Twice ToldFischart, Geschichtklitterung: the Hündlein von Bretta (Alsleben 1891, p. 89 to 90; Scheible 1847, pp. 102 and 565)
- Language
- German
- Reading
- transcribed from the page image
- Translation
- ours
- Retrieved
- 10 October 2026
Spelling as printed (Alsleben prints the Fraktur text in roman transcription; the long s is written s). The first sentence is from Alsleben pp. 89 to 90, the same line in Scheible p. 102 reads “Pretta” for “Bretta” and “Genäsch” for “genäsch”. The second is from Scheible p. 565, in the section of that volume that follows the Geschichtklitterung. Alsleben prints the versions of 1575, 1582 and 1590 together; on p. 90 his footnotes list variants from the earlier versions for other lines but none for this one.
In summa, er ließ nie kein Nieren, noch anders, wie das Hündlein von Bretta dahinden, von frembdes genäsch wegen: dann sein Ehr war jhm lieber, wie der Jungfrawen, die band die Aer an ein Seidenen faden beim Küschwantz am Hurendantz.
führt mich nur nicht zu den roten Bawrenhunden, sie jagten nechst das Hündlein von Bretta, daß es den schwachen werckzeug am Zaun ließ
Translation
Ours. The sense is not fully clear to us; this stays close to the words.
In short, he never left behind a kidney (in this context probably “testicle”) or anything else, like the little dog of Bretta behind, for the sake of other people’s treats; for his honour was dearer to him than to the maiden who tied her honour to a silk thread by the cow’s tail at the whores’ dance.
Second passage: just don’t lead me to the red peasant dogs; lately they chased the little dog of Bretta so that it left its weak tool at the fence.
Notes
What it is. Johann Fischart’s free adaptation of Rabelais, first printed in 1575 and reworked in 1582 and 1590. The Brothers Grimm (1816, no. 95) write that Fischart alludes to the Bretten dog in two places; these are the two we found. Neither passage tells a story, and neither mentions a siege, a butcher or a monument. In the first the dog stands for something left behind “dahinden” (behind) on account of “frembdes genäsch” (someone else’s nibbling or titbit). The second is a bawdy aside.
Uncertain words. “Aer” is read as “Ehre” (honour), as in a saying recorded elsewhere; “Nieren” is read as “testicles” in this sexual context, on the second reader’s word. “Küschwantz” is the cow’s tail. “Werckzeug” means tool; we leave it literal.
What we did not check. Whether the 1575 print has the same line; we saw only Alsleben’s apparatus, which notes no variant for it. The second passage was not found in Alsleben’s OCR text, and we do not know which version of the text Scheible follows there (his title page reprints a Strasbourg edition of 1617).