7.12 Grimm — «Der Räuberbräutigam» and two short tales — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read three complete tales by the brothers Grimm in their last edition of 1857: a dark one, a pious one and a comic one. Read the spelling of the nineteenth century without stumbling: gieng , Noth , Thaler , daß . Follow a story told about das Mädchen with the pronoun es . Notice how a storyteller changes tense and repeats a refrain to build suspense. Sentences from this text, before the notes. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English Das Mädchen aber hatte ihn nicht so recht lieb, wie eine Braut ihren Bräutigam lieb haben soll. But the girl did not really love him, as a bride should love her bridegroom. da stand ein einsames Haus, das gefiel ihm nicht, denn es sah so finster und unheimlich aus. there stood a lonely house; she did not like it, for it looked so dark and sinister. Wenn ich nicht Mitleiden mit dir habe und dich rette, so bist du verloren. If I do not take pity on you and save you, you are lost. Nachts wenn die Räuber schlafen, wollen wir entfliehen, ich habe schon lange auf eine Gelegenheit gewartet. At night, when the robbers are asleep, we will flee; I have long been waiting for an opportunity. Die arme Braut hinter dem Faß zitterte und bebte. The poor bride behind the barrel trembled and shook. Mein Schatz, das träumte mir nur. My darling, I only dreamed it. Prerequisites : 7.11 — you need the simple past of strong verbs from 3.10 Verbs , the subjunctive from 2.23 Grammar and 2.26 Grammar , and the first Grimm readings, 7.7 Reading and 7.8 Reading . About this text This lesson collects three tales from the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), in the seventh edition of 1857, the last that Wilhelm prepared. All three are complete; together they come to just under 1,800 words. They are in the public domain and taken from the transcriptions in German Wikisource, unchanged except that the printed page numbers are left out. Der Räuberbräutigam , The Robber Bridegroom , is one of the darkest tales in the collection. A miller's daughter is engaged to a rich stranger she instinctively distrusts. She visits his house in the forest, discovers that he leads a band of murderers, hides, escapes, and at the wedding feast exposes him by telling what she saw as if it were a dream. The scene of the murder is told plainly and is violent; the tale was never meant only for small children. Its strength is the heroine, who saves herself by courage and by a clever piece of storytelling. Die Sternthaler , The Star Money , is the shortest of the three: an orphan girl gives away everything she has, piece by piece, and is rewarded when the stars fall from the sky as silver coins. Der süße Brei , Sweet Porridge , is a comic tale about a magic pot whose command to stop has been forgotten. The order of the three moves from horror to piety to laughter. Grammar in the tales das Mädchen is es . Because Mädchen is neuter, the Grimms refer to the heroine with es , ihm and sein : Es suchte Ausreden , she looked for excuses ; das gefiel ihm nicht , she did not like it . Modern German often switches to sie after the first mention, and the text itself sometimes uses sie , especially when the girl is called die Braut , a feminine noun, then returns to the neuter forms: Da erzählte das Mädchen seinem Vater . Read every es in these tales as she when it cannot be it . The spelling of 1857. The texts keep the spelling of their time. Five patterns cover almost everything: ie where today's German has i in some past forms ( gieng, hieng for ging, hing ); th for t ( Thüre, Noth, rothen, Thaler, Schandthaten ); ß after short vowels ( daß, muß, Faß, wußte ), which is ss today; Schooß for Schoß ; and the old dative ending -e ( mit dem Kopfe, dem Tode ). The first four do not change the pronunciation; the dative -e adds a syllable. Thoughts in the subjunctive. As in 7.8 Reading , wishes and opinions are reported in the subjunctive: so wünschte er sie wäre versorgt , he wished she were provided for ; meinte es könnte den Weg dahin nicht finden , she said she could not find the way there . Read wäre and könnte as you learned in 2.23 Grammar . The dative of feeling. Two old constructions put the person in the dative: ward ihm so angst , she grew so afraid , and the refrain das träumte mir nur , I only dreamed that , literally that only dreamed to me . Modern German says ich träumte . A sudden present. Der süße Brei starts in the past and suddenly switches to the present when the pot runs out of control: da kocht es, und sie ißt sich satt . The present makes the chaos immediate, as an English storyteller might say and then it starts boiling over . Reading it a second time, tale by tale The engagement. The first paragraph of Der Räuberbräutigam sets up the story in one long sweep: the miller's wish, the rich suitor, the girl's dread, the invitation, the ashes and the peas and lentils she scatters. The paragraph ends with a voice, and the next one is the bird's warning, which will return three times. The house in the forest. The bride searches the empty house, finds the old woman in the cellar, and hears the truth. The old woman's speech is the turning point: the bridegroom and his band are cannibals, and she will help the girl escape. The murder and the finger. The robbers bring home another young woman and kill her. The detail of the ring and the finger that leaps into the bride's lap is the evidence she will use at the end. The old woman saves her a second time: der Finger läuft euch nicht fort , the finger won't run away . The escape and the wedding. The ashes have blown away, but the peas and lentils have sprouted in the moonlight and show the way home. At the wedding feast, every guest must tell a story, and the bride tells hers as a dream. Each section ends with the refrain Mein Schatz, das träumte mir nur , until she produces the finger. The two short tales. Die Sternthaler is built as a list: bread, cap, bodice, skirt, shir