Under the cherry tree

Under the cherry tree ( Swedish Under körsbärsträdet ) is a story of Astrid Lindgren .

action

Ann is sitting under what she thinks is a cherry tree that is a wishing tree. No sooner has she wanted company than an elderly lady sits down next to her. Ann tells him that her mother is dead. In addition, as a child it was put under a cherry tree by gypsies and then raised by their grandparents. When Ann's mother was three years old, she was kidnapped again by gypsies and was supposed to collect money for them by performing tricks. Later Ann's grandfather was able to bring her mother back. The old lady wonders if she can believe Ann. But soon a car with gypsies drives up on the way. Ann climbs a tree and asks the woman to save her from the gypsies. When the gypsies ask if they can rest in the meadow, the woman says no. The gypsies are horrified. They declare that they are always allowed on this meadow and that they are decent people who do not steal anything. When the gypsies are gone, Ann thanks the woman for saving her. She shares the story of her mother who, after being rescued, fell and died. Then the old lady realizes that Ann lied to her. She angrily explains that Ann's mother could not have died when she was little and goes away. Ann explains that it happened the way she said it did. A little later, Ann is called to dinner by her mother. Ann sits a little longer under the tree and watches the swallows.

background

In Sweden, the story was first published in 1950 in the short story collection Kajsa Kava (1952, German Sammelaugust and other children ).

The story was also published as an audio book on record by Deutsche Grammophon . She appeared together with Pelle moves out on a record entitled: Mathias Wieman tells stories for girls and boys by Astrid Lindgren . Manfred Steffen later read the story out as an audio book, which was published on CD under the title Stories .

In the German editions the girl has two different names, while she is initially called Ann-Margret, in later editions she is called Anne. In the Swedish original her name is Ann.

The first edition of the story was illustrated by Ingrid Vang Nyman , with Ilon Wikland as the illustrator for later editions .

Publication stop

In Sweden, at Astrid Lindgren's request, the story had not been published since 1978. The reason for this are the stereotypical and prejudiced representations of the gypsies in history. This step is very unusual for Lindgren. So she made a point of marketing her own stories. Even after the racism allegations in Pippi Longstocking, she did not want the text to be changed. It was only after her death that terms such as negro or gypsy were removed from the book. However, when Lindgren learned more and more about the discrimination against the Sinti and Roma, she read her story Under the Cherry Tree with different eyes and asked the Swedish publisher to stop publishing it. The publisher complied with this request in 1978.

According to Ute Wolters from KinderundJugendmedien.de , the German Oetinger Verlag also decided to comply with Astrid Lindgren's request and stop publishing the story from 2003 onwards. However, it appeared in 2007 in the anniversary volume Stories and Fairy Tales . The story can also be found in the Google preview of the book Stories , which was published in 2019. The Oetinger Verlag shows the story in a preview of its book Sammelaugust und other Kinder . In the new edition of the book Stories , however, the story is missing.

reception

According to Ute Wolters from KinderundJugendmedien.de , prejudices of the population of the 1950s to 1970s about gypsies are confirmed in history. However, the stereotypical representations are not only found in Lindgren's text; the illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman also do their part. Gypsy children are depicted as ragged, half-naked and rebellious. In addition, the gypsy would be depicted as an evil, dark man who robs children. Many of Vang Nyman's stereotypical illustrations could not be found in Lindgren's text. However, the prejudiced notions of gypsies as child robbers can also be read in Astrid Lindgren's story.

Also Kunskapsbanken Bilders Makt thinks that Astrid Lindgren further spread the stereotypical notions about Gypsies as child predators with their history. In truth, it was the other way around. The authorities had taken away their children from the Roma and were supposed to live with farmers. This forced the Roma to give up their lifestyle, but cheap labor was also made available for agriculture.

Carl – Henrik Hammmerlund finds the story an interesting example of the fact that people who otherwise tend to stand up against racism, such as Astrid Lindgren, could sometimes have racist prejudices.

Cicero criticizes the “dusty” language of the book and cites the sentence as an example: “Oh, she has never seen such a wonderful, so wonderful little child with such dreamy blue eyes under such a heavenly cherry tree!” Such a kind of description would come to the reader nowadays "too cute".

Published in Germany in

novel

• Astrid Lindgren: Sammelaugust and other children ( Kajsa Kavat ), 1952, Verlag Friedrich Oetinger, Hamburg
• Astrid Lindgren: Astrid Lindgren tells , 1971, Verlag Friedrich Oetinger, Hamburg
• Astrid Lindgren: Stories , 1990, Verlag Friedrich Oetinger, Hamburg
• Astrid Lindgren: Stories and Fairy Tales , 2007, Verlag Friedrich Oetinger, Hamburg

Audio book

• Mathias Wieman tells. Stories for girls and boys. By Astrid Lindgren , read by Mathias Wieman , Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, record
• Astrid Lindgren: Stories , read by Manfred Steffen , 2005, Oetinger, audio CD, ISBN 9783789100840

literature

• Lindgren, Astrid: Under the cherry tree , analysis of the story of Ute Wolters on kinderundjugendmedien.de .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Collective August and other children. .
2. ↑ Astrid Lindgren: Mathias Wieman tells stories for girls and boys by Astrid Lindgren - 7 ", mono .
3. ↑ Publication “Erzählungen” by Astrid Lindgren read by Manfred Steffen - MusicBrainz. .
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Lindgren, Astrid: Under the cherry tree. .
5. ↑ No more "Negro king" at Pippi Longstocking. .
6. ↑ Astrid Lindgren : Erzählungen , ISBN 9783960521297 , 2019 limited preview in the Google book search
7. ↑ Collective August and other children. .
8. ↑ Stories. .
9. ↑ Myten om Romer som barntjuvar. .
10. ↑ Tintin i grumliga vatten? Del 7 .
11. ↑ A long time ago, in the days of poverty. .