Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower
Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower ( Swedish Rasmus, Pontus och Toker ) is a story by Astrid Lindgren .
action
Rasmus and his best friend Pontus watch Rasmus' sister Prick and her new friend Joachim. These are incredibly in love. Rasmus can't understand how his sister can act so silly.
In the evening, Pontus and Rasmus want to go to the fair, just like Prick and Joachim. While Prick and Joachim stay among themselves, Pontus and Rasmus take a close look at everything. What they find most interesting is the idea of the sword swallower Alfredo, which they sneak into because they have no more money. There they find a crown that they can use to buy two more sausages. Rasmus and Pontus are delighted.
Joachim and Prick then have a rehearsal with the school orchestra. They are practicing in the house of Baron von Rencken, Joachim's father, for the spring festival next Sunday. Prick shows Joachim's friend Jan a collection of beverage mugs. Jan kisses Prick. At this very moment, Joachim comes into the room. He thinks that Prick wanted Jan to kiss him. The two quarrel and split up. Prick is concerned because Joachim has a photo of her and could stick it in his "sale catalog". In this he collects the photos of girls he no longer likes. Rasmus doesn't want his sister to end up in the catalog. He decides to help her.
That same night, Rasmus and Pontus break into Joachim's father's house to steal the photo. They see two burglars stealing Baron von Rencken's silver jugs. Rasmus recognizes in them the sword swallower Alfredo and Ernst, one of his friends. They follow the two of them to their caravan and secretly listen. There the thieves tell Alfredo's wife Berta about their raid. They declare that they want to sell the stolen goods to an antique dealer. They hope to get more money from him this time. Suddenly Rasmus' dog Toker comes running towards Rasmus and Pontus, barking. The two are discovered by the criminals.
Toker is locked up. The criminals decide to release him when they have finished all their errands in the city and the boys have not shared their observations. Since Rasmus loves Toker more than anything and does not want anything to happen to him, he has no choice but to obey the criminals' requests.
However, Rasmus and Pontus decide to lie in wait secretly. They want to follow the criminals to where they hide Toker. When the criminals leave the trailer with two large sacks, Rasmus and Pontus chase them to Ms. Andersson's house. Mrs. Andersson is Berta's nice sister. She broke her leg and is in the hospital. Therefore, the criminals want to store the bags there. But Pontus also has a key to the house. He was asked by Ms. Andersson to clean up the basement while she was in the hospital. Rasmus and Pontus get the key, but only find the stolen property in the house. Toker is not there.
The two swap the stolen goods and sew the sacks shut again. They hide the stolen goods and then go home. Alfredo and Ernst don't notice anything.
Before Alfredo and Ernst want to disappear with their stolen property, they promise to lead the boys to Toker. They explain to them that Toker is in an abandoned yard near Berka. But when the boys get there, the criminals lock them up there. Rasmus and Pontus can break free from prison. They later also let Toker out, who is imprisoned near them.
Then they go to the police. This explains to the boys that they have to prove that the story is true. So Rasmus and Pontus go back to the house where they were locked up. When Ernst and Alfredo come back and want to know where the boys have hidden the stolen property, Rasmus and Pontus promise to show them. Rasmus and Pontus lead the two criminals through the back door into a house. There the stolen goods are actually on the table. However, the house is the police station. Thus Ernst and Alfredo are arrested. Berta had previously been arrested in her trailer.
The next morning the newspaper reads about Rasmus and Pontus' heroism. Rasmus, Pontus, Prick and Rasmus parents go to the Spring Festival in the evening. Prick is still unhappy. She misses Joachim. He's also at the party and just watches Prick the whole time. When Rasmus sees that the two of them miss each other, he gives Prick the photo that he had stolen from Joachim. It says "You, the only one". Later, Pontus and Rasmus observe that Prick puts his arms around Joachim's neck.
characters
- Rasmus Persson is eleven years old. He has blue eyes and messy hair. His father is a policeman. Rasmus attends secondary school in Västanvik .
- Pontus is Rasmus' best friend.
- Prick (actually Patricia Persson) is Rasmus' big sister. She is 16 and goes to high school. Even if she never tells him this openly, she loves her little brother Rasmus. Prick is incredibly in love with Joachim. She even thinks about marrying them.
- Joachim von Rencken is Prick's friend. According to Pricks, all the girls at school are in love with Joachim. Joachim has a sales catalog. In these he sticks pictures of all the girls he no longer likes. Joachim has dark curls and black eyes. He plays guitar and is the best at sports.
- Toker is Rasmus' little wire-haired dachshund. Rasmus loves Toker more than anything. Pontus even thinks that Rasmus sometimes talks to Toker in the same way that Prick talks to Joachim
- Baron von Rencken is Joachim's father. He is very rich and has a valuable collection of silver jugs.
- Patrik Persson is the father of Rasmus. He is a policeman.
- Doctor Fröberg is the math teacher for Rasmus and Pontus. He is strict, but at the same time very compassionate and there for his students. Although he repeatedly throws Rasmus out of class because of his disruptive behavior, he is Rasmus' favorite teacher.
- Ms. Persson, Rasmu's mother, is the one who makes sure that the rules of the family are followed. For example, Rasmus should do his homework first before going outside.
- Alfredo is a sword swallower. He also makes his living with raids.
- Ernst is Alfredo's accomplice.
- Berta is Alfredo's wife. She is an accomplice of Alfredo and Ernst. She takes care of the stolen property, she is not part of the raids themselves. Alfredo doesn't love Berta, however. After the robbery, he wants to leave her alone.
- Ms. Andersson is a nice old woman. She is Berta's sister and one day breaks her leg.
background
Astrid Lindgren originally wrote Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower (Swedish: Rasmus, Pontus och Toker ) for a radio play series on Sveriges Radio from 1955. This was broadcast in several parts on Swedish radio. In 1956 the film Kalle and the Mysterious Carousel was released . Then the radio play script was rewritten into a novel. This was published in 1957 by the Swedish publisher Rabén & Sjögren . Eric Pakmquist illustrated the cover . First books and films were published in Germany. The book was then published as a radio play in Germany.
Even if the title character Rasmus (Persson) has the same first name as Rasmus (Oskarsson) from Rasmus and the Tramp , there are two completely different characters who have the same first name.
Like many other narratives, many of the events in the book are based on Astrid Lindgren's own childhood experiences and the stories Lindgren heard at the time. She was once told of a mare that was sold at the cattle and horse market in Vimmerby . She was treated with arsenic . At the horse market she was fit and could move well. She ran all the way home. But the next morning the horse couldn't get up. When the trader saw the farmer again later, he asked him how the mare was doing. The farmer replied that she could stand on two legs. Alfredo Rasmus tells a similar story in Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower. Alfredo tells about his mother, who was a rustler . She had an old mare named Leonore who could barely stand on her feet. Before Alfredo's mother went to the market in Kivik, she gave the horse four cans of arsenic. So Leonore looked fit and healthy in the market and a farmer bought her. On the way home she ran incredibly fast. But the next morning Leonore could no longer move in the stable. When Alfredo's mother met the farmer a few days later, he asked how Leonore was doing. He replied that she could now sit up for a few hours every day.
Movie
The radio play on which the book is based was filmed as Kalle and the mysterious carousel (original: Rasmus, Pontus och Toker ). In the German version, Rasmus Persson was renamed Kalle. The previous Kalle Blomquist films were very successful. So those responsible hoped to achieve similar successes with this children's film, even if the story, apart from the author and the director, had nothing to do with the Kalle Blomquist films.
Play
The play accompanying the book was performed in several cities in Germany and Austria. The premiere took place in 1972 at the Theater der Jugend in Bonn. The play was later shown in the Burgtheater in Vienna and in the Vienna Academy Theater . The play was staged by Annette Raffalt in the Burgtheater .
reception
Reviews
The jury of the German Youth Literature Prize praised the “ingenuity” and the “suspense and humor” in the book. Author Ulf Blanck was impressed by the book when he was a child.
nomination
- 1959 children's book
Individual evidence
- ^ Astrid Lindgren. Illustrator: Eric Palmquist .
- ^ Astrid Lindgren (Deutsche Gramophon) .
- ^ Rasmus, Pontus and Toker. Av Astrid Lindgren. .
- ↑ Waldemar Bergendahl (producer) and Roland Skogfeld & Per Olof Ohlsson (camera): Astrid Lindgren tells from her life . (Film) In: Astrid Lindgren's 100 Years Anniversary Edition. DVD. Universe movie.
- ↑ Verlag für Kindertheater :: Detail page :: Rasmus, Pontus and the sword swallower .
- ↑ Annual flea market in the Vienna Burgtheater .
- ↑ 10 cards for "Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower" .
- ↑ Burgtheater - sensational program .
- ↑ Children's thriller by two clever rascals .
- ^ A b Rasmus, Pontus and the Sword Swallower .
- ↑ Reiner Kramer: Education. Third graders solve tricky case .