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Klabautermann

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A Klabautermann on a ship, from Buch Zur See, 1885.

A Klabautermann (German: [klaˈbaʊtɐˌman] ⓘ) is a water kobold that assists sailors and fishermen on the Baltic and North Sea in their duties. It is a merry and diligent creature, with an expert understanding of most watercraft, and an irrepressible musical talent. It is believed to rescue sailors washed overboard.

Nomenclature

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The Klabautermann (also spelt Klaboterman, Klabotermann,[1] Kalfatermann[2]), sometimes even called a "kobold"[2] is a creature from the beliefs of fishermen and sailors of Germany's north coast, the Low Countries (Netherlands, etc.), and the Baltic Sea.[2]

The name comes from the Low German verb klabastern meaning "rumble" or "make a noise". An etymology deriving the name from the verb kalfatern ("to caulk") has also been suggested.[3]

Overview

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The Klabautermann typically appears as a small humanlike figure carrying a tobacco pipe and wearing a yellow nightcap-style sailor's cap and a red or grey jacket.[2][4] He is often carrying a caulking hammer. This likeness is carved and attached to the mast as a symbol of good luck.

The Klabautermann is associated with the wood of the ship on which it lives. It enters the ship via the wood used to build it, and it may appear as a ship's carpenter.[2] The Klabautermann possibly assimilates or conflates some of the lore of other spiritual beings, such as the Danish skibnisse or "ship sprite" and the household spirit puk of Northern Germany (cog. puck of English folklore).[2][5]

He is often helpful to the needs of the ship when in disrepair or struck by a squall, etc., preventing the ship from sinking.[2][1] Thus he may help pump water from the hold, arrange cargo or ballasts, and hammer away to plug a leak that has sprung until a carpenter arrives at the scene. [1] However, they can also prankishly tangle up the lines if shipmates are callous about maintaining their tackle.[1]

The Klabautermann's benevolent behaviour lasts as long as the crew and captain treat the creature respectfully. A Klabautermann will not leave its ship until it is on the verge of sinking. To this end, superstitious sailors in the 19th century demanded that others pay the Klabautermann respect. Ellett has recorded one rumour that a crew even threw its captain overboard for denying the existence of the ship's Klabautermann.[1] Heinrich Heine has reported that one captain created a place for his ship's Klabautermann in his cabin and that the captain offered the spirit the best food and drink he had to offer.[2] Klabautermanns are easily angered.[1] Their ire manifests in pranks such as tangling ropes and laughing at sailors who shirk their chores.[6]

The sight of a Klabautermann is an ill omen, and in the 19th century, it was the most feared sight among sailors.[6] According to one tradition, they only appear to those about to die.[4] Another story recorded by Ellett claims that the Klabautermann only shows itself if the ship is doomed to sink.[6]

Despite the positive attributes, there is one omen associated with his presence: no member of a ship blessed by his presence shall ever set eyes on him. He only ever becomes visible to the crew of a doomed ship.

More recently, the Klabautermann is sometimes described as having more sinister attributes, and blamed for things that go wrong on the ship. This incarnation of the Klabautermann is more demon- or goblin-like, prone to play pranks and, eventually, doom the ship and her crew. This deterioration of the Klabautermann's image probably stems from sailors, upon returning home, telling stories of their adventures at sea. Since life at sea can be rather dull, all creatures - real, mythical, and in between - eventually became the centre of rather ghastly stories.

Origins

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Belief in the Klabautermann dates to at least the 1770s according to the oral source who told Heinrich Heine in 1820s that the lore went back at least fifty years,[2] however, there are no literary attestations that antedate the collections that much antedate c. 1810s, i.e. more than a decade before the collection of legends were begun in the in the 1820s.[2]

German writer Heinrich Smidt believed that the sea kobolds, or Klabautermann, entered German folklore via German sailors who had learned about them in England.[7] However, historians David Kirby and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen dispute this, claiming no evidence of such a belief in Britain. An alternate view connects the Klabautermann myths with the story of Saint Phocas of Sinope. As that story spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.[8] Scholar Reinhard Buss instead sees the Klabautermann as an amalgamation of early and pre-Christian beliefs mixed with new creatures.[9][10]

Klabautermann in fiction

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  • In "The Musician's Tale: The Ballad of the Carmilhan" in Tales of a Wayside Inn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the "Klaboterman" appears to the crew of the doomed ship Valdemar, saving only the honest cabin boy.
  • In the manga and anime series One Piece, the pirate ship Going Merry, unknown by the crew, had its own Klabautermann. This Klabautermann fixed the boat when it was too damaged to go on, and spoke to Usopp, telling him not to worry because the boat would carry everyone a little longer. It was later revealed that the repairs the Klabauterman made were only temporary: the ship was too badly damaged to be permanently repaired, and sank shortly afterwards. This Klabautermann was portrayed in a manner strongly in line with the original, benevolent version of the creature (minus the pipe). He was ranked as the 49th most popular character in One Piece (with 46 votes), 2 votes more than the Going Merry itself.
  • Dschinghis Khan released a single in 1982 called "Klabautermann".
  • Pumuckl, a German TV (1980s) and radio (1960s) series Kobold, descends from the dynasty of the Klabautermänner.
  • In "Jeder stirbt für sich allein" (published in English as Every Man Dies Alone or "Alone in Berlin") by Hans Fallada, the author depicts the "resistance of the little people" to the Nazi regime. The novel shows the determined and sustained two-year campaign of Berlin residents Otto and Anna Quangel to protest against the government by the act of writing and distributing anti-Nazi postcards. This brave act, which begins when the couple lose their son in combat in France, eventually unleashes severe and disastrous consequences for many, not least for the main investigator assigned to the case, Kommissar Escherich of the Gestapo. In pursuit of the perpetrator for most of the novel, it is Escherich who nicknames the postcards' author "der Klabautermann".

References

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Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f Ellett, Elizabeth F. (January 1846). "Traditions and Superstitions". The American Whig Review: A Whig Journal. III. New York: George H. Colton: 107–108.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kirby & Hinkkanen (2013), p. 48.
  3. ^ Leander Petzoldt, Kleines Lexikon der Dämonen und Elementargeister, Becksche Reihe, 1990, p. 109.
  4. ^ a b Rose, Carol (1996). Kobold". Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-393-31792-7, p. 181.
  5. ^ Buss (1973), p. 93.
  6. ^ a b c Ellett (1846), p. 108.
  7. ^ Smidt (1828), p. 160.
  8. ^ Kirby & Hinkkanen (2013), pp. 48–49.
  9. ^ Kirby & Hinkkanen (2013), p. 49.
  10. ^ Buss (1973), pp. 99–102.
Bibliography
  • Melville, F The Book of Faeries 2002 Quarto Publishing
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