Ekke Nekkepenn

Ekke Nekkepenn (also: Eke Nekepen, besides in other various spellings ) is a North German legendary figure.

In the most common since the mid-19th century, the Sylt local historian, folklorist and graphic artist Christian Peter Hansen ( * 1803 in Westerland, † 1879 in Westerland ) declining literary formation is Ekke Nekkepenn a merman is who, together with his wife Rahn on the basically the North Sea lives and mischievous tricks with seafarers and residents of the North Frisian Islands. In 1866 Theodor Storm's novella published The Regentrude a fire little man appears with the name corner corner Penn, which makes his damage spells for the withering of the fields.

Fabric history

C. P. Hansen merman Ekkehard Nekkepenn

Today's most well-known implementation of the Ekke - Nekkepenn - substance goes back to Christian Peter Hansen, the various legends from the North Frisian area in his 1858 published tales and legends of the heath-dwellers on Sylt condensed into a separate, ongoing narrative and reshaped. The first section of this story is titled " The merman Ekkehard Nekkepenn ".

The story begins when Ekkehard Nekkepenn asks the captain of a running to England by storm Sylt ship woman to help with the birth of his child. The beautiful and helpful captain woman is led from the sea man to his living at the bottom of the North Sea woman Rahn and comes after a successful birth richly endowed with gold and silver back to the sea surface. The skipper and his wife can continue their journey with the best weather and arrive later, safe and sound in the home to Rantum on Sylt back.

Many years later, Ekkehard Nekkepenn reminded of this incident and decided - given the fact that Rahn is now " old and wrinkly " has become - to take the captain's wife takes her to wife. When he 's ship Rantumer captain one day sifts, he persuades the person sitting on the seabed Rahn to grind salt, and the Sylt Schiffer comes along with his crew into the resulting strong vortex.

Towards the wife of the captain met Ekkehard Nekkepenn, which has turned into a handsome sailor, on the beach at Rantum their virgin daughter Inge. Against her will, he puts her on every finger a gold ring, you hang a gold chain around his neck and declares her his bride. When the girl asks him tearfully to release it, he replied that this he could only do so if it could tell him his name the next night. But no one on the island knows the unknown stranger. As Inge again goes along in their despair the next evening at the beach, it stops at the southern tip of the island at Hoernum a voice from the mountain, who sings:

On Sylterfriesisch ( Sölring ):

Then she runs to the arranged meeting place and calls for the arriving there stranger. " Your name is Ekke Nekkepenn and I stay Inge Rantum " The equally foolhardy in this way merman cherishes since that time a great rage against the Sylt island residents and constantly comes up when he feels like it, the loose. He destroyed their ships in the storm, they can go down in Rahn's maelstrom and damaged the Sylt shore by the unleashed by it floods.

Ekke Nekkepenn and Norse mythology

CP Hansen already dealt in the context of his work on the history of the Frisian Uthlande (1856 ) with Norse mythology and reached to claims to the 1847 published in Leipzig factory Norse myths teaching after a series of lectures by Carsten touch (* 1790 † 1872) back. In his 1850 published " materials to a Frisian mythology " Hansen writes: " The god of the sea was for the Germans Ögis, when the Danes Eiger, in the friezes ovum or Eia, also Ekkehard or Nekke. [ ... ] His wife was the goddess Ran, which blessed the beach, pulled the castaways in their nets, and after which the old beach and dune village Rantum perhaps his name. Rane is the way the Nordic as much as rob. One Frisian legend, the Ekke had once, gefreiet to Rantumerin, name Inge, but get a basket. "

In fact, it is in all of these manufactured by Hansen covers - like Willy Krogmann in his afterword to this band Sylt Tell in 1966 demonstrated convincingly - to errors. Neither can the place name Rantum traced back to the Old Norse word Ran, nor is there evidence of an etymological connection between the name of the Norse sea god Ægir and the word " Ekkehard ". Therefore Krogmann refers to the figure Ekkehard Nekkepenn as Hansen's invention.

Among the products manufactured by Hansen reference to Norse goddess Rán clarified Krogmann: " Just as the sea god Ekkehard Nekkepenn Hansen also has the sea goddess Raan or, as he writes, invented Raand. In this case the place name Raantem worked triggering. With it has the name of the Norse goddess of the sea Ran, as I can be -t - recognize, but not to do the least. The Old Norse. Ran, the Ran the same word as the neuter " robbery, looting " and is based on rahnan Germanic * would, on Sylt match the shape * Riin. "

The Emergence: Hansen Templates

Hansen merman Ekkehard Nekkepenn based on two different legends, between which originally was no connection. The first part of the story is based on a legend of a Aquarius ( at Krogmann, Sylt Say, No. 36, p 17), while the second part is a North Frisian variant of the famous Rumpelstiltskin - substance ( at Krogmann, No. 27, S. 13). The original Aquarius saga resembles in many features of the representation with Hansen, but ends with the safe return of the captain woman on board their ship. Hansen linked them to the North Frisian Rumpelstiltskin variant by making from the original dwarf the " merman " Ekkehard Nekkepenn. As a connecting link added he invented the subject that Ekkehard Nekkepenn can perish Sylt's captain to marry his wife. To make the story seem more realistic, Hansen added the exact place names added on Sylt. The fact that this was originally a dwarf at Ekkehard Nekkepenn, becomes clear when Hansen makes him sing in a mountain, which is a rather unmotivated behavior for a merman.

The Rumpelstiltskin variant used by Hansen belongs to a widespread tales and legends complex. In most of these tales are a dwarf or another being a girl helps in spinning a certain quantity of flax. The North Frisian original form of the substance - of Hansen follows in its design - contains exactly not this element. Thus, it is attributable to a relatively small group of formations belong to the legends of Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Tyrol, Lower Austria and Schleswig -Holstein.

Allen tale from said complex in common is the confidentiality of the name of the dwarf. The dwarf is a woman (usually a queen) under pressure and only if they can say his name, it is free. Even the name itself is an unusual art word with repetition of a syllable sound. Here appear next to " Rumpelstiltskin " names like " Siperdintl ", " Zirkzirk ", " Ettle - Pettle " English " Tom Tim Dead " or Swedish " Titelituri ". The term " Ekkehard Nekkepenn " falls into this line. Assuming that the name of the character goes back to the Rumpelstiltskin version, it also includes the relationship of the name component Nekke with the Old High German nihhus, niccus or nicchessa, Old English and Old Norse nicor and nykr from. Because this means each " water spirit, Wasseruntier " and is known as mermaid as a Niss, Neck or sprite and in female form, which in turn is not related to the dwarf Rumpelstiltskin legend. The name would then out of Ekkehard and played around this onomatopoeic. Thus would most likely conceivable that Hansen was inspired by the harmony of the merger of the legends areas.

Corner corner Penn as a fire -man in Storms novella The Regentrude

Only eight years after the publication of Hansen's legends and stories of the heath-dwellers on Sylt grabbed Theodor Storm the original character of the dwarf of Rumpelstiltskin fabric in his novel The Regentrude on and designed it as malicious goblin. While Hansen makes the dwarf a merman Storms corner corner Penn is a fire little man who makes his damage spells for the withering of the fields. The figure itself is described as " knorpsiges little men in the fiery red skirt and red stocking cap ", with a " pumpkin head ", a red beard and a " lumpy body" to thin " spindle legs ".

With his shrill laughter and jumping from one foot to the other fire -man shows exactly the behavior that the reader was already out of the 1812 first appeared in the "Children 's and Household Tales " by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin known pressure. Unlike other designs of the originally lived in the legendary world of southern Germany, Austria and Tyrol fire -man - character lives Storms leprechaun in a dwarf hole under the ground, echoing the runt of the North Frisian, used by Hansen Say variant. Similar to Hansen is also missing in Storm the spinning element, otherwise follows the design of the substance but the usual pattern: The fire little man thinks nobody is watching and reveals through his boastful loud singing a rhyming spell that the key to the success of the protagonist - here the lovers Andree and Maren - will.