Rübezahl
Wolf Lorenz
I am translating some folke tales (from German)
about a goblin, named Rübezahl
Does anyone know if he has a Danish, Swedish or English name?
(I know who this figure is; I am only interested in a name)
Grace
Wolf Lorenz
Maxi Schwarz-Bastami, C.Tran
Refresh my memory: In which story (German or English title) does Ruebenzahl
occur?
I'm assuming that my memory is correct that he is in one of the Grimm
tales. If so,
I have both the collection in German, and an excellent one in English - I
could easily
cross-reference for you to find out what he is called in English.
Maxi
Steffen Bühler
>I am translating some folke tales (from German)
>about a goblin, named Rübezahl
>Does anyone know if he has a Danish, Swedish or English name?
>(I know who this figure is; I am only interested in a name)
I quote Dennis Lien (U of Minnesota Libraries)
<Dennis....@tc.umn.edu> here:
These Bohemian and Silesian legends date from the Middle Ages, and
were originally written down by J. Praetorius in 1662.
There is no indication that it (or its sequel) appeared in English.
There are two books to mention:
Jupo, Frank: Count Carrot
[New York] : Holiday House, [1966]
Based on a collection of German folktales in which the main character
is Rübezahl, a mountain giant.
The Rübezahl tales were published in German in "Volksmärchen der
Deutschen" by Karl Musäus in 1782.
Eichenberg, Fritz: Poor troll
Owings Mills, Md. : Stemmer House, c1983.
The story of Ruebezahl and the princess : based on the story by J.K.A.
Musäus / retold and illustrated by
Fritz Eichenberg
I gather that Rubezahl and the Carrot Counter are the same individual.
Musaeus' stories of Rubezahl have also appeared in English in a 19th
century collection:
Musaus, Johann Karl August, 1735-1787.
Legends of Rubezahl, and other tales
London, J. Cundall, 1845
Furthermore, Bleiler's GUIDE TO SUPERNATURAL FICTION lists a series of
Rubezahl stories in POPULAR TALES OF THE GERMANS by Musaeus (1791, in
three volumes; supposedly translated by William Beckford though this
may not be true). The stories appear under the blanket title "Elfin
Freaks, or The Seven Legends of Number-Nip."
Besides Number-Nip and Carrot Counter, he appears also to be known as
Turnip Counter--maybe it was a bad year for the carrot crop that time.
<end of quote>
Maybe this helps, at least for the English name. Quite interesting, at
least.
Best regards,
Steffen
Barendregt
I do not know about the little fella's names in the languages you asked
about BUT I know what he is called in Czech - Rybrcoul (the "y" has an
accent-looking diacritical mark over it). He is supposed to live in
Krkonose (Riesengebirge/Giant Mountains), an area which used to be
heavily German populated (hence the name). I guess nowadays he is
believed to be the evil alter ego of Krakonos, the good caretaker of the
mountains (and gets blamed for snowstorms and crappy weather in
general).
Not an answer to your question but may be interesting nevertheless.
Take care,
Tomas Barendregt