The Seven Swabians
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Seven Swabians (''Die Sieben Schwaben'') is a German
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
, collected by
The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...
in the second volume edition of their ''
Kinder- und Hausmärchen ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...
'' (1857) under the number KHM119. The term '' Swabians'' refers to people from the German region
Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
, though in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
it refers to Germans in general.


Plot

Once upon a time there were Seven Swabians who travelled through the world. To be safe from danger they carried one long
spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...
with them. One day in July they walk through a meadow just by nightfall and notice a
hornet Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...
buzzing by. Unaware what they just heard the men start to panic, thinking it was a war drum. One of them tries to flee, jumps over a fence and then walks right on the teeth of a rake, whereupon the handle hits him in the face. He quickly begs for mercy and tells the invisible attacker that he'll surrender, whereupon his six friends do the same. Later, when they finally understand they were fooled they decide to keep this embarrassing anecdote a secret. To prevent the story from getting out they swear to not say anything about it until one of them should accidentally open his mouth. Later they encounter a
hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
sleeping in the sun. They take the animal for a monster and decide to attack it. After bracing themselves with all the courage they can get they strike out and the hare runs away, whereupon they realize they've once again been fooled. The
septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...
travels onward until they reach the river Moselle. Unaware how to cross it they ask a man on the opposite side of the river for help. Due to the distance and their language the man doesn't understand what they were saying and he asked them in the dialect of
Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
: "Wat, Wat?" This causes the men to think that they have to wade (German: wate) through the water. As the first Swabian gets into the river he starts to sink into the mud. His hat is blown away to the opposite shore, next to a frog who croaks noises that sound like "wat, wat, wat". The six surviving Swabians think it's their friend telling them to wade across; they rush in the water and all drown.


Publication history

Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof was the first to write it down in his book ''Wendemut'' (1563).
Eucharius Eyring Saint Eucharius is venerated as the first bishop of Trier. He lived in the second half of the 3rd century. Narrative According to an ancient legend, he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ, and was sent to Gaul by Saint Peter as ...
wrote it down as a poem in "Proverbiorum Copia" (1601-1604). Ludwig Aurbacher also wrote down a well known version in "Ein Volksbüchlein" (1827-1829) and gave the seven protagonists names: Allgäuer, Seehas, Nestelschwaub, Blitzschwaub, Spiegelschwaub, Gelbfüssler and Knöpfleschwaub. In 1756 German preacher Sebastian Sailer wrote the tale down as a comedy. Both
Ferdinand Fellner Ferdinand Fellner (19 April 1847 – 22 March 1916) was an Austrian architect. Biography Fellner joined his ailing father's architecture firm at the age of nineteen. After his death he founded the architecture studio Fellner & Helmer together w ...
and Georg Mühlberg are well known German artists who made illustrations to the story.


In popular culture


Music

In 1545 the story was adapted into song by
Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poet, playwright, and shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the churc ...
. In 1887
Karl Millöcker Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...
adapted the story into an
operette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
.


Other references

During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the
Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qui ...
( OAW-built 4649/18) of the
Luftstreitkräfte The ''Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte'' (, German Air Force)—known before October 1916 as (Flyer Troops)—was the air arm of the Imperial German Army. In English-language sources it is usually referred to as the Imperial German Air Service, alth ...
's Jasta 65 fighter squadron, flown by ''
Gefreiter Gefreiter (, abbr. Gefr.; plural ''Gefreite'') is a German, Swiss and Austrian military rank that has existed since the 16th century. It is usually the second rank or grade to which an enlisted soldier, airman or sailor could be promoted.Duden; D ...
'' (corporal) Wilhelm Scheutzel TheAerodrome.com reference post on ''Gefreiter'' Wilhelm Scheutzel
/ref> was resplendent in a scheme depicting a scene from an ancient German fable brought back to popularity by the Brothers Grimm in 1857. There is no other aircraft that possesses a livery depicting an ancient German fable. But his Fokker D.VII has the 'Sieben Schwaben' (Seven Swabians) depicted in battle with a hare, using their one shared, pike-like spear. According to the tale, the men had mistaken the animal for a Dragon. The story is really an olden day '
blonde joke Blonde jokes are a joke cycle based on a stereotype of a dumb blonde woman. These jokes about people, generally women, who have blonde hair serve as a form of blonde versus brunette rivalry. They are often considered to be derogatory as many are m ...
' about the people of Swabia and is thought to have been told by those in neighbouring areas of Germany as a tongue-in-cheek insult to the region. Scheutzel joined Jasta 65 from Jasta-Schule II on 12 July 1918 and lasted until the end of the war. He scored his one and only kill when he downed a DH4 on 13 August 1918. Why Scheutzel had this scene depicted on his aircraft is not entirely clear. Was the art an ironic comment on the folly of war, an insult to the Allies that they would flee like rabbits or perhaps Scheutzel liked the war cry given by the leader of the Seven Schwaben in his attack on the rabbit: "then let us boldly advance to the fight, and thus we shall show our valour and might"? In 1978 a monument was created on the Fehrbelliner Platz in
Berlin-Wilmersdorf Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. History The vi ...
, sculpted by
Hans-Georg Damm Hans-Georg is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Hans-Georg Anscheidt (born 1935), Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion *Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1583–1641), Field Marshal of Holy Roman Empire and the Electo ...
.


References


External links

* http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm119.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Swabians, The German folklore Germany in fiction Grimms' Fairy Tales Rabbits and hares in literature Fictional characters from Swabia ATU 1200-1349