 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Rübezahl" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Rübezahl (German:[ˈʁyːbəˌtsaːl],Polish:Liczyrzepa, Duch Gór, Karkonosz, Rzepiór, or Rzepolicz;Czech:Krakonoš or Rýbrcoul) is afolkloric mountain spirit (woodwose) of theGiant Mountains (Czech:Krkonoše,Polish:Karkonosze, hence his name in Czech and Polish), a mountain range along the border between Czechia and Poland. He is the subject of manylegends andfairy tales inGerman,Polish, andCzech folklore.
The origin of the name is not clear. One interpretation is from the storyHow Rübezahl Got his Name byJohann Karl August Musäus, which recounts how Rübezahl abducted a princess who liked turnips (German:Rüben, singularRübe). The princess gets very lonely there in the mountains. To keep her company, Rübezahl turns the turnips into her friends and acquaintances. As the turnips wilt after a little while, so do the persons that were created by Rübezahl's magic. The princess asks him to count (zählen) the turnips in the field. While he counted, she escaped.[1][2] Following this explanation, some early English writers translated his name as "Number Nip" (that is, "turnip numberer"), including the1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.[3][4]
Another proposed etymology isRiebezagel, from a combination of the personal nameRiebe and theMiddle High Germanzagel, meaning "tail", from his pictorial representation as a tailed demon. According to the etymologistFriedrich Kluge, the name is a contraction of Middle High GermanRuobezagel, ‘turnip-tail’.[5]
Rübezahl is a name of ridicule, the use of which provokes his anger. In fact calling him by this nickname was the one crime he would not tolerate.[6] Respectful names are "Lord of the Mountain(s)" (Herr vom Berge, Herr der Berge), "Treasure Keeper" (Schatzhüter) or among herbalists "Lord John" (Herr Johannes, Latin vocative:Domine Johannes).[7][8] In oneSilesian folktale, he is called "Prince of the Gnomes" (Fürst der Gnomen).[9]
The Polish nameLiczyrzepa is a direct translation of the German name, introduced by Stanisław Bełza in 1898. It only became widespread in Poland after 1945 when Józef Sykulski started to translate tales of Rübezahl from German into Polish.[10]The Czech name,Krakonoš, is simply derived from the name of the mountains.
Rübezahl, you should know, has the nature of a powerful genius: capricious, impetuous, peculiar, rascally, crude, immodest, haughty, vain, fickle, today your warmest friend, tomorrow alien and cold; …roguish and respectable, stubborn and flexible…
In legends, Rübezahl appears as a capriciousgiant, gnome, or mountain spirit. With good people he is friendly, teaching them medicine and giving them presents. If someone derides him, however, he exacts a severe revenge. He sometimes plays the role of atrickster in folk tales.[9]
The stories originate frompagan times. Rübezahl is the fantastic lord ofweather of the mountains and is similar to theWild Hunt. Unexpectedly or playfully, he sendslightning andthunder,fog,rain andsnow from the mountain above, even while the sun is shining. He may take the appearance of a monk in a grayfrock (likeWotan); he holds a stringed instrument in his hand (the stormharp) and walks so heavily that the earth trembles around him.[citation needed]
In Czech fairytales, Rübezahl (Czech:Krakonoš) gavesourdough to people and invented the traditional regional soupkyselo.[11] In the Giant Mountains is a mountain named Kotel, which meanscauldron. When fog rises from the valley at the bottom of the Kotel, people say that Krakonoš is cookingkyselo.[12] Rübezahl is seen to be the guardian of theGiant Mountains. Physically, his appearance varies; he can take any form he wishes, from an old grandma to a giant crossing his mountains with one step. Historically, his character has kept on expanding; from a bad demon causing storms and heavy snow, he evolved into a guardian of the poor people living in his mountains. It is said that he could test someone at any time to know whether that person's heart is pure (e.g. meeting someone as an old lady asking for help) and that if one does, that person would be shown the way to treasures hidden deep inside his mountains. He punished the German landlords mistreatingCzech people as well as any invaders.
.JPG)
A museum devoted to the figure of Rübezahl in theGerman town ofGörlitz, theRübezahl Museum, was opened in May 2005, thanks to the work of Ingrid Vettin-Zahn. Originally fromLauban (Lubań) inLower Silesia, Vettin-Zahn wasexpelled from her hometown like otherSilesian Germans and subsequently resettled inSwitzerland after 1945.
After 1945, when the formerly German territories of Lower Silesia became again part of Poland, Polish settlers encountered the local legends of Rübezahl. WriterJózef Sykulski reinterpreted the figure as a Slavic spirit who protected the mountain people against oppression. In this adaptation, ordinary folk bore Slavic names while the lords were given German ones, aligning with the era’s class-based narrative framework. Sykulski’s version, however, was not universally accepted, as some regarded Rübezahl as too closely associated with German folklore.[13]
Rübezahl was first mentioned in 1565 asRibicinia in a poem byFranz von Koeckritz. The Rübezahl story was first collected and written down byJohannes Praetorius in theDaemonologia Rubinzalii Silesii (1662). The character later appeared inJohann Karl August Musäus's "Legenden von Rübezahl" (1783),Carl Hauptmann'sRübezahl-Buch (1915) andOtfried Preußler'sMein Rübezahl-Buch (1993). Poems includeFerdinand Freiligrath's "Aus dem schlesischen Gebirge" (1844)[14] andRobert Reinick's "Rübezahls Mittagstisch" (1876). New short stories featuring Rübezahl were also written, such asJohann August Apel's "Der Todtentanz" inGespensterbuch (vol 3, 1811),[15] andFriedrich de la Motte Fouqué's "Das Schauerfeld" (1814) and "Die Geschichten vom Rübezahl" (1816).[16] In Britain this included three new "Legends of Number-Nip" (1826–1828) by Scottish authors theMisses Corbett,[17][18][19] and the unfinished story "The Lord of the Hills" (c. 1835) byThomas Love Peacock.[20]
Several German Rübezahl tales have been translated into English, including eight of Praetorius' stories byWilliam John Thoms (1834);[21] many translations of Musäus' tales, notably byThomas Beddoes (1791),William Hazlitt (1845), andMark Lemon (1863); Apel, Fouqué, andHenrik Steffens' stories byGeorge Godfrey Cunningham (1829); five ofJohann Peter Lyser's tales byElizabeth F. Ellet (1847); andRosalie Koch's version byCharles Nordhoff (1858) andMary Catherine Rowsell (1864).Freiligrath's Rübezahl poem was also translated into English as "From the Mountains of Silesia" byMary Howitt (1844), andFranz Abt'ssingspielRübezahl byWilliam Grist (c. 1888).
The Rübezahl legends also inspired other stories. He may have been the inspiration for the character Huhn in Gerhart Hauptmann's "Und Pippa Tanzt!".[22] The poem "Count Carrots" byGerda Mayer is based on the tale and appears inThe Oxford Book of Story Poems.[23] Rübezahl is mentioned in Mike Mignola'sHellboy: Conqueror Worm (2001) by the character Inger Von Klempt.
Near MountSněžka in Czechia close to the Polish border, there is a botanical locality with an especially large variety of plants that bears the name "Rübezahl's Garden". Some unusual stone buildings in the area are named after him as well, for example theRübezahlkanzel an den Schneegruben.
In the vicinity ofJelenia Góra and other Polish locales under the Giant Mountains, there is an annual series of opera performances titledMuzyczny Ogród Liczyrzepy, which translates into English as "Rübezahl's Musical Garden". In 2016, the series commenced for the thirteenth time.
TheCzech variant of Rübezahl,Krakonoš, features in literature and in other culture:
Musäus, Johann Karl August (1845)."Legends of Rübezahl".Select Popular Tales from the German of Musaeus. With ... Wood Engravings, Etc. Translated byJames Burns. London: Iames Burns. pp. 146–168.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
