Rupp Rüpel: the worst ghost from Småland
Rupp Rüpel: the scariest ghost from Småland ( Swedish Skinn Skerping - Hemskast av alla spöken i Småland ) is a fairy tale by Astrid Lindgren .
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A girl and her older brother like to go to their grandmother, who is so good at telling ghost stories. Most of all they love to hear the story of Rupp Rüpel.
Rupp Rüpel was a servant who kept concocting pranks. He was particularly interested in the sexton, who always played the organ in church on Sundays. One night Rupp Rüpel disguised himself as a ghost and frightened the sexton in the church. When the sexton ran out, Rupp wanted to follow Rüpel. But on the way out, something seemed to grab him. Rupp Rüpel believed it was a ghost, or God himself, who wanted to punish him for his wrongdoing in the church. The next day people found him. His blood was frozen to ice, so he was neither dead nor alive. He was in church for a hundred years and no one dared approach him. Until a maid came who wasn't afraid of anything. A rich man wanted to know whether the maid was really as brave as she was and offered her five crowns for bringing Rupp Rüpel over. The maid did that and got her five crowns. However, she had not said that she would bring Rupp Rüpel back, so the man offered her five crowns again. The maid took Rupp Rüpel on her back again. But shortly before she got to the church, Rupp Rüpel clawed his cold ghost fingers around her neck. He made her carry him to the sexton's grave. There he asked his forgiveness. The sexton replied that he would forgive Rupp Rüpel if God would forgive him. Rupp Rüpel instantly collapsed into a heap of ashes. From then on the maid was no longer quite right in her head.
When the siblings have heard the story of Rupp Rüpel to the end, their grandmother gives the boy a guitar and the girl a sack of magazines. She ties the magazine bag behind the girl's back. Then she exhorts the children to hurry to get home before it is dark. The boy is playing the guitar. He suggests going over the mountain and since his sister would follow him everywhere, she follows him this time too. But the way is long and the magazines on the girl's back weigh heavily. She'd rather drag Rupp Rüpel, says the girl. But then she gets scared, because she knows that ghosts will come if you call them by name. When she sees her brother disappearing in the bushes, the girl doesn't dare to go any further, because she believes that Rupp Rüpel could hide anywhere there. But finally she pulls herself together and starts walking. Then she has the feeling that Rupp Rüpel's ghost hands are getting hold of her. She screams believing that there is no more salvation for her. But then she hears her father's voice. He asks what she and her brother are doing there. He frees her from a sprig of hazel that had trapped her. Then the father carries the crying girl to his carriage. The girl drives home with her brother and father. At dinner, the girl asks her brother if he thinks she has gone mad like the maid. Then the brother replies: "Well, you're not quite as crazy as they are."
History of origin
The story of Rupp Rüpel the gruesome ghost from Småland is based on a true story. In July 1916 Astrid Lindgren (then Ericsson) and her brother Gunnar Ericsson visited their grandmother Ida Ingström. She often told them legends and ghost stories. So also on this day. She told her grandchildren about the ghost Skinn Skerping. One of the vicar's servants, Skinn Skerping, disguised himself as a ghost. He crept into the church to frighten the cantor. He actually got frightened and ran out of the church. But Skinn Skerping was also scared and wanted to run out of church. Then the door closed behind him. Skinn Skerping believed that a ghost had seized him and he fell in front of the church door. When people discovered him the next morning, he was neither dead nor alive. He could not be buried and was placed in a niche in the church. A hundred years later a pastor asked an intrepid maidservant Skinn Skerping to take away. When the maid was on her back, Rupp grabbed Rüpel and asked her to take him to the cantor's grave so that he could ask his forgiveness. A voice rang out from the tomb saying that if God forgive, he would forgive. Then Skinn Skerping turned into a pile of ashes and could be buried. After Ida Ingström had told her grandson about the story, she gave Gunnar Ericsson a guitar and Astrid Lindgren a thick book. Then the two went home. In an interview, Lindgren later said that from then on she only lied in the book. Her father did not come, nor did he save her from Skinn Skerping. She and her brother had to pull themselves up to move on. In the evening they arrived home exhausted and exhausted.
Publications
In Sweden, the book was published in 1986 under the title Skinn Skerping hemskast av alla spöken i Småland by Rabén & Sjögren . Ilon Wikland illustrated the book. The book was first published in Germany in 1987.
Awards
- 1986: Ilon Wikland
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Astrid's okända text om rashatet .
- ↑ Kaarina Koski & Ulla Savolainen: Genre - Text - Interpretation: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Folklore and Beyond , BoD - Books on Demand, 2019, ISBN 9789522227386, limited preview in Google Book Search
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Skinn Skerping hemskast av alla spöken i Småland .
- ↑ Skinn Skerping hemskast av alla spöken i Småland .
- ^ Rupp Rüpel - Astrid Lindgren .
- ↑ Anna Zamolska: Wikland Ilon .