OK, Martin, Nice post, I'm convinced that, if I can ever possess a specimen of Elbogen, I won't have any choice than to acquire it from one of Chladni's authentic airs.:-)
You mentioned our Widmannstaetten: Alois Beck Edler von Widmannstetter.... I was very curious about the spelling you used, an alternate from that which we are accustomed...Can you tell us Teutonically challenged volks a little about the reason for this difference? Ahhh, and those kind and ever-so-considerate Frenchmen. Why do you suppose they would have mocked so cruelly their Bohemian hosts by spitefully lifting up the unliftable Elbogen iron meteorite and tossing it into a well to languish there for decades? Was it simply with the arrogance to say, "Non, nous'sommes non so greedyyyy, looooouky, devons-nous procéder à toss your rrrevered Cloompain to zz bottom of z pit where he can hhhrrust avay....oui oui , ou la laaaa, Kaput et Voilà La Boheme!! " No wonder the Austrians taught those savage beastly French a lesson in humility and kicked them out on their derrières shortly afterward... for which the French rewarded them later by overrunning Munich. Well being the Francophile I am, and still astonished this could happen, I must say in their defense that the French Secret Order of the Guardians of Ensisheim has brought back great honor and civility upon their countrymen after that fateful moment of the aggression of Elbogen... Best wishes, Doug PS nice post Matthias, too! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Altmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'MexicoDoug'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 2:42 PM Subject: AW: [meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II Hola Doug, yah and the Grimm brothers weren't only collectors of tales, but titans of linguistics in writing the first modern comprehensive German dictionary. Btw. Widmannstetter used Elbogen for his direct printing of his famous Thopmson structures. Goethe celebrated his 75th birthday on the castle of Elbogen (Loket), I'm not sure, whether he saw the Klumpen still there. Anyway, when ha was young and visited the stone of Ensisheim in the church, he made pubertal fooling about the people being so superstitious. Again, if once Vassiliev won't be so busy anymore, he has to found a meteorite fair on Loket castle. Nice counterpart to Ensisheim. Huh, I think I'm a capital sinner, I don't think, that I would be able to lift a Klumpen of more than 2 hundredweights... At least in the stories (there exist another version of the Burggraf metamorphosis) there are some slight meteoritical appeals: Thunder, Sounds, light, a pit... Buckleboo! Martin PS: There must be another story from that Klumpen, that it was hidden in the font of the castle - perhaps during the Napoleonic wars? -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: MexicoDoug [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gesendet: Freitag, 24. November 2006 20:08 An: Martin Altmann Cc: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II Hi Martin, Thanks for the Buckleboo! It had become such a familiar part of the list, like an attention-getting favorite family member I started to miss it.... Now, whoever said German couldn't be a consonant language, hasn't read enough of "Klumpen klingenden Metall" and such. Those Grimm boys really provided a capsule of time, the scientists they were, so far ahead in educating toddling future meteoriticists. Thanks for the tale of the Bohemian iron Elbogen, the year assumed ca. 1400 witnessed fall that was recorded more as conversion of a greedy baron than a meteoritical tale. One wonders what Widmaenstatten was really out to discover when he stuck a slab of Elbogen in a Bunsen Burner to see what would happen. It must have been quite a BuckleBOO! for Widmaenstatten to see the steely Baron's jailbars and bones developing in the flame of that bewitching Klumpen of Metall. This relationship of meteorites to avariciousness and piousness illustrated here and in the Grimms' tale is pleasantly enlightening. One can see the original view of the of the Burggraf that Widmanstaetten saw courtesy of Jörn Koblitz here: http://www.metbase.de/printable/images/schreibers3_650.jpg And Chladni himself had an etched knife forged from Elbogen which is now at the Berlin Museum for any or all the motivated to see! http://euromin.w3sites.net/Nouveau_site/musees/berlin/Website-dt/Elbogen.htm l And another book to possibly add to the list: KNAGSTED by Gustev Wied Finally, here's another book you don't have to buy and can read online, Knagsted, by the Danish novelist Gustav Wied. That is, if you can at least read Rigsdansk... It was a satire published in 1902 and is based in part on the Elbogen legends... Excerpt: **"Samt (hvad der er forbavsende interessant): "Der verwünschte Burggraf" (en ond og haard Borgherre, der "in grauer Vorzeit" paa Foranledning af sin Umenneskelighed og en fattig Kones indtrængende Bøn til Gud blev forvandlet til) "ein ursprünglich 108 kg schwerer Meteorstein von der Gestalt eines Pferdekopfes. Gegenwürtig aber ist nur der kleinere etwa 22 kg schwere Theil desselben zu sehen, während sich der grÖssere im k. k. Hof-Naturaliencabinet in Wien befindet" ...** complete Danish text (Lars, please help!): http://www.bjornetjenesten.dk/teksterdk/knagsted.htm Marty, You've really earned your Austral-Germaniac heiritage today... Congratulations !!! Notice of my special request is kindly appreciated, Buckleboo too, Dougy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Altmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'MexicoDoug'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 4:43 AM Subject: AW: [meteorite-list] Meteorite novels -gifts II Hi Doug, apropos Grimm bros. Did you know, that they mentioned a very famous meteorite in their collection of German folk tales (1816-1818)? "Auch zeigt man auf dem Rathause zu Elbogen noch jetzt die verbannten ruchlosen und goldgeizigen Burggrafen in einem Klumpen klingenden Metall. Der Sage nach soll niemand, der mit einer Todsünde befleckt ist, diesen Klumpen in die Höhe heben können." Uuuh my poor English, a Matteo version could read like this: "Also, in the townhall of Elbogen still today the banned heinous and gold-greedy burgraves are exhibited in a lump of clinking metal. Acording to legend nobody, who's imbrued by a capital sin, will be able to lift this lump." To translate the tale of the metamorphosis of the Burgrave into the meteorite, I leave to others (Peter, Bernd?): Der verwunschene Markgraf von Elbogen In grauer Vorzeit herrschte über Elbogen ein gar harter Mann, der Markgraf von Vohburg, der seine Untertanen und Diener, besonders die Bewohner der Robitsch - einer Elbogener Gegend - mit schwerem Frondienst bedrückte. Konnte einer den Willen des strengen Herren nicht nachkommen, wurde er sicherlich in den Turm geworfen und jämmerlich gezüchtigt. Über dem Haupttor der Burg ließ er eine Glocke befestigen, welche zur harten Arbeit rief. Zu Anfang ertönte sie wohl selten, später aber immer häufiger; denn der Markgraf wurde immer grausamer und habsüchtiger, das Mitleid schien gänzlich von ihm gewichen zu sein. Eines Sonntagmorgens stand er über dem Tor und beobachtete die in das nahe Gotteshaus wandelnden Scharen. Und es traf sich, dass eine arme Witwe ihm an diesem Tag eine Zahlung zu leisten hatte, sie hatte aber nichts, dass sie diese hätte entrichten können. Vielleicht, dachte sie, stimmt die heilige Sonntagsfeier den strengen Gebieter etwas zum Mitleid, und ging mit ihren unmündigen Kindern an der Hand, zu ihm hin und bat flehend um Nachsicht und Barmherzigkeit. "Habet Erbarmen mit mir! Der Ernährer der Familie ist gestorben und die Arbeit meiner Hände reicht eben nur kümmerlich hin, mich und diese Waisen zu erhalten!" Das Angesicht des Markgrafen verfinsterte sich bei der Rede wie der Himmel, der sich eben mit schweren Gewitterwolken umzog. Die arme Witwe bat nochmals und auch die Kleinen erhoben zu ihm ihre Hände. Doch das Herz des Herren blieb unbewegt und ließ sich durch den Jammer dieser Armen nicht erweichen. Zornesglut erfüllte sein Antlitz und seine Stimme donnerte auf sie herab: "Hinweg aus meinen Augen! Zahle was Du schuldig bist, sonnst lasse ich Dich in den Turm werfen!" Da raffte sich das Weib empor und rief, während das Donnern durch das Tal dröhnte, dem Fühllosen zu: "Weh` Dir, Vohburg! In dieser Stunde noch wirst Du in Stein verwandelt werden". Ein Schrei scholl durch die Lüfte - der Markgraf war verschwunden und dort, vor er stand, lag ein Klumpen - der verwunschene Markgraf von Elbogen. from Stanilav Burachovic: Sagen der Karlsbader Landschaft Martin, on your special request: Buckleboo! ------- STAR MONEY by the Bros. Altmann (jeje) A short fable summarized by our very favorite Germans, based on the original which was probably much older than the 1803 L'Aigle fall itself. Gives great insight to cultural fantasies of the significance of meteorites in the deep recesses of human thought. Interestingly, in an odd twist, it personifies what we all yearn in meteorite hunting in one form or another...READ THE ENGLISH translation free here, no need to buy the book, compiled by the namsake of Chladni's heirs: Story featured in Nation Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/star_money2.html Best wishes, Doug ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
