Weekly Recommendation: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten
Hey there!
Here’s your weekly German media recommendation from Monoglot Anxiety. This time, it's the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten."
But first, a quick note from me:
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With that out of the way, on to the recommendation...
"Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten"
Even if you're not especially familiar with German cultural exports, you've probably still run into a fairy tale or two by the Brothers Grimm. The two brothers (Jacob and Wilhelm) were German scholars famous for collecting folklore from across the German-speaking world and preserving it in their books of fairy tales. You might not have known that the brothers are also significant figures in linguistics, having began (but not finished) assembling one of the first German dictionaries and formalized descriptions of some important sounds shifts that occurred as the Germanic languages developed (see: Grimm's Law).
"Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten" is one of many stories published by the Brothers Grimm in their anthology Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and House Fairy Tales), which is often simply called Grimm's Fairy Tales. It's the story of four old farm animals—a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster—who, after years of loyal service to their masters, are abandoned to fend for themselves. The animals band together and set out to become musicians in the city of Bremen, and the story recounts what happens along the way. Ironically, the animals never make it to Bremen—but don't worry, the story has a happy ending.
There's a rather famous statue of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten in the city of Bremen, pictured below. My friend who studied abroad in Bremen said it was "surprisingly small" and disappointing given all the hype around it, which reminds me of how I felt after seeing the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen for the first time. Landmarks are not always what they're cracked up to be!
In any case, the city of Bremen has a free version of the story available to read here. You can also listen to an audio version of the story.
That's all for this week,
Elise from Monoglot Anxiety