In the Year '13 A Tale of Mecklenburg Life   By: Fritz Reuter (1810-1874)

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COLLECTION

OF

GERMAN AUTHORS

VOL. 4.

IN THE YEAR '13 BY FRITZ REUTER.

IN ONE VOLUME.

TAUCHNITZ EDITION.

By the same Author,

AN OLD STORY OF MY FARMING DAYS 3 vols.

IN THE YEAR '13:

A

TALE OF MECKLENBURG LIFE

BY

FRITZ REUTER.

TRANSLATED FROM THE PLATT DEUTSCH

BY

CHARLES LEE LEWES.

Authorized Edition .

LEIPZIG 1867

BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ.

LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON, Limited. ST. DUNSTAN'S HOUSE, FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. PARIS: C. REINWALD & CIE, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PÈRES; THE GALIGNANI LIBRARY, 224, RUE DE RIVOLI.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

In presenting to the public this, the first English translation of one of Reuter's works, it may not be superfluous to say a few words concerning their author.

Though his name is unknown in England, in Germany he is one of the most popular authors of the day. His stories and poems are written in Platt deutsch , and are read wherever that dialect is spoken, that is to say throughout Northern, or Lower, Germany, extending from Memel in the extreme North East to Aix la Chapelle in the South West, and even the Germans of the more southern and higher lying States, where Platt deutsch is unknown, now frequently learn it for the sole purpose of reading Reuter's works.

The following story, called in the original "Ut de Franzosentid", was published in 1860, and rapidly passed through several editions. It is one of a series to which Reuter has given the name of "Olle Kamellen" literally "old camomile flowers", by which he means "old tales, old recollections, useful as homely remedies." It is one of the most popular of his works, and perhaps also the most translateable. Hence the reason for bringing it first before the English public.

The scene of the story is laid in Stavenhagen, or Stemhagen as it is called in Plattdeutsch, Reuter's native town. The characters introduced were all real people; and even their names have been retained.

The story opens at the moment when the German people was at length beginning to rise against Napoleon, and it gives a vivid picture of the state of feeling which then prevailed in Germany towards the French. The Germans were in the galling position of being forced to treat the French as allies, whilst hating them with an intense and unconquerable hatred. And this hatred, wide spread over the whole country, is shown in the expressions of detestation ever bursting forth at the mention of the French name.

The language in which the story is written is closely allied to the Saxon, and has much more resemblance to English than High German has; but it is nevertheless a dialect, and bears the same relation to the High German as the child's language does to the man's; and my aim has been, while endeavouring to make the translation read like an English work, to adhere as closely as possible to the form and simplicity of the original.

Hampstead, June 1867.

IN THE YEAR '13.

CHAPTER I.

Showing why Miller Voss could not be made a bankrupt, and how he helped the Amtshauptmann in a great difficulty.