Dumb love

Mute love is a fairy tale by Johann Karl August Musäus , which was published in 1786 in the book Volksmärchen der Deutschen . Musäus became known through correspondence with Caroline Amalie Gildemeister, b. Kotzebue , inspired to this fairy tale.

Table of contents

In the old Bremen fairy tale “Stumme Liebe”, Johann Karl August Musäus tells the story of Franz Melchior, who around 1530 thoughtlessly squandered his father's rich inheritance and then, living in modest circumstances, fell in love with the neighboring daughter Meta. Meta lives with her mother, a poor widow who earns money by spinning threads and hopes, through the beauty, the cleverness and the good upbringing of the daughter, to be able to experience a better time as a future mother-in-law.

Franz makes himself noticeable in his small attic apartment opposite by making music on a lute . Meta notices this and takes a liking to the musician. Since Franz is destitute and Meta is concerned about her good reputation in the care of his mother, they do not get closer. To make matters worse, a rich brewer advertises Meta, who, to the horror of the mother, rejects the supposedly good game.

Franz changes his life and plans to move to Antwerp in order to hopefully collect sizeable outstanding debts from his late father. On this trip he experiences some adventures, ends up in the debt tower and even takes the curse of a haunted ghost. Out of deep gratitude, he receives a tip to meet a man at the Bremer Brücke who has something important to tell him. It is about a poor beggar who describes the location of a precious treasure to him. In fact, Franz can find the big treasure chest. He immediately rewarded the poor beggar benevolently and returned to Bremen.

The sudden wealth also impresses the mother of Meta, so that the two can finally become a happy couple.

literature

• Stumme Liebe , literary publisher Christian Wadin, ISBN 978-3-9817755-1-8 .

Web links

• Silent love on zeno.org
• Silent love in the Gutenberg-DE project

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andreas Beck (Bochum): World trade routes in the fairy tale forest - Johann Carl August Musäus' Stumme Liebe
2. ↑ Caroline Amalie Gildemeister, b. Kotzebue ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Bremen Women's Museum