Schwänke im Vivarium: Fabeln und Parabeln
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Authors
Zulliger, Hans
Issue Date
1959
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Issue
Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This beautifully produced little book of 51 pages was an unnumerierte Sonderauflage für die Freunde des Verlages und der Buchhandlung at Christmas, 1959. An opening T of C gathers the stories into seven categories. These are good Schwänke, I think, though some stretch a little beyond my German. Typical might be Ideale on 13. The jay cries out The noblest characteristic is silence. The elster, who has just stolen a golden ring, cries out that it is rather honesty. Nonsense, says the rabbit; Courage is and remains noblest -- and runs off into the woods. Idiots! bleats the goat. Peacefulness is the best. Who will contradict me? A treetrunk nearby comments Every animal thinks that the highest and noblest is exactly what he lacks! The goat responds by saying I will not argue with you; you are too dumb for me to compete with! Avocatus diavolus (sic) on 21 shows how the mistletoe working its way into the apple tree declared to the apple: You are right to defend yourself against neighboring trees that try to outreach you and take away your sunshine. They even attack your roots. All this time, the mistletoe was sucking the best juice out of the apple tree, so that it ended up dying. Many of these pieces work off of contrasts of size, I think, like the fly who encounters the stag running for cover into the wheatfield (11). She asks him why he is hiding and hears that he saw a rifle fire in the nearby bushes. Ridiculous! answers the fly. What would you do if you heard a fly-swatter swishing?
Description
Citation
Publisher
Verlag Hans Huber
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DOI
Identifier
6731 (Access ID)