Ein Fuchs fährt nach Amerika: Fabeln aus aller Welt, für Kinder gesammelt und neu erzählt

Abstract

This small format (4¾ x 6¾) book belonged, apparently at various times, to the St. Peter Library in Essen and to Klaus Giepmann of Essen. Baumann did two other later works that I have, Affengeplapper in 1972 and Der Grüne Esel in 1989. Versions of both those title fables appear among the hundred fables here. There is a T of C at the end, which identifies the source of each fable. Klemme's art is one step above printer's designs, I would say. These designs are most helpful when they apply to the fable, like the illustration of the crab holding onto the fox's tail (20), the ass jumping on his owner (35), or the mouse churning up butter (60). The repeaters, like the frequent identical illustration of the fox (title-page, 6, 23, 55) or the large fish ready to eat smaller fish (37, 51), may lose their impact along the way. New to me is the Japanese fable Der Goldochse (12). One man sells another an ox on the basis of the ox's producing gold excrement. When the buyer returns the next day to complain that the ox is producing normal excrement, the seller asks what he has been feeding him. Normal hay. That is the reason. You need to feed him gold! I am not sure of the bearing of the title-fable on 25. The three truths the fox tells are useless to the captain, and each fox truth complements the captain's assertion by giving attention to the contrary force.