Sara, the little princess

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sara the Little Princess is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . 1888, two years after the book Little Lord Fauntleroy , she brought in the youth magazine St. Nicholas the serial novel Sara Crewe, or What Happened at Miss Minchin out. After the success of the series, she published a play as The Little Princess in 1903 . In 1905 followed the implementation of an expanded novel A Little Princess (The little princess. The story of Sara Crewe), in which now also the classmates Lottie and Ermengarde, the maid Becky and the rat Melchizedec appear. The anime Little Princess Sara, based on the novel, was produced by Nippon Animation and shown for the first time in Japan in 1985. An American film adaptation from 1995 ran under the German title Little Princess . In 2009 the story was implemented as a Japanese TV drama. "Shokojo Seira" ran on Japanese television from October to December and had 10 episodes.

content

Sara Crewe was brought to England by her beloved father from India as a half-orphan at the age of seven , where she was to be taught at Miss Minchin's girls' boarding school in London. Her mother was French and died while Sara's birth. Sara quickly finds friends at the boarding school: She joins the plump Ermengarde St. Johns (Ger. Irmingard), who helps her with her learning difficulties. In addition, she becomes the "adoptive mother" of four-year-old Lottie Legh, whom she can calm down again and again with a lot of imagination and empathy. Sara finds a loyal friend in the maid Becky. Although she is very poor, Sara is respectful towards her and makes no difference whether she is poor or rich. In the boarding school Sara is given preferential treatment because of her wealth, but this does not damage her character. However, her classmate Lavinia hates Sara because she is jealous and afraid that Sara could take over her position as the class representative and the most popular girl.

On her eleventh birthday, she received the news that her father died in India and was allegedly cheated by his old friend and business partner, which is why he lost all of his fortune. Sara is now an orphan , without any property or relatives in the world who could take her in. Miss Minchin lets her work for her for free, on the grounds that she has had big expenses for Sara and is now generously giving her a roof over her head.

Sara complies, not without pride. She moves into the attic next to the maid Becky. Her imagination, with which she usually invented the most beautiful stories, does not let her down in the dark, cold room. The only thing she was allowed to keep is her doll Emily, but she cannot give her much comfort. Luckily she still has Becky. The classmates Ermengarde and Lottie often sneak into the attic; Sara makes up the story of a prisoner in the Bastille for her and Becky. She befriends the sparrows and the Melchizedec rat. The idea that she is a soldier in the war or a princess helps her to react to the scolding and injustice in her current everyday life with courtesy and respect, which only upsets the cook and Miss Minchin even more.

Then, at first only for the reader, the turning point began: a Mr. Carrisford, a sick English gentleman who had lived in India for a while, moved into the adjoining house. An Indian servant Ram Dass (a lascare ) now lives in the neighboring attic, right next to Sara . The reader learns that the English gentleman was the good friend and business partner of Sara's father, who is desperately looking for the child in order to hand over the property to which Sara is entitled. Due to his unsuccessful search - he suspects it to be in Paris and even in Moscow - he is finding it difficult to recover from his illness. Ram Dass suggests that he at least do something good for the girl next door. When Ermengarde tries to bring Sara some food, they are caught by Miss Minchin. Becky, who has also been invited, is to be released. Ermengarde is arrested and Sara is not supposed to get anything to eat the next day. That night Ram Dass brings food and blankets over the roof into the room of the exhausted sleeping Sara, and he lights a warming fire in the fireplace. From that night, through the magic that helped her in the worst possible moment, Sara gains new strength, she experiences that in the now cozy attic room there is always dinner for her and Becky and she can hear the insults of Miss Minchin and the cook meet a smile. When the English gentleman's monkey flees over the roof of Sara's room from the unfamiliar English cold one night, she keeps him with her to bring him back the next morning.

During the conversation between Sara and Mr. Carrisford, it turns out that she is the girl he was so desperately looking for. Sara doesn't have to go back to boarding school and she takes Becky as a maid. And the sick Mr. Carrisford is noticeably recovering because the terrible burden of looking for his friend's child has been relieved and Sara has won his heart.

Film adaptations