Klabautermann

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Klabautermann illustration for the book Zur See , from 1885

The hobgoblin , Kalfatermann or Klabattermann (from Low German klabastern "rumble", "noisy walk around" or also in Low German caulk "with pitch and tow seal") is seafaring superstition a ship ghost or goblin , who - often invisible - the captain in danger warns . The figure of the Klabautermann is associated with sailing ships. He helps with shipbuilding, with sealing the ship's deck and likes to play jokes. On board it makes itself felt through rumbling and other noises. They say: “If he knocks, he stays, if he planes, he leaves.” His appearance is like that of a sailor - with a hammer and pipe, sometimes with a sailor's box, with red hair and green teeth. If it shows up, this is a bad sign. He only leaves the ship when it goes down.

According to an old seaman's custom, there is a chicken on every ship to deter the Klabautermann.

The Klabautermann found its way into literature through Heinrich Heine , Friedrich Gerstäcker , Christian Morgenstern and Theodor Storm . The poet and writer Klabund explains his pseudonym as a combination of “Klabautermann” and “Vagabund”. The children's figure Pumuckl by Ellis Kaut is also a "descendant of the Klabauter".

In the card game Doppelkopf there is a variant of the game in which you receive a special point if one side uses the queen of spades to capture a king of spades from the opposing party. The latter is then called "Klabautermann".

Sculptures

The Klabautermann was implemented several times as a sculpture. For example, in 1911, JH Pagels created a sculpture that used to stand in the schoolyard of the Pestalozzi School in Bremerhaven - from 1912 onwards - and can now be seen on the terrace of the restaurant "Der Wasserschout" near the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven .

literature

  • Helge Gerndt : Flying Dutchman and Klabautermann (= writings on Low German folklore. Volume 4). Schwartz, Göttingen 1971, ISBN 3-509-00533-3 .
  • Nikolaus Hansen (ed.): Stories from the Klabautermann. Stories (= Knaur 1664). Droemer Knaur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-426-01664-8 .
  • Karl Heinrich Henschke: Pommersche Sagengestalten (= Pomeranian research. Series 2: Publications of the folkloric archive for Pomerania. Volume 2). Bamberg, Greifswald 1936 (at the same time: Greifswald, University, dissertation, 1936).
  • Karin Lichtblau: Klabautermann. In: Ulrich Müller, Werner Wunderlich (ed.): Demons, monsters, mythical creatures (= Middle Ages myths. Volume 2). UVK, specialist publisher for science and studies, St. Gallen 1999, ISBN 3-908701-04-X , pp. 343–352.
  • Eberhard Michael Iba: The Klabautermann and other legends and stories in and around Bremerhaven. 3rd, revised and updated edition. Self-published, Saarbrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811503-4-6 .
  • Eberhard Michael Iba: The German Fairy Tale Route. A fabulous journey from the Main to the sea . CW Niemeyer Buchverlage, Hameln 2011, ISBN 978-3-8271-9136-6 .
  • Leander Petzoldt : Klabautermann. In: Leander Petzoldt: Small lexicon of demons and elemental spirits (= Beck'sche series. Volume 427). 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49451-X , pp. 108-109.
  • Adolf Wuttke : The German popular superstition of the present. 3. Adaptation by Elard Hugo Meyer . Wiegandt & Grieben, Berlin 1900.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About goblins and goblins

Web links

Commons : Klabautermann  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Klabautermann  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations