Das Hausbuch der Tiergeschichten

Abstract

This book has a very pleasant history. I found it by stopping in this children's bookshop in the Plöck in Heidelberg on my way elsewhere. I was surprised to find a fable book I had not yet found in German. Now as I review the book in Omaha, I have found out that it is a re-edition of the earlier "Wo Fuchs und Hase sich Gute Nacht sagen" from the same publisher in 2002. A quick search found that book on sale on Ebay for almost the same price. This is a case, then, of finding the later edition first and going back to the earlier one. The book divides up its fifty fables by areas, starting with "Von Tieren im Wasser." The range of stories includes Märchen as well as fables and extends to various kinds of stories and poems. The array of authors is truly stunning! I enjoy, for example, Goethe's poem "Die Frösche" (25). Under the ice of the frozen pond, the frogs promised that, if they ever again got into the fresh air, they would sing like nightingales. Spring came, they got into the open air, and "quakten wie vor alter Zeit." I also enjoy Theodor Fontane's German version of "The Twa Corbies" (41). Michl's art is various, from full double pages for titles of sections to various portions of pages with text. The art is simple, big, bold, and sometimes appropriately playful, as in "Gruselett" (43). Text and art are wonderfully matched in "Wettstreit" (46-47). A great example of this book's playful character is Hans Adolf Halbey's untitled poem on 178 with its facing illustration. It begins "Ein geapfelter Schimmel." It is all here, from Aesop to Munro Leaf's "Ferdinand" (183).