Der Hase und der Fuchs
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Chapters
About this video
Der Hase und der Fuchs, The Hare and the Fox, read slowly with the English beside it and every word explained. About 3 minutes.
About this story Ludwig Bechstein (1801–1860) collected and retold German folk tales in his Deutsches Märchenbuch of 1845, for a time more widely read in Germany than the Grimms' collection. This text comes from a 1907 selection of his tales for young readers, in its original nineteenth-century German: you will see daß, today written dass.
Grammar in this story: sprach (the storyteller's simple past of sprechen, "said", often placed after the words: „…“ sprach der Fuchs) 4. „Das ist ein hungriges Wetter,“ sprach der Fuchs zum Hasen, „mir schnurren alle Gedärme zusammen.“ -- „Ja wohl“, antwortete der Hase. (“This is hungry weather,” said the fox to the hare, “my intestines are all shriveling up.” -- “Indeed it is,” answered the hare.) 9. sprach der Fuchs, „lege dich der Länge nach hin und stelle dich tot. Das Mädchen wird seinen Korb hinstellen und dich aufheben wollen, um deinen armen Balg zu gewinnen, denn Hasenbälge geben Handschuhe; derweilen erwische ich den Semmelkorb, uns zum Troste.“ (said the fox, “lie down at full length and play dead. The girl will put her basket down and want to pick you up to get your poor pelt, for hare skins make gloves; meanwhile, I'll snatch the basket of rolls for our comfort.”) 15. Als sie nun in die Nähe eines kleinen Weihers kamen, sprach der Hase zum Fuchs: (Now when they came near a small pond, the hare said to the fox:)
Words to know Hase · hare (der Hase) Fuchs · fox (der Fuchs) Korb · basket (der Korb) Semmeln · bread rolls (die Semmel) Weiher · pond (der Weiher) Schwanz · tail (der Schwanz) Mädchen · girl (das Mädchen) hungrig · hungry tot · dead (sich tot stellen: to play dead) fressen · to eat (of animals)
Chapters
Questions (the answers are in the pinned comment) 1. Was trug das Bauernmädchen? (What was the peasant girl carrying?) 2. Warum stellte sich der Hase tot? (Why did the hare play dead?) 3. Was passierte mit dem Schwanz des Fuchses? (What happened to the fox's tail?)
Level: Intermediate, 1 of 4 in this playlist. 19 lines, 20.4 words a line. Next: Hans im Glück. All intermediate German stories: the playlist "Intermediate German Stories | Grimm & Bechstein Fairy Tales".
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