Struwwelpeter is absolutely not a fairy tale though. Fairy tales can be gruesome in their own way, but nothing to do with this story - it’s by a single author.
That was hard to read, damn. I can read German quite well, but the font basically makes the capital letters a pure gamble to me. I guess this is a lesson to always listen to speaking cats lol.
Edit: Like “Der Vater hat’s verboten”. “Vater” is written more like “Bater” in this font
The Wikipedia article includes the whole text. Here is the Deepl translation:
The sad story with the lighter. Paulinchen was alone at home, Her parents were both out. As she jumped through the room With light courage and song, Suddenly she saw in front of her A lighter, nice to look at. “Ei,” she said, “ei, how beautiful and fine! That must be a fine toy. I’ll light a little wood for myself, As my mother often did.”
And Minz and Maunz, the cats, Raise their paws. They threaten with their paws: “The father has forbidden it! Meow! Mio! Meow! Mio! Don’t move! Or you’ll catch fire!”
Paulinchen can’t hear the cats! The little stick is burning brightly and brightly, It flickers merrily, crackles loudly, Just as you see it in the picture. But Pauline is very happy And jumped back and forth in the room.
But Minz and Maunz, the cats, Raise their paws. They threaten with their paws: “The mother has forbidden it! Meow! Mio! Meow! Mio! Throw it away! Or you’ll catch fire!” But woe! The flame seizes the dress, The apron burns; it shines far. The hand burns, the hair burns, Even the whole child burns.
And Minz and Maunz, who scream Pitifully in twos : “Come! Come here! Who will help quickly? The whole child is in the fire! Meow! Mio! Meow! Mio! Help! The child is on fire!”
Everything is completely burned, The poor child with skin and hair; A heap of ashes alone remains And both shoes, so pretty and fine.
And Minz and Maunz, the little ones, They sit there and cry: “Meow! Mio! Meow! Mio! Where are the poor parents? Where?” And their tears flow Like a brook in the meadows
Well, she doesn’t get eaten. She plays with fire when her parents are out and burns to death. The cats are just mourning her.
In the same book there are some other interesting children stories like the kid who refuses to eat soup and starves to death. Or the kid who sucks on its thumbs until a tailor comes and cuts them off with huge scissors.
Not really. Usually its just the Grimm version. There’s no such thing as an “original” version to a folk tale. Or i suppose once there was but it was gone the second it was retold. That’s the nature of oral tradition. There were countless retellings of the various fairy tales with different endings than the ones The Grimm Brothers went with in their books.
Add comment