M: A stork given to philosophising, a pompous, greedy turkey, all kinds of smart and helpful birds and other woodland creatures populate the world of journeyman blacksmith Johannes Snut and his lover Sophie, nicknamed "Poodle" for her curly hair.
F: Fritz Reuter's "Hanne Nüte un de lütte Pudel", subtitled "A story in verse of birds and humans", was published in 1860. Or, as he himself writes:
M: "The love story of two simple children of nature in cheerful images from village life."
F: A love story that is actively supported by the wild animals. Sophie and "Hanne Nüte", to give the Low German version of Johannes Snut's name, are protected and brought together by those animals... and have all kinds of adventures along the way.
M: Fritz Reuter took the opportunity to praise simple village life, and the reading public were over the moon. They read... and listened and watched. Because "Hanne Nüte" was taken around the country by numerous recital artists. In a time when there was no cinema, radio, TV or internet, recital artists filled the long evenings in Mecklenburg's towns and villages. Karl Kraepelin from Neustrelitz, for example, not only read the work aloud, he recited, acted and staged it – simply with the use of facial expressions.
F: And the popular Reuter entertainment evenings no doubt included the song Hanne Nüte sings on his wanderings, which was henceforth regarded as Mecklenburg's secret anthem: the Eickboomlied, which pays homage to Low German, the language that unites the people of these lands:
All depictions: © museum.de
