Thursday, November 12, 2009

Losing one's head is only a bit of necromancy in this legend.



Grimm’s Saga No. 94: The Lily
(The abbreviations used in the first line of this legend are probably intended to protect the identities of the innocent, although I'm not quite sure who the innocents are in this tale.)

There once lived a nobleman named A. v. Th. in the country of H. Now this nobleman was able to chop off people’s heads and then reattach them. He decided that he would stop this devilish and dangerous pastime before a misfortune occurred. But then it happened again. During a celebration he allowed himself to be convinced by good fellows that he should demonstrate his delightful skill one last time. But, as you can imagine, no one was eager to have his own head chopped off. Finally a servant consented under the stipulation that his head would be firmly reattached. The nobleman struck off his head but the reattachment was not working. He spoke to the guests: “Is there a person among you, who is preventing me from doing this? I want to warn you and have warned you not to do this.” He tried it again, but it would not work. He spoke his warning once more and threatened once again that his work should not be hindered. But when this did not help and he could not reattach the head a third time, he had a lily grow on the table. He then struck off the head and the flower of the lily. When he had done this, one of the guests fell down from his bench because his head had been chopped off. Only then was the nobleman able to reattach the head of the servant. He then fled from the country until the matter had been forgotten and he had received pardon for the deed.
(Translation Copyright FairyTaleChannel.org
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