I was reminiscing about books from my youth and school years and noticed that I never reviewed one of my favourite novels we read in school.
This story is from the first half of the 19th century and even though we live in different times now, the message of the book still applies. We need empathy and feelings in our lives, otherwise it is completely meaningless.
Wilhelm Hauff's fairy tales cannot be compared to those by the Brothers Grimm, they have a very dark streak.
Peter Munk is a woodsman in the Black Forest. He lives with his mother and produces and charcoal. He falls in love with a village girl but since he is poor, he can't marry her. Because he was born on a Sunday, he can ask the forest spirits to help him. First, he turns the small "Glasmännlein" (little glass man). He first wishes for wealth but he loses all his money. Then he asks the dark forest spirit, "Holländer-Michel" (Dutch Michel). He also grants him wealth but wants his heart which he replaces with a stone as he has done with all the rich villagers before him.
From the back cover (translated):
"'The Cold Heart' is a Black Forest fairy tale in which the poet describes the fate of the Sunday child Peter Munk. After serious mistakes, Peter Munk's fate is finally brought to a happy end by the friendly elemental spirit of the little glass man. "
Remark by Goodreads:
"This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public."
Sounds like quite the story!
ReplyDeleteIt is, Lark. Not very long but with so much folklore in it.
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