An excellent conclusion to a great series!
5 stars
The third volume of Kühnau's massive collection of Silesian folk tales focuses on tales of "magic, miracles, and treasures", and it fully delivers. All tales are neatly arranged by topic, starting with tales of witches and witchcraft, and ending with tales of miners and my personal favorite the "Wahles" - or, as I like to call them, "Ultraterrestrial Venetians". Furthermore, each tale clearly lists its source, which is sadly not something that should be taken for granted with folk tale collections - but it is greatly appreciated by researchers like me.
Kühnau erred on the side of comprehensiveness, which means that many of the tales will start feeling a bit repetitive the longer each chapter goes on. But that, too, is something that works in my favor, since I can pick the best variants for further translation.
All in all, this public domain work - which is available for download …
The third volume of Kühnau's massive collection of Silesian folk tales focuses on tales of "magic, miracles, and treasures", and it fully delivers. All tales are neatly arranged by topic, starting with tales of witches and witchcraft, and ending with tales of miners and my personal favorite the "Wahles" - or, as I like to call them, "Ultraterrestrial Venetians". Furthermore, each tale clearly lists its source, which is sadly not something that should be taken for granted with folk tale collections - but it is greatly appreciated by researchers like me.
Kühnau erred on the side of comprehensiveness, which means that many of the tales will start feeling a bit repetitive the longer each chapter goes on. But that, too, is something that works in my favor, since I can pick the best variants for further translation.
All in all, this public domain work - which is available for download at Śląska Biblioteka Cyfrowa - is a great boon to anyone who wants to research German-language folk tales!