Emma can be rolled onto the beach. Before they pass out, they see the ruins of a mysterious city underwater.

When they wake up again, they are in lumberland. There Mr. Tur Tur takes up his position as a living lighthouse. A letter also arrives from the pirate gang Die Wilde 13 to Ms. Mahlzahn, which Lukas receives on his behalf. The friends can infer from the letter that Die Wilde 13 took Molly with her under the false assumption that instead of the usual schnapps, Molly was Frau Mahlzahn's - highly unattractive - payment for the kidnapped children. Ms. Mahlzahn has meanwhile completed her transformation into the Golden Dragon of Wisdom. The emperor informs Jim and Lukas that the dragon will soon wake up and that they should come to Mandala with Li Si. But they receive hints from the dragon in only partially understandable words how to find Die Wilde 13 , get Molly back and find out the secret of Jim's origin.

The next day they set out on a ship belonging to the emperor to look for the pirate gang. Nobody suspects that Princess Li Si sneaked on board as a stowaway out of spite after Jim forbade her to come along. You meet the ship of the Wild 13 and a wild sea battle breaks out. Jim and Lukas can bring Molly onto their ship, but the pirates win the battle, take everyone prisoner and sink the emperor's ship. Jim is the only one who can hide on the pirate ship, but has to watch Molly go down with the imperial ship.

The pirates sail into a typhoon and through a waterspout to their home fortress, called the land that must not be . Following the advice of the Golden Dragon of Wisdom, Jim is able to acquire the captain's star, the hallmark of the gang's leadership. He overhears the pirates and learns that he was fished out of the sea by them lying in a rush basket and that he should be sent to Mrs. Mahlzahn. Soon after, the pirates notice the lack of the star. Since they can no longer distinguish one another and no longer know who is in charge, the pirates of exactly the same strength fight and beat each other unconscious, so that Jim can tie them up and free his friends. In the fort's treasury, Jim discovers that he is really Prince Myrrh of Jamballa. The pirates have great respect for him because of Jim's cunning and his generosity in giving them the freedom and see him as their new leader. With the pirate ship through the waterspout you leave the land that is not allowed to be and sail to Mandala to the golden dragon of wisdom. This frees the pirates from the mistaken belief that they are Die Wilde 13 , because in reality there are only twelve of them. The dragon also announces to them that the sunken Jamballa will reappear when they submerge the land that must not be . To do this, they have to open the twelve doors of the pirate fortress at the same time. This happens, and when Jamballa rises out of the sea, it turns out that the little Lummerland is actually the highest peak of Jamballa.

Jim aka Prince Myrrh can take possession of his land as Jimballa and marry Li Si. Ushaurischuum and Sursulapitschi give Jim Molly back, whom they found far south at the deepest point of the ocean. Ushaurischuum has transformed the iron of the locomotive into indestructible glass with the crystal of eternity .

characters

Jim button

Jim Knopf is the main character in both books. As a baby, he came to Lummerland by post as an orphan . He grew up with the island grocer Mrs. Waas and did an apprenticeship as a train driver with Lukas, who is also his best friend. He also has dark skin. This is later explained by the fact that he is said to be descended from one of the three Magi , namely Kaspar, in the 33rd generation . Jim Knopf's birthday is August 2 or 9, 1960.

He got his last name when Mrs. Waas desperately sewed a button on his unbuttoned hole in his pants so that Jim could simply unbutton and button it. Lukas gave him his first name because, as he says, the boy “just looks like that”.

Luke

Lukas the engine driver lives on Lummerland. He is small and round and wears a peaked cap , work suit and smokes a pipe . Lukas has blue eyes and his face is always "almost completely black with oil and soot", despite the diligent use of a special engine driver's soap. Lukas is so strong that he can tie an iron bar in a bow. His hobby is spitting art - he's so good at it that he can even spit a loop . Before Lukas and his best friend Jim Knopf set off on their adventures, he usually drives his Emma locomotive through the five railway tunnels of Lummerland every day, whistling in two voices . He is also the station master of the only station in Lummerland.

Emma

Emma is the name of Lukas' steam locomotive . It is a bit fat and does not belong to any particular railway company , it is unclear whether Lukas is the owner. It is a "good, if perhaps a bit old-fashioned, narrow - gauge tank locomotive " with an A A wheel arrangement. The vehicle has neither connecting rods nor coupling rods or running axles , and no steam cylinders can be seen in the illustrations . After the overload to escape from the collapsing valley of dawn, Lukas says that the “tactical piston” that sets the pace that Emma is panting at has broken and that it is right inside. A steam locomotive with only one piston and cylinder would be unusual and technically problematic. On the boiler behind the chimney there is a steam dome and a steam pipe . There is a large spotlight on the door of the smoke chamber . The coal box is located at the rear of the cab . A bell for acoustic signals hangs above this . There are no statements about the brakes . Apart from the locomotive, there are no associated railroad cars . Emma has no couplings to be coupled with other rail vehicles . Passengers ride in the driver's cab, if at all.

On Lukas and Jim Knopf's adventure trips, Emma is converted from a railroad vehicle to a ship , a submarine , a land vehicle without rails , an aircraft and a “ perpetual mobile ”. At the end of the first volume Emma has a daughter, the baby locomotive Molly, a father is not mentioned in the story.

Molly

At the end of the first volume, Lukas showed his friend Jim Knopf her daughter in the coal box. Jim names the little locomotive Molly. Molly was obviously born to Emma. Like her mother, she is a steam locomotive with an A A wheel arrangement . As a land vehicle, it is also powered by a single-axle drive with steam engines . It is also a narrow-gauge tank locomotive whose gauge , like all other dimensions, increases as it grows. She does not (yet) have her own coal box. As a watercraft, it has no drive of its own, but is pulled by Emma as a tug with a tow rope.

In the second volume, Jim and Lukas leave Molly on the Great Gurumusch Magnetic Rock after they have found the cause of the no longer functioning sea lights. When she returned, the little locomotive disappeared. She is taken from the Wilden 13 as alleged payment by Mrs. Mahlzahn and initially freed in a sea battle against her, but then goes down with the defeated imperial ship. Ushaurischuum and Sursulapitschi later found Molly far to the south at the deepest point of the ocean. Ushaurischuum then transforms the iron of the locomotive into crystal of eternity , a kind of indestructible glass. The reason for this is his great gratitude that Jim and Lukas had brought him together with the fire creature Nepomuk, with whose help he was able to create the crystal of eternity .

King Alfonso the quarter to twelfth

Alfonso the quarter to twelfth is king of Lummerland. He lives in a castle between the two mountain peaks. His name comes from the fact that he was born at a quarter to twelve. Alfonso the quarter to twelfth is considered a good ruler. He sits on his throne all day long with a crown on his head and in a red velvet dressing gown and slippers, and talks to other kings on a gold telephone.

King Alfonso the Quarter to Twelfth has two subjects, Mrs. Waas and Mr. Sleeves (Lukas is not a subject, he is a civil servant as a train driver). Alfonso reigns during the week, on Sundays and public holidays the king goes to the window at a quarter to twelve and waves his hand. His subjects cheer him and Emma whistles. On high holidays the king gives his subjects and Lukas ice cream, which he orders from Mrs. Waas in the shop.

Mr. Sleeves

Mr. Sleeve is a subject of King Alfonso the quarter-to-twelfth. He wears a stiff hat and always goes for a walk with his umbrella. He lives in an ordinary house. In the original novels, Mr. Sleeve has no particular occupation; he is “mainly a subject and was ruled”, only towards the end of the second part does he become the private tutor of Jim, Li Si and the other children on Jamballa. In the film adaptations of the Augsburger Puppenkiste, Mr. Sleeve is a photographer by profession .

Mrs. Waas

Mrs. Waas also lives on Lummerland and is the second subject of King Alfonso the quarter to twelfth. She is round and fat and has red cheeks. Ms. Waas lives in a house with a shop where you can buy everything you need. Mr. Sleeves shop at her regularly. When Jim Knopf comes to Lummerland, Mrs. Waas becomes his adoptive mother. Your name comes from the fact that one of your ancestors was probably a bit hard of hearing and therefore always asked "Waaaaas?" As soon as he had not understood something. In the version of the Augsburger Puppenkiste there is a scene in which Mrs. Waas answers the phone in the same way.

Doorkeeper

He is the lowest-ranking member of the Imperial Office . A somewhat snobbish officer whom Jim and Lukas initially only get to know as a "big yellow head that causes difficulties" and only through the door. He refused to let them in, because at the beginning they had no concrete reason for their visit or even a personal invitation from the emperor, but dutifully reported their concerns to the head doorman via the usual official channels.

Ping pong

Ping Pong is the thirty-second child of Mr. Schu Fu Lu Pi Plu and was 368 days old when he first met Jim and Lukas. Ping pong is so small that its head is no bigger than a table tennis ball . Jim and Lukas get to know him when they arrive at Mandala trying to earn some money with Emma so that they can buy something to eat. He brings them a meal from the imperial head chef's kitchen and informs them that Princess Li Si is missing. He saves Lukas and Jim from arrest and execution at the last moment by informing the emperor. After the subsequent disempowerment of the chief bonzen Pi Pa Po, the emperor appointed Ping Pong as chief bonzen despite his youth. Ping pong proves to be extremely efficient in this position.

Bigwigs

The bigwigs are the ministers and senior officials of the Mandala Empire. The supreme or prime minister here bears the title "Oberbonze".

Oberbonze Pi Pa Po

He is described as very fat, obsessed with power and jealous. He would have liked to have Princess Li Si as his wife, but at the same time is too afraid to free her from the dragon city himself. When the news of the two strangers who were ready for this heroic deed reaches the bigwigs after a long and tortuous path through the instances of the Imperial Office , he decides to have them arrested as spies and executed. In the novel he only plays a minor role, but in the cartoon he appears as the main villain.

During an excruciatingly protracted conversation for Jim and Lukas, which was conducted from above and in the worst "official Chinese", he actually succeeds in provoking Lukas to "insult the bigwig" and have the palace guard lead him away. For this, however, he is punished by the emperor himself. In the film adaptation of the Augsburger Puppenkiste, however, he is only warned and in the end, when they are back from the city ​​of dragons , he is even nicer to them.

Palace guard

It is the guard of the imperial palace with thirty-two men. Your captain is the only one who has learned to obey and is consistently pursuing it without asking whether an order is meaningful or admissible. The guard leads Jim and Lukas to the bigwigs and is supposed to lead them to the place of execution before the emperor steps in at the last moment.

Mr. Schu Fu Lu Pi Plu

The head chef of the Emperor of Mandala. On special occasions he puts on his biggest chef's hat, supposedly the size of a feather bed. Mr. Schu Fu Lu Pi Plu is also the grandfather of the tiny ping pong.

Mr. Tur Tur

Mr. Tur Tur is a so-called dummy giant; the further you get away from it, the bigger it seems. Only those who dare to get very close to him realize that he is just as tall as any normal person. But because nobody dares to do this, Mr. Tur Tur is very lonely.

Jim Knopf and Lukas the engine driver meet Mr. Tur Tur on their long journeys. They got lost in the desert at the end of the world , from which Mr. Tur Tur helped them out. Later it becomes a living lighthouse for Lummerland, so that the mail ship and the imperial ship of state in particular no longer collide with the island. Mr. Turtur is a vegetarian.

Emperor of Mandala (China)

Pung Ging, as his name is, is a tall, kind, very old man with a long beard. After a warning from Ping Pong, he freed Jim and Lukas from the clutches of Mr. Pi Pa Po and the palace guard at the last moment. Henceforth they are under his personal protection as the longed-for rescuers of his daughter Li Si.

Blossoms of learning

The court's own scholars of the emperor, who due to the generally already high level of education of the Mandalanians (Chinese) are considered to be almost really omniscient. They explain to Jim and Lukas everything scientifically known about dragons, the dragon city Kummerland and the way there.

Nepomuk

Nepomuk is a dragon, or more precisely a half-dragon, since his mother was not a dragon lady, but a hippopotamus . This can also be seen on his little tongue. When Jim Knopf and Lukas run out of coal for their Emma locomotive in the land of volcanoes, Nepomuk gets them new fuel and shows them the way to the Dragon City. In the later sequel, Nepomuk becomes the magnetic guardian of Gurumush's magnet.

Mrs. Molar

A figure of Ms. Mahlzahn from the real film adaptation (2017) by Jim Knopf and Lukas the engine driver

Mrs. Mahlzahn is a skinny full dragon with a single long tooth in its mouth. She buys children from Wilden 13, which she holds captive in her school in Alte Strasse 133 and torments them with lessons using blows. Ms. Mahlzahn is captured by Jim and Lukas with the support of Emma and taken to Ping, where she transforms into a golden dragon of wisdom.

Princess Li Si

Princess Li Si is the daughter of the Emperor of Mandala (China). She is very clever and has a strong spirit of contradiction, which is why she is captured by the Wilden 13 on a secret excursion and sold to Mrs. Mahlzahn. After her liberation, she becomes engaged to Jim Knopf. Since she wants a husband who is smarter than her, Jim should learn to read and write.

King Lormoral

King Lormoral is the sea king and ruler of the underwater city Jamballa , who is quite worried about the old and no longer functioning crystal of eternity , which is supposed to illuminate the underwater world and keep everything disgusting out of the depths of the sea. He urgently needs help and instructs the Schildnöck Ushaurischuum to restore the crystal of eternity. But when Jim mourns Molly about his missing locomotive, he joins the party and finds Molly again.

Ushaurischuum

Ushaurischuum is a Schildnöck, a turtle-like aquatic creature, which also lives in King Lormoral's underwater city. She is madly in love with Sursulapitschi, the daughter of the sea king. But the legendary crystal of eternity stands in the way of their marriage , which Ushaurischuum first has to recreate. For this Ushaurischuum needs the partnership with a fire being. Towards the end of the story, he finds the half-dragon Nepomuk as a partner and creates the crystal of eternity with him .

Sursulapichi

Sursulapitschi is the second daughter of the sea king Lormoral and at the same time the fiancée of Schildnöck Uschaurischuum, who, however, as long as he does not restore the crystal of eternity , cannot marry Sursulapitschi. She is also involved in the search for Jim's locomotive Molly.

The Wild 13

The Wilde 13 is a dangerous gang of pirates who make the oceans unsafe with their sailing ship . They kidnap Princess Li Si and sell her to Ms. Mahlzahn. They had already sold Jim Knopf to the dragon, but a postal mistake landed him on Lummerland instead of Sorrowland. You live in a castle that is in the eye of a typhoon, the land that must not be . The name of the castle is also the reason for the typhoon that raged around it. When counting their team strength, the Wilden 13 made a small mistake. In reality they are only twelve brothers. Their error is based on the fact that a leader has to be added to the twelve pirates - who is, however, elected from their midst every morning. The pirates all look the same and pride themselves on being the only thirteenlings in the world until Jim Knopf discovers they are only twelve.

A special writing technique is characteristic of them: Each of them can only master one letter. When they want to write something down, they stand together, the word is spoken out loud and slowly by the leader, and when one of the brothers recognizes “his” letter, he steps forward and writes it down. Later, Jim will use these letters to give each of them a name (and thus an individual identity): Antonio, Emilio, Fernando, Ignazio, Ludowico, Maximiliano, Nikolo, Rudolfo, Sebastiano, Theodoro, Ulrico, Xaverio.

places

"Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver"

Lummerland

Lummerland , the home of Jim Knopf, Lukas the engine driver, Mrs. Waas, Mr. Sleeves and King Alfonso the quarter-to-twelfth is a small island in the sea . It is described as "about twice the size of our apartment". On Lummerland there is a mountain with two peaks (as in the book edition; in the puppet show it becomes “an island with two mountains”). The route of the railway line from Lukas and Emma leads around the summit and also through the mountain in five tunnels . The castle of King Alfonso, the quarter-to-twelfth, stands between the two peaks . Overall, Lummerland is so small "that you had to be careful not to cross the national borders because you got your feet wet immediately".

Because Lummerland is so small, no lighthouse will fit there. Among other things, this is a problem for the mail boat, which therefore rams the island once in bad weather. Jim Knopf and Lukas hire the dummy giant Mr. Tur Tur, who can be seen from afar with a lantern in hand and takes up little space on the island itself.

Lummerland is also the highest point (the two mountains thus the highest peaks) of Jamballa, the lost kingdom of Jim's ancestors. After the pirate island was sunk, the land sunk by Mrs. Mahlzahn rises again from the depths of the sea and lifts Lummerland so that it is enthroned at the top.

Mandala (china)

Mandala is the land in which Jim and Lukas end up stranded after their departure from Lummerland after wandering over the sea for weeks. The colorful, transparent trees , the small bridges made of porcelain and the omnipresent sound of bells made of silver are striking . Mandala ( Sanskrit : "circle") is an originally religious symbol in Buddhism ; What is meant here is an Asian empire based on China.

In the early editions, the country is still referred to as China ; The journey in the film adaptations of the Augsburger Puppenkiste also goes to China. In more recent book editions since about 1983, it says "Mandala" here at Michael Ende's own request.

Ping

Ping (from Beijing ) is the capital of the Empire Mandala with the Imperial Palace and the Center Square , the alleged center of the Empire and the world. Here is a large lantern , through whose inscription Jim and Lukas learn of the kidnapping of Princess Li Si.

Imperial Office

The Imperial Office probably takes up the largest part of the Imperial Palace and consists mainly of a maze of corridors and side corridors with countless doors. Of course, it is a “long, long way” from one instance to the next, and messages are also transmitted with corresponding delays. So the report of Lukas' and Jim's presence from the doorkeeper first goes to the head doorkeeper, from there to the main doorkeeper, then to the clerk, then to the lower chancellery lists, from there to the upper chancellor lists, who reported it to the chancellery, and the bigwigs are there it finally "seeped away" completely and would not have been passed on to the emperor at all, had the little boy ping pong not been able to warn him of Mr Pi Pa Pos' intrigue.

Crown of the world

This is a large, red and white striped or patterned mountain range and absolutely insurmountable. Here the Yellow River flows out of a cave , but its real source is suspected - rightly, as it turns out later - in the dragon city of Kummerland. The only way to cross the mountains is through the Valley of Dawn. In fact, the Himalayas are also known as the “roof of the world”.

Thousand wonder forest

The Thousand Wonder Forest is a dense, jungle-like and not easy to traverse primeval forest between the Mandalan Wall and the Crown of the World Mountains. It consists of colored glass trees, creepers and strange flowers . Because everything is transparent, you can see many rare animals (e.g. two-headed snakes , snails with houses with many floors, chipmunks with sail-ears to fly ) in it. The journey through the forest takes three days.

Valley of dawn

The Valley of Twilight is a road-wide, level passage in the mountains that is called the Crown of the World. Because of his gruesome "voices", nobody before Jim and Lukas had dared to cross the valley. This is the echo that is tossed back and forth in a zigzag through the narrow rock walls and does not come out of the narrow valley at the ends, but is thrown back again, causing a new echo itself. As a result, the noises multiply over time and become louder and louder. At most, heavy rain can occasionally “cleanse” the valley of noises. As the locomotive Emma crossed the valley, her panting and rumbling intensified so much that the rock walls collapsed and the valley was completely covered. Jim Knopf and Lukas narrowly escape the catastrophe, in the second volume they even benefit from the debris field of the former valley, since here they can cross the mountains with the flying “Perpetumobile” at a much lower height than on the outward journey, on which they directly cross the mountain ranges overfly.

end of the world

The end of the world is a large desert on the other side of the Krone der Welt mountains, with frequent and quite adventurous mirages . It got its name because nobody in Mandala knew what was going on behind it. This is where the dummy giant Mr. Tur Tur has retired. Nobody except Mr. Tur Tur knows what happens after this desert. Mr. Tur Tur helps Jim Knopf leave the desert at the end of the world and continue to Sorrowland.

Black Rock region

The region of the black rocks is a lonely area between the desert at the end of the world and the land of a thousand volcanoes , from both areas it can only be recognized as black nothing . The rocks here are so unimaginably black that all light and all warmth are swallowed up, except for a small purple patch of sun on particularly bright sunny days. This region has to be crossed on a dead straight road on a narrow rock ridge between two chasms, which at the highest point leads through the mouth of death - a rock gate through which an icy wind blows constantly and makes horrible noises, here it is also complete dark. Only Emma's steam, which freezes to snow in the freezing cold, can make the road visible in the absolute darkness.

Land of a Thousand Volcanoes

Geographically not precisely definable, extremely inhospitable high-altitude landscape with high volcanic activity and a retreat for dragons or half-dragons that are not classified as purebred. One of them, Nepomuk, helps Jim and Lukas to camouflage their locomotive and guide them safely between active volcanoes and lava eruptions to the entrance of the dragon city, after the two friends had previously "repaired" his clogged volcano and made it usable again.

Land of Sorrows

Kummerland is the city ​​of a thousand dragons , located in the largest volcanic crater in the land of a thousand volcanoes . Only pure-bred dragons, which do not look like any other animal, are allowed into the city by the strict guards. Jim and Lukas outsmart the controls by using the half-kite Nepomuk and sculptable lava to give the locomotive Emma the appearance of a kite. Because of the different shapes of the purebred dragons, there are no stairs in the city, but ramps everywhere, so Emma can then easily drive up to the apartment of the dragon Mrs. Mahlzahn with Jim Knopf and Lukas on board.

Old Street 133

At the address Alte Straße 133 in Kummerland you will find the house in which the dragon Mrs. Mahlzahn lives on the third floor on the left and holds the children kidnapped by the Wild 13 prisoners. Like all houses in Kummerland, the house has no stairs, but a spiral staircase similar to a slide, which allows kites of all sizes and finally Emma to get to the individual floors. Below the house is the source of the Yellow River, which gave Princess Li Si the opportunity to call for help through a message in a bottle.

Floating island

The later New Lummerland could only be found through a hint from the dragon Frau Mahlzahn. Shortly before his transformation, he suggests to Jim and Lukas that they use the floating island to solve the space problems on Lummerland. He also mentions the coordinates: “On the second day of your journey home you will come across a floating island at 12 noon at point 321 degrees 21 minutes 1 second west longitude and 123 degrees 23 minutes 3 seconds north latitude.” This is always the case by partial sequences of the sequence of digits 123 or 321, which indicates purely fictitious coordinates. In addition, a northern latitude over 90 degrees (north pole) and a longitude over 180 degrees are not provided for in the current geographic coordinate system.

"Jim Button and the Wild 13"

New Lummerland

Neu-Lummerland is the formerly floating island, now firmly overgrown with Lummerland via coral trees. Mr. Tur Tur is building his new home here to act as a human lighthouse to ensure that no one hits the small island.

Barbaric sea

The Barbaric Sea is a stormy and eerie area that marine life and seafarers commonly avoid. This is where the Magnetic Cliffs are located.

Great Gurumusch magnet rock

The Great Gurumusch- magnetic rocks is a huge horseshoe magnet whose poles extend as "Iron Cliffs" from the sea and are connected to each other by an iron core in a submarine cavity. They are named after their builder, the first sea king Gurumusch, who once had them built as a source of energy for sea lighting. The special thing is that the connecting wire is interrupted in the middle and can only be bridged by a movable crystal roller with an iron core. In this way it is possible to turn the magnetic force on or off by separating or connecting the two poles, the “day and night side”. Even Jim and Lukas with their locomotives can only safely reach or leave the cliffs as long as the magnetic force is switched off.

In the novel, the Iron Cliffs are also the secret meeting point of Mrs. Mahlzahn and the Wild 13, where they exchange their captured children for schnapps . It was also the dragon who switched off the magnet at that time so that the pirate ship could dock without danger.

City on the ocean floor

The city on the ocean floor belongs to the sunken Jamballa, which has similarities with the sunken island of Atlantis . The sea king Lormoral lives here with his two daughters. One of them, Sursulapitschi, helps Lukas and Jim Knopf with their problems on the ocean floor, not far from the Great Gurumusch Magnetic Rock. They almost choked to death while looking for the baby locomotive Molly in the sealed Emma, ​​and at first they think the city is a hallucination .

Land that shouldn't be

The home castle of the Wild 13 is in the land that mustn't be , somewhere near the South Pole. Since the rock island instead of the lost Jamballa was lifted out of the sea as if by a large scale and therefore should not actually exist at all, wind and waves rage against it with all their might. But since they do this from all sides at the same time, a large hurricane, a waterspout , formed, in whose eye the land with the pirate castle , which was also called storm eye , now lies protected. Only the Wild 13 are able to steer their ship through the cyclone to Sturmauge and back again.

Jamballa

Jamballa was the home of King Kaspar and thus also of Jim Knopf, his last descendant. The dragon Frau Mahlzahn had once in a dispute with Kaspar sunk the kingdom of Jamballa into the sea and let the land that must not be rise up. Jamballa can only rise again if the twelve loft doors at Sturmauge Castle, which keep the water out like bulkheads, are opened at the same time and the land that is not allowed to be is sunk.

The island of Lummerland is actually the highest peak on the submerged continent of Jamballa, barely rising from the sea. After the Wild 13 (who are actually only twelve) sunk their castle voluntarily, Jamballa reappeared and Jim was crowned king there as Prince Myrrh, the country is renamed "Jimballa".

Film adaptations by the Augsburger Puppenkiste

In 1961/1962 the Augsburger Puppenkiste filmed both books in black and white for television in collaboration with the Hessischer Rundfunk . Both series consisted of five episodes each with a running time of 28–35 minutes. When it was repeated from 1965/1966, the series was only broadcast in abbreviated form. In 1976/1977 there was a remake in color . The remake consisted of four episodes per series with a uniform running time of around 30 minutes.

synchronization

role Voice 1961/1962 Voice 1976/1977
Lukas, the engine driver Walter Schellemann Manfred Jenning
Jim button Elisabeth Göttler Winfried Küppers
teller Manfred Jenning Sepp laundry
King Alfonso, the quarter to the twelfth Max Boessl Gerhard Jentsch
Mr. Sleeves Günter Knecht Arno Bergler
Mrs. Waas Rose Oehmichen Rose Oehmichen

Actual filming

The original outdoor setting of Lummerland in the Babelsberg Film Park .

In 2016/2017, a live adaptation of Michael Ende's book was made for the big screen in Studio Babelsberg under the direction of Dennis Gansel . In addition to Henning Baum as Lukas, the locomotive driver and Solomon Gordon as Jim Knopf, a cast of prominent actors was employed ( Annette Frier , Christoph Maria Herbst , Uwe Ochsenknecht , Shirley MacLaine and others). The film was released in German cinemas on March 29, 2018. By the end of June 2018, it had grossed almost 11 million euros in Germany with over 1.5 million moviegoers (with estimated production costs of around 25 million euros).

musical

The first musical version was written in Swiss German by Emil Moser and Jörg Schneider and premiered in November 1970 at the Zurich Opera House (with Ruedi Walter as Lukas, Margrit Rainer as Frau Waas and Zarli Carigiet as King Alfonso the Quarter to Twelve).

A second musical version of the material was written by Christian Berg . Konstantin Wecker provided the music for this .

Children's parade / primary educational staging

An important primary educational staging by Jim Knopf and Lukas the locomotive driver (rated as excellent by Michael Ende in multi-page letters) took place in 1974 during a children's parade in Wilhelmsdorf. It was conceived by the educator and well-known Swabian dialect poet Hildegard Gerster-Schwenkel and performed during the parade to mark the 150th anniversary of the Wilhelmsdorf Brethren .

Interpretations

Julia Voss interprets the book as a counter-story to National Socialist imagery and contemporary misinterpretations of Darwinism . She also reveals a possible origin of the name Jim Knopf. The crew of the research vessel Beagle , with which Charles Darwin traveled, included a boy named Jemmy Button , which means Jemmy "button" in German. The indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego had previously been kidnapped by another expedition to England in the 19th century, which Voss believed was Lummerland. Support for her interpretation, in addition to autobiographical evidence and the anthroposophical character of the author, she sees in the descriptions and the racial politics of Kummerland as well as in Jamballa as a counter-version to National Socialist Atlantism myths .

On the other hand, the pedagogue Christiane Kassama complained about the stereotypical and racist portrayal of Jim Knopf and called for the book to be banned from day-care centers , as it could introduce children to racist clichés early on.

expenditure

literature

  • The great Jim Button and the Wild 13 songbook. All the songs from the musical. With audio CD. Thienemann, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-522-17383-X .
  • Birgit Dankert : Michael Ende. Trapped in fantasy. Lambert Schneider, 2016, ISBN 978-3-650-40122-9 .
  • Hildegard Gerster-Schwenkel: Jim button and Lukas the engine driver. (Children's move in Wilhelmsdorf / 150th anniversary of the brother community), In: Sommergarten, October 1974, number 2, 54th year. K. Thienemanns Verlag Stuttgart, o. P.
  • Nick Hazlewood: Savage: the Life and Times of Jemmy Button . Hodder & Stoughton, London 2000 and St. Martin's Press, New York 2001, ISBN 0-340-73911-8 .
    • The man who was sold for a button. The incredible story of the Jemmy Button. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-352-00645-8 ; as TB at Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2005, ISBN 3-404-64207-4 .
  • Wenke Böhm: It's Jim Knopf's birthday. Michael Ende's book "Jim Knopf" is 50 years old . In: The Berlin literary criticism . February 3, 2010.
  • Fabian M. Friedrich, Meike Ebbinghaus: Jim Knopf. About Michael Ende's "Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver" and "Jim Button and the Wild 13". First German Fantasy Club, Passau 2004, ISBN 978-3-932621-74-1 (= secondary literary series 52).
  • Fridhelm Moser: Jim Button and the Seven Wise Men. A philosophical introduction to Lummerland locomotivism. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-8218-3452-8 .
  • Heidi Rösch: Jim Knopf is (not) black. Anti / racism in children's and youth literature and its didactics. Schneider, Hohengehren 2000, ISBN 3-89676-239-7 .
  • Barbara van den Speulhof, Fred Steinbach (ed.): The big book of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. (= Anniversary band for the 65th anniversary and the 60th television birthday of the Augsburger Puppenkiste). Boje Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-414-82354-0 , pp. 106-109.
  • Julia Voss : Darwin's Jim Button. An unknown chapter in the history of evolution. In: FAZ, No. 292 of December 13, 2008, p. 33, online since December 16, 2008 under the title: Jim Knopf saves the theory of evolution.
  • Julia Voss: Darwin's Jim Button. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-10-095805-1 .
  • "Zeit" student library 13: Mrs. Mahlzahn, Tur Tur and Emma. The time . Edition 3/2003. ( http://www.zeit.de/2003/05/Sch_9flerbiblio?page=all ).

media

Audio CD

  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, Part 1: "Lummerland". Reading, Silberfisch, ISBN 978-3-86742-207-9 .
  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver , Part 2: “Mandala”. Reading, Silberfisch, ISBN 978-3-86742-208-6 .
  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, Part 3: "Land of Sorrows". Reading, Silberfisch, ISBN 978-3-86742-209-3 .
  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, Part 1, “From Lummerland to China”. Radio play CD. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-732-5 .
  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, Part 2, “From China to the End of the World”. Radio play CD. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-734-1 .
  • Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver, Part 3, "From Kummerland to Lummerland". Radio play CD. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-736-8 .
  • Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver. Radio play CD. New production by WDR (2010). The Audio Verlag, ISBN 978-3-89813-935-9 .
  • Jim Button and the Wild 13 , Part 1: "The Sea Lights". Reading. Silberfisch, ISBN 978-3-86742-216-1 .
  • Jim Button and the Wild 13 , Part 2: "The Magnetic Rock". Reading. Silverfish, ISBN 978-3-86742-217-8 .
  • Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 , Part 3: “The land that must not be”. Reading. Silberfisch, ISBN 978-3-86742-218-5 .
  • Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 , radio play CD, new production by WDR, Der Audio Verlag, ISBN 978-3-89813-936-6 .
  • Jim Knopf and the Wilde 13 , Part 1, "Das Perpetumobil". Radio play CD. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-738-4 .
  • Jim Button and the Wild 13 , Part 2, “The Great Sea Battle”. Radio play CD. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-740-6 .
  • Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver. The musical. Universal, ISBN 3-89765-894-1 .

DVD

  • Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Button and Lukas the engine driver. hrMedia, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-89844-099-0 . (All four episodes on one DVD.)
  • Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13. hrMedia, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-89844-100-8 , all four episodes on one DVD
  • Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Knopf. hrMedia, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-89844-136-9 , all eight episodes on two DVDs
  • Augsburger Puppenkiste: Jim Knopf and Lukas, the engine driver and the Wilde 13; Mikesch the cat. hrMedia, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-89844-177-6 . (The original black and white films from 1961/1962/1964 on three DVDs.)

CD-ROM

  • Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver. CD-ROM, volume 1 from Terzio-Verlag for Windows 98 - XP; Published October 2003, ISBN 3-932992-16-4 .

Web links

Commons : Jim Knopf  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.literature.at/webinterface/library/ALO-BOOK_V01?objid=14782&page=13&zoom=3&ocr=
  2. ↑ http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/politik/Der-feinste-kleine-Kerl-Jim-Knopf-feiert-seinen-55-Geburtstag-id35028067.html
  3. ↑ https://www.biorama.eu/jim-knopf-feiert-seinen-55-geburtstag/
  4. ↑ Silke Kesting: In the footsteps of Jim Button. Review by: Michael Ehnert: From Lummerland to China. [Sound carrier]. WortArt, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-86604-990-1 . on-line
  5. ↑ Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine Driver (1961) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  6. ↑ Jim Knopf and the Wild Thirteen (1962) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. ↑ The magical worlds of the Augsburger Puppenkiste.
  8. ↑ Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine Driver (1977) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  9. ↑ Jim Knopf and the Wild Thirteen (1978) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  10. ↑ Bavaria Film: After the end of production, scenes from Jim Button and Lukas the locomotive driver
  11. ^ Filmstarts: "Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver " www.filmstarts.de, accessed August 21, 2017.
  12. ↑ Jim Button & Lukas the Engine Driver Film Part 1. In: Wulfmansworld. Retrieved July 6, 2018 .
  13. ↑ cf. Hildegard Gerster-Schwenkel 1974; bibliographed in the appendix.
  14. ↑ Julia Voss: Darwin's Jim button. An unknown chapter in the history of evolution. In: FAZ of December 13, 2008, No. 292, p. 33 (online in the FAZ archive)
  15. ↑ Moritz Herrmann : "Racism: Unfortunately, Jim Button is still read a lot" . ZEIT ONLINE from July 23, 2020, accessed on July 27, 2020.
  16. ↑ Gaby Reucher: "Jim Knopf": Racist cliché or black hero? dw.com on August 9, 2020, accessed on August 10, 2020
  17. ↑ Inga Ehret's review: Get out of Kummerland . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 29, 2009, ISSN  0174-4917 .