Alte Chinesische Fabeln

Abstract

This is the German version of Ancient Chinese Fables, published by the same press in the same year. Comparison yields some surprises. The illustrator is named Feng Tse-Kai there and Fung Dse-kai here. The foreword there by Chang Yu-Luan becomes a Nachwort here without attribution. The T of C also moves from the front to the back of the book. Though the sequence of stories is the same in the early pages, there is some rearrangement along the way. Most stories in German occur six pages earlier than in the English version. Some titles are not translated exactly. Thus The Bird Killed by Kindness becomes here Tödliche Gastfreundschaft (5). Let me repeat comments I made there. There are sixty-two fables with simple illustrations. The covers are speckled boards. Only fables are included here that are both ancient and still in use today. The golden age of Chinese fables was the third and fourth century B.C. Typically, these fables play off of varying perceptions of reality; they invite to a new kind of perspective, often a more comprehensive one. Some of my favorites include Tödliche Gastfreundschaft (5), Der Verdacht (10), Kann Man auf Hasen Warten (20), Schild und Speer (21), Die Schnepfe und die Muschel (30), Im Schatten der Grossen (31), Die Falsche Richtung (32), and Der Göttliche Stör (53). Der Blinde und der Lahme (41) corresponds exactly to our fable. There is a fascinating political twist on 56: the people reinterpreted rulers' fables and so made base metal into gold. Die Schnepfe und die Muschel (30) seems differently attributed here, unless Dschan Guo Tsö is another name for Warring States Anecdotes; this story also has an asterisked comment without an asterisk in the text.