Who wrote the baron. Online reading of the book The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

L. LEVIN (Orel).

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

Portraits of some representatives of the extensive Munchausen family of the 16th-17th centuries.

The extensive Munchausen family had many prominent figures, among them the founder of the University of Göttingen, Gerlach Adolf von Munchausen.

One of the castles still owned by this family in Lower Saxony.

Baroness Anna Maria von Munchausen shows the author of the article a collection of portraits of her ancestors.

Science and life // Illustrations

This is what Bodenwerder looked like in 1654. The Munchausen estate rises in the center. Next to the photo is their coat of arms.

Lifetime portrait Carl Hieronymus Friedrich von Munchausen (copy from the original, which is lost).

The Ducal Palace in Wolfenbüttel, from which our hero left for Russia in 1737.

Science and life // Illustrations

Gottfried August Bürger (left) and Rudolf Erich Raspe - founders of publications with incredible stories Baron Munchausen.

Munchausen's house in Bodenwerder. He was born in it and spent his life after returning from Russia.

Science and life // Illustrations

Illustrations for lifetime editions of “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”: the hero pulls himself out of the swamp by his hair; he rides a horse through the house; Munchausen, transplanting from one nucleus to another.

In the city where Munchausen was born, there are many sculptural figures dedicated to him.

Here he sits on the core. Munchausen waters the "halved horse".

After the high snowdrifts melted, Munchausen's horse found himself tied to the church cross.

There are a lot of Munchausens! Since the 12th century, almost 1,300 people have gathered on the family tree, about 50 are alive today. There are a dozen and a half castles scattered throughout Lower Saxony that once belonged or belong today to members of this venerable family. And the family is truly respectable. In the XVIII and 19th centuries he gave eight persons the rank of ministers of different German states. Here and such bright personalities, like the famous Landsknecht Hilmar von Munchausen in the 16th century, who obtained considerable money for himself with a sword to buy or rebuild half a dozen castles. Here is the founder of the University of Göttingen, Gerlach Adolf von Munchausen, and the botanist and agronomist Otto von Munchausen. There are half a dozen writers, and among them is the “first poet of the Third Reich” Berris von Munchausen, whose poems were chanted by Hitler Youth teenagers as they marched through the streets.

And the whole world knows only one thing - Carl Hieronymus Friedrich von Munchausen, according to the genealogical table, number 701. And, probably, he would remain number 701, if during his lifetime two writers - R. E. Raspe and G. A. Burger - were not allowed around the world, either by the funny stories they heard from Munchausen, or by the funny stories they themselves invented, which for two centuries have brought a smile to the most different people in all corners of the earth. If we keep in mind the literary hero, then he, in fact, is not German, but rather a citizen of the world; only his name speaks about his nationality. The very first line in millions of books on which this name appears reads: “I left home for Russia in the middle of winter...” And millions of readers for the third century perceive Russia, in his stories, as a country where “wolves devour horses as they run.” , where snow covers the ground up to the tops of churches and where a stream of urine freezes right in the air."

What really connects Munchausen with Russia? How random are the “Russian settings” in the short stories he created? The basic facts of his biography are known, interest in it is caused by that literary glory, which the baron himself, however, considered an indelible shame. Alas, there is still more than one author both in Russia and Germany, when talking about the real-life, as they call it, “historical Munchausen,” who, wittingly or unwittingly, mixes his biography with the adventures of a cheerful adventurer.

This is all the more offensive because many documents have come down to us from the 18th century, on the pages of which this name is written in Russian and German letters; they lie on the shelves of the archives of two countries - Russia and Germany: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Göttingen, Wolfenbüttel, Hanover, Bodenwerde. By linking them with some published and unpublished research, a biography of the baron can be compiled. It will not be possible to flip through all the pages of his biography within the framework of a magazine article. And among them there are in no way inferior in intensity of passions to those that Raspe and Burger once published on his behalf. Therefore, we will dwell in more detail on just some of them.

Munchausen was born in 1720 in the small town of Bodenwerder, which then lay on an island right in the middle of the Weser River. The Munchausen coat of arms, known since the 13th century, depicts a monk in the robes of the Cistercian order with a staff and a pouch in his hand, in the pouch is a book. Over eight centuries, the spelling of the name - Munchausen - has changed several times. About 80 variants are known. Among them are Monekhusen, Munchhausen, Monichusen, Monigkusen, Minnighusen and many others.

Our hero lost his father early and was brought up at the court of the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern in Bevern Castle, not far from his home. In 1735, the prince became the reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Münchausen was officially promoted to page. Ahead lay the traditional career for a poor nobleman - military service in the army of Brunswick or neighboring small states. But fate opened a different path for the young man.

Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who has been living in Russia for the fifth year as the fiancé of Anna Leopoldovna, niece of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna, urgently needed two pages to replace those killed during the assault Turkish fortress Ochakov. After a long search (few people wanted to go to mysterious Russia), two desperate ones were found, and one of them was Munchausen. He arrived in St. Petersburg in early February 1738. It is very likely (but not yet documented) that he immediately took part in the campaign against the Turks in the retinue of Anton Ulrich. He had to participate, that’s why he was discharged.

In December 1739, Munchausen from the retinue of Anton Ulrich joined the army as a cornet in the Brunswick cuirassier regiment stationed near Riga. In this case, he was provided with protection by the wife of Duke Biron. So the level of connections young man was tall at court.

In less than a year, there is a change of monarch on the Russian throne. Empress Anna Ioannovna dies suddenly, handing over the reign to Biron before her death, and the crown to two-month-old Ivan Antonovich, the son of Anna Leopoldovna and Anton Ulrich, Munchausen's patron. Three weeks later, Biron is already sitting in the casemate of the Shlisselburg fortress, Anna Leopoldovna becomes the ruler, and Anton Ulrich receives the rank of generalissimo. But the Generalissimo did not forget Munchausen: he was promoted from cornet to lieutenant, and, as his mother proudly reports, he beat out 12 other cornets who were awaiting promotion in rank.

Munchausen had something to brag about. He was appointed commander of the first company of the regiment, which was located directly under the commander-in-chief in Riga to perform the guard of honor and other ceremonial actions (for example, in 1744, Munchausen commanded the guard when the Anhalt-Zerbst princess, the future Catherine II, passed through Riga). The military historical archive contains hundreds of documents depicting the hectic life of the company commander Munchausen (the company numbered 90 people). This includes repairing ammunition, accepting new horses, reporting on the sale of skins flayed from the fallen, allowing soldiers to marry, capturing deserters, repairing weapons, purchasing provisions and fodder, grazing horses, correspondence with superiors due to delays in pay, and much more.

All documents were written by a clerk in Russian and only signed “Lieutenant von Munchhausen”. It is difficult to judge how well our hero knew the Russian language. He had no difficulty communicating with officers: two-thirds of them were foreigners, mostly Germans. The document that later nominated Munchausen to the rank of captain notes that he can read and write German, but only speaks Russian.

Munchausen did not take part in the Russian-Swedish war, which began in 1741, this is documented. In general, the only basis for the assertion of some biographers about the baron’s military past is his letter to his mother in 1741 with a request to send underwear, because “the old ones were lost in the campaign.” Most likely, with the exception of the campaign of 1738, where he presumably could have participated in the retinue of Anton Ulrich, Munchausen still did not go to battle.

On the night of November 24-25, 1741, the daughter of Peter I, Princess Elizabeth Petrovna, personally leading a grenadier company, seized the throne. The entire so-called “Brunswick family” (the young emperor, his parents and two-month-old sister) were arrested and spent many decades in prison. His fate was shared by the courtiers and servants. But Munchausen happily avoids such a fate, for, as if on a whim, two years before the coup he transferred from the ducal retinue to the army. Munchausen was lucky in another way too. At first, the new empress announced that all ranks received by them during the previous reign would be removed from military and civilians, but then she changed her mind, realizing how many people she would offend by this, and Munchausen retained his rank of lieutenant.

In the 24th year of his life, Munchausen marries the daughter of a judge, Jacobina von Dunten (the Dunten house near Riga burned down only recently). By the way, Jacobina’s paternal line “sprouted” to Russia from the same places where Munchausen was born, from what is now Lower Saxony.

It was necessary to arrange a family nest. But the career did not develop further. There was no more war; it was not possible to bypass a long line of lieutenants as easily as a dozen cornets. Finally, in 1750, having waited for the next rank of captain, Munchausen asked for leave for a year “to correct extreme and necessary needs” and left with his wife for his homeland to settle property matters: by this time his mother had long been dead, two of his mothers had died in the war brother

Munchausen twice sent requests from Bodenwerder to Russia to extend his leave and twice received a deferment. But, apparently, the “extreme and necessary needs” dragged on; the baron never returned to Russia and on August 6, 1754 he was expelled from the regiment. From the documents of the Military Collegium it follows that Munchausen asked for his resignation, but received the answer that for this, according to Russian laws, he must personally appear in Russia and submit a petition. Information about his arrival has not yet been found.

The baron's real, not fictitious, adventures began not in Russia, but in Germany. Almost immediately he came into conflict with his hometown. The Bodenwerder archive contains many documents telling about this. It all started with the fact that the baron wanted to build a bridge five cubits wide, along which he could cross the narrow branch of the Weser from his house to his own plot of land on the other bank, and not make a big detour across the city bridge. The burgomaster forbade the baron to build a bridge, citing the fact that then he would have to guard another entrance to the city.

Soon after Munchausen returned to his homeland, the Seven Years' War broke out, the French invaded Hanoverian lands, requisitioning everything they could from the population. Here Munchausen was lucky: the commander-in-chief of the French corps gave him a security certificate, protecting his estate from extortions and duties. Probably, Munchausen's service in the Russian army, the allies of the French, played a role in this war.

Munchausen's marriage turned out to be childless, and relations with neighbors apparently did not work out. “In... mental turmoil... hunting and war are the way out, always ready for a nobleman,” wrote Goethe, a younger contemporary of Munchausen. However, the 36-year-old retired cuirassier captain, a professional military man, did not go to defend the fatherland, but chose hunting. It is not known how successful a shooter he was, but he soon discovered a brilliant talent as a storyteller in the genre called in Germany “Jagerlatein” - “Hunting anecdotes”.

Not only friends, but also strangers gathered to listen to him when the baron traveled to the neighboring cities of Hamelin, Hanover, Göttingen... Whether he told his stories in Bodenwerder is unknown, but probably not: Munchausen’s relations with the townspeople remained strained. But the Göttingen residents eagerly awaited his arrival, usually gathering in the restaurant of the King of Prussia Hotel to have a lot of fun listening to the baron’s funny stories.

A contemporary described his impressions as follows: “He usually began to talk after dinner, lighting his huge meerschaum pipe with a short mouthpiece and placing a steaming glass of punch in front of him... He gesticulated more and more expressively, twisted his small dandy wig on his head with his hands, his face became more and more he became animated and blushed, and he, usually a very truthful person, at these moments wonderfully acted out his fantasies.” (By the way, the wig was really smart; one of the bills for a new wig for 4 thalers has been preserved - quite a lot of money at that time.) The fame of the narrator grew, but then oral creativity the baron's literary pretensions never extended. So his life would have rolled to a calm end, but in his old age Munchausen faced adventures hotter than flying on a cannonball.

At first his stories began to spread throughout Lower Saxony through oral transmission; then collections of funny stories began to appear ridiculous stories, which were allegedly told by a certain “M-g-z-n”, and at the end of 1785 the baron’s name was printed in full on the title page of a booklet published in London. The very next year it was reprinted four times! The first collections were published in England by Rudolf Erich Raspe, who fled there from Kassel (which is not far from Bodenwerder), suffering poverty in exile and hoping for a fee. They were then revised and published by another famous writer, Gottfried August Bürger. True, the first editions were published anonymously, and only with mid-19th centuries, both of these names - separately or together - stand on title pages all books about the adventures of Munchausen. These books instantly spread throughout Europe. (First Russian edition It was published around 1791, but the translator carefully removed any mention of Russia.)

The Baron perceived his fantastic, but uninvited literary fame as an insulting mockery, considered his good name disgraced, and even planned to sue, but he could not change anything. By the way, the Germans still add the official epithet “Lugenbaron” to his name - liar baron.

But this misfortune was not enough. Last years The baron's life is a complete scandal.

In 1790, he buried his wife, and three years later, in the seventy-third year of his life, he married the daughter of a major from a neighboring town, a certain Bernardine von Brun (to her family and friends, just Bernie), who, according to some sources, turned 17, according to others - “for 20 years already.” The grief began on the day of the wedding, to which Bernardina, against the wishes of the baron, invited many guests and musicians from Hanover and had fun with them all night, although the newlywed retired to the bedroom at 10 pm! Then it turned out that Bernardina, having gotten married, did not think of breaking off her long-standing relationship with her old friend, a clerk from her hometown, and after six months of marriage it turned out that she was pregnant... The nephews of the childless baron, from whom the inheritance was so clearly eluding, initiated a lawsuit, the baron refused to recognize the unborn child as his, and the judicial machine began to spin, requiring ever greater expenses. There are a lot of documents left from this case; the baron’s lawyer drew up an 86-page statement to the court, attaching witness statements (201 points). Seventeen witnesses of different ages , gender and social status claimed that Bernardina was shamelessly unfaithful to her husband, and described her walks, trips, meetings with the clerk, they recalled her words and gestures, listed her purchases, reported what rumors were circulating about her in Bodenwerder and the surrounding area... But there were no witnesses to the most intimate relationship, all testimonies contained the words “very likely " and "without a doubt", all the evidence was circumstantial, and no one saw the clerk in the arms of the Baroness. The matter turned out to be difficult.

Munchausen in detailed explanations cited the most sublime and noble motives that prompted him to marry a girl from poor family. He supposedly counted on the joy of spiritual communication, but was cruelly deceived. Bernardina, for her part, argued that unborn child maybe only from the baron and from no one else, and the husband, as it turned out, has a bad character, is pathologically jealous, stingy, denies his wife innocent ladies' pleasures and is generally out of his mind. The legal proceedings reached a dead end and stalled, but demanded more and more money; the baron had to pay for the doctor's services and midwife, the lawyer demanded that attesting witnesses be present during the birth and that the light should be on brightly (in order to avoid any fraud with the baby). A child (girl) was born. Munchausen was forced to pay alimony to his legitimate daughter - the amount was considerable, and he had to borrow money from one of his friends. Out of grief, the baron went to bed, his nephews were beside themselves: their uncle could die, and the inheritance would go away from them irrevocably. But, oh joy! - so in the correspondence - the child died a year later! The baron died a year later, in 1796. He was very weak, his huntsman's wife looked after him. A few days before the Baron's death, she noticed that his toes were missing. “They were chewed off by a polar bear while hunting,” this “king of liars” found the strength to joke.

The baron was buried in the Munchausen family crypt in the village of Kemnade, near Bodenwerder. In the church book he is called a “retired Russian captain.”

Centuries later, the floors and crypt were opened in the church, and they wanted to transfer the remains buried there to the cemetery. An eyewitness (the future writer Karl Hensel), who was then still a boy, described his impressions this way: “When the coffin was opened, the men’s tools fell out of their hands. In the coffin lay not a skeleton, but a sleeping man with hair, skin and a recognizable face: Hieronymus von Munchausen "A wide, round, kind face with a protruding nose and a slightly smiling mouth. No scars, no mustache." A gust of wind swept through the church. And the body instantly disintegrated into dust. “Instead of a face there was a skull, instead of a body there were bones.” The coffin was closed and did not move to another place.

Name: Baron Munchhausen

A country: Germany

Creator: Rudolf Erich Raspe

Activity: military

Family status: married

Baron Munchausen: character history

The biography of the German baron with the difficult-to-pronounce surname Munchausen is full of unprecedented adventures. The man flew to the moon, visited the stomach of a fish, and fled from the Turkish Sultan. And the main thing is that all this actually happened. This is what Baron Munchausen personally says. It is not surprising that the thoughts of an experienced traveler instantly turn into aphorisms.

History of creation

The author of the first stories about the adventures of Baron Munchausen is Baron Munchausen himself. Few people know that the nobleman actually existed. Karl Friedrich was born into the family of Colonel Otto von Munchausen. At the age of 15, the young man went to military service, and after retiring, he spent his evenings telling tales:

“He usually began his story after dinner, lighting a huge meerschaum pipe with a short stem and placing a steaming glass of punch in front of him.”

The man gathered neighbors and friends in his own house, sat down in front of a blazing fireplace and acted out scenes from the adventures he had experienced. Sometimes the baron added small details to plausible stories to interest listeners.

Later, a couple of such tales were published anonymously in the collections “Der Sonderling” (“The Fool”) and “Vademecum fur lustige Leute” (“Guide to Merry People”). The stories are signed with Munchausen's initials, but the man did not confirm his own authorship. Fame among local residents grew. Now the King of Prussia Hotel has become a favorite place for conversations with listeners. It was there that the writer Rudolf Erich Raspe heard the stories of the cheerful baron.

In 1786, the book “Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of His Wonderful Travels and Campaigns in Russia” was published. To add spice, Raspe inserted more nonsense into the baron's original stories. The work was published in English.

In the same year, Gottfried Bürger - a German translator - published his version of the baron's exploits, adding more satire to the translated narrative. the main idea books have changed dramatically. Now the adventures of Munchausen have ceased to be just fables, but have acquired a bright satirical and political connotation.

Although Burger’s creation “The Amazing Travels of Baron von Munchausen on Water and on Land, Hikes and Fun Adventures, as He Usually Talked about them Over a Bottle of Wine with His Friends” was published anonymously, the real Baron guessed who made his name famous:

“University Professor Burger disgraced me throughout Europe.”

Biography

Baron Munchausen grew up in a large, titled family. Almost nothing is known about the man’s parents. The mother was involved in raising her offspring, the father had a high military rank. As a youth, the baron left native home and went in search of adventure.

The young man took on the duties of a page under the German Duke. As part of the retinue of an eminent nobleman, Friedrich ended up in Russia. Already on the way to St. Petersburg, all sorts of troubles awaited the young man.

The baron's winter trip dragged on; night was already approaching. Everything was covered with snow and there were no villages nearby. The young man tied his horse to a tree stump, and in the morning he found himself in the middle of the city square. The horse was hanging, tied to the cross of the local church. However, troubles regularly happened to the baron's faithful horse.

After serving at the Russian court, the attractive nobleman went to the Russian-Turkish War. To find out about the enemy's plans and count the cannons, the baron made the famous flight riding on a cannonball. The shell turned out to be not the most convenient means of transportation and fell along with the hero into the swamp. The Baron was not used to waiting for help, so he pulled himself out by the hair.

“Lord, how tired I am of you! Understand that Munchausen is famous not because he flew or didn’t fly, but because he didn’t lie.”

The fearless Munghausen fought the enemies sparing no effort, but was still captured. The imprisonment did not last long. After his release, the man went on a trip around the world. The hero visited India, Italy, America and England.

In Lithuania, the baron met a girl named Jacobina. The charming woman charmed the brave soldier. The young people got married and returned to Munchausen’s homeland. Now the man spends free time on his own estate, devoting a lot of time to hunting and sitting by the burning fireplace, and gladly tells those who wish to about his antics.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Often funny situations happen to a man while hunting. The Baron does not spend time preparing for the campaign, so he regularly forgets to replenish his supply of bullets. One day the hero went to a pond inhabited by ducks, and the weapon was unsuitable for shooting. The hero caught the birds with a piece of lard and tied the game to each other. When the ducks soared into the sky, they easily lifted the baron and carried the man home.

While traveling around Russia, the baron saw a strange beast. While hunting in the forest, Munchausen came across an eight-legged hare. The hero chased the animal around the neighborhood for three days until he shot the animal. The hare had four legs on his back and stomach, so he did not get tired for a long time. The animal simply rolled over onto its other paws and continued running.

The baron's friends know that Munchausen visited all corners of the Earth and even visited the planet's satellite. The flight to the moon took place during Turkish captivity. Accidentally throwing a hatchet onto the surface of the Moon, the hero climbed a stalk of chickpeas and found it lost in a haystack. It was more difficult to go back down - the pea stalk withered in the sun. But the dangerous feat ended in another victory for the baron.

Before returning home, the man was attacked by a bear. Munchausen squeezed the clubfoot with his hands and kept the animal for three days. The man's steel hug caused his paws to break. The bear died of hunger because he had nothing to suck. From this moment on, all local bears avoid the harrow.

Munchausen had incredible adventures everywhere. Moreover, the hero himself perfectly understood the reason for this phenomenon:

“It’s not my fault if such wonders happen to me that have never happened to anyone else. This is because I love to travel and am always looking for adventure, while you sit at home and see nothing but the four walls of your room.”

Film adaptations

The first film about the adventures of the fearless baron was released in France in 1911. The painting, entitled “Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen,” lasts 10.5 minutes.

Because of his originality and colorfulness, the character was liked by Soviet filmmakers and animators. Four cartoons about the baron were released, but great love The 1973 series won over viewers. The cartoon consists of 5 episodes, which are based on the book by Rudolf Raspe. Quotes from the animated series are still in use.

In 1979, the film “That Same Munchausen” was released. The film tells the story of the baron's divorce from his first wife and attempts to tie the knot with old lover. The main characters differ from the book prototypes; the film is a free interpretation of the original work. The image of the baron was brought to life by an actor, and his beloved Martha was played by an actress.

Films about the exploits of a military man, traveler, hunter and moon conqueror were also filmed in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain. For example, in 2012 the two-part film “Baron Munchausen” was released. the main role went to actor Jan Josef Liefers.

• Munchausen means “house of the monk” in German.
• In the book, the hero is presented as a dry, unattractive old man, but in his youth Munchausen had impressive appearance. The mother of Catherine the Second mentioned the charming baron in her personal diary.
• The real Munchausen died in poverty. The fame that overtook the man thanks to the book did not help the baron in personal life. The nobleman's second wife squandered the family fortune.

Quotes and aphorisms from the film “That Same Munchausen”

“After the wedding, we immediately left for Honeymoon: I’m going to Turkey, my wife is going to Switzerland. And they lived there for three years in love and harmony.”

“I understand what your problem is. You are too serious. All the stupid things on earth are done with this facial expression... Smile, gentlemen, smile!”

“All love is legitimate if it is love!”

“A year ago, in these very regions, can you imagine, I met a deer. I raise my gun - it turns out there are no cartridges. There is nothing but cherries. I load my gun with a cherry pit, ugh! - I shoot and hit the deer in the forehead. He runs away. And this spring, in these very regions, imagine, I meet my handsome deer, on whose head a luxurious Cherry tree».

“Are you waiting for me, dear? Sorry... Newton delayed me."

On May 11, 1720, Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen was born, whose name became a household name as a rare braggart and liar. The baron served in the Russian army for several years and took part in the wars with the Turks. After resigning and returning to his homeland in Hanover, Munchausen became famous as the narrator of the extraordinary stories that happened to him.

Since childhood, everyone has heard his name, but few can tell the truth about him. What do we know about Munchausen? Who is he? Did he really live, or was he invented as Kozma Prutkov? And who wrote a book about the baron?

Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen of Bodenwerder in Hanover really lived on this sinful earth. His name became a household name after the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe published stories about Munchausen in England. The story of Munchausen himself and his authors (that’s right!) is as incredible as the tales of this literary scoundrel. The second author - this time already German text– was a contemporary of Schiller and Goethe, Gottfried August Burger. The name of the third author, unfortunately, is unknown. All three authors initially published their works anonymously. In the history of literature, only the third remained such.

Actually, the third author was the first, because he published his small book in 1781 and 1783. In the last days of 1785, Raspe’s text, already dated 1786, was published, and in the summer of 1786, Burger’s “translation”. It is not surprising to get confused in this story with triple authorship and it is just as difficult to believe as the stories of the “truthful” baron. This concerns the 18th century. In 1839 Munchausen was published. History in Arabesques" by Karl Leberecht Immermann. In the same century, another book by a little-known author Fritz Pfudel.

The historical baron remained a worthy person in it. He served in Russia for more than 10 years, following Crown Prince Anton of Brunswick there, and took part in Russian-Turkish War 1735 – 1739 and was at the capture of Ochakov. Official papers contain reviews of him from his commanders, who praise the baron as a resourceful and gallant officer. In 1750, with the rank of captain, Baron Munchausen retired and, leaving Russia forever, settled on his estate Bodenwerder. He was an exemplary family man who loved feasting and knew a lot about horses and hunting dogs. A joker, a hospitable cadet (i.e., a landowner), an avid hunter - his wit and funny stories were admired not only in his native Hanover, but throughout Germany.

Erich Aspe Raspe, who launched the Munchausenian into circulation, was born in Hannover. In Göttingen and Leipzig he studied natural sciences and philology, and his discovery and publication in 1765 brought him fame. philosophical works Leibniz. Raspe translated a lot from some European languages ​​to others (English, French), wrote about ancient and medieval art, about the problems of geology, geophysics, and chemistry. With such a track record as a learned man, Raspe was, however, no egghead "nerd."

In 1767 he moved to Kassel, where he later became librarian and confidant of the Landgrave of Hesse. In 1775 he arrived in Italy to sell and acquire antiques, coins and medals. Raspe, at his own discretion, squandered the landgrave's valuables and an arrest warrant was issued in his name. So the fugitive ended up in England. According to some evidence, he was in a debtor's prison there and was the manager of ore mines. The fraud that was discovered on his part led to Raspe living in Ireland for the rest of his days.

It is not known for sure whether such an adventurer as Raspe was familiar with his character. For example, in American Encyclopedia The 1956 Columbia edition reads: “Raspe is a friend and compatriot of Baron Munchausen.” Costing one shilling, the thin book, published in London, was called “The Story of Baron Munchausen about his wonderful travels and campaigns in Russia.” The first edition has not survived to this day, but apparently identical to the first one on next year The second edition has been published. The book did not sell very well.

Then the first publisher, Smith, sold the idea to another author named Kiersley. In 1786, an expanded version of the book with illustrations was published under the new title “Gulliver Reborn: amazing travel, hikes, wanderings and hunting adventures of Baron Munnikhauson, whose name is usually pronounced “Munchausen” (“Gulliver Reviv"d: the Singular Travels, Campaigns, Voyages and Sporting Adventures of Baron Munnikhauson, commonly pronounced Munchausen”).

Researchers have long discovered that the episode with a deer, on whose head a cherry tree grew, is in a book of jokes from 1729, the story of a dog and a hare, five puppies and bunnies running away, is in the old French collection “Nouvelle fabrique”, an episode of pulling oneself out by the hair, is similar to the story of King Louis of Hungary, who drowned in a swamp in 1526, and the horse tied to the top of the church goes back to the 16th century German fabliau “Vraki” written in Latin.

Of course, there were many other borrowings. From the memoirs of a very remarkable personality of the diplomat Baron Tott (a Hungarian born in France), the flight of the Montgolfier brothers and Jean-Pierre Blanchard, and the African journey of Bruce. In a word, material from all eras, from the “Vera Historia” of the Greek satirist Lucian (2nd century AD) and the facets of the Renaissance. Raspe's merit was that he created a fusion from heterogeneous and disparate stories, united by the figure of the narrator, which organically showed the hero and his time.

In Russia, where the baron's adventures took place, they did not stand aside. In 1796 I.P. Osipov in St. Petersburg translated “Munchausen” from German under the title “If you don’t like it, don’t listen, but don’t bother me to lie.” In the Russian translation, all realities, even the name of the hero, were removed, but the content was preserved. Therefore, our researchers, when speaking about Munchausen, do not mention this publication, dating the beginning of translations into Russian to 1860.

At the end of the story, let's return to the real Munchausen. Thanks to the scribblers, the rumor about the German talker and liar spread throughout Europe. His wife, with whom he lived for 46 years in love and harmony, died. He married again, but unsuccessfully, went broke and lived out his life in Bodenwerder as a gloomy, irritable old man. It seems that he even bitterly regretted the time when, among his drinking buddies, he shared with them memories of his incredible adventures.

A little old man with a long nose sits by the fireplace and talks about his adventures. His listeners laugh right in his eyes:

- Oh yes Munchausen! That's it Baron! But he doesn't even look at them.

He calmly continues to tell how he flew to the moon, how he lived among three-legged people, how he was swallowed by a huge fish, how his head was torn off.

One day a passerby was listening and listening to him and suddenly shouted:

- All this is fiction! None of this happened what you are talking about. The old man frowned and answered importantly:

“Those counts, barons, princes and sultans whom I had the honor to call my best friends always said that I was the most truthful person on earth. The people around laughed even louder.

– Munchausen is a truthful person! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

And Munchausen, as if nothing had happened, continued to talk about how a wonderful tree grew on the deer’s head.

– A tree?.. On the head of a deer?!

- Yes. Cherry. And there are cherry trees on the tree. So juicy, sweet...

All these stories are printed here in this book. Read them and judge for yourself whether there was a more truthful man on earth than Baron Munchausen.

I went to Russia on horseback. It was winter. It was snowing.

The horse got tired and began to stumble. I really wanted to sleep. I almost fell out of the saddle from fatigue. But I looked in vain for an overnight stay: I didn’t come across a single village on the way. What was to be done?

We had to spend the night in an open field.

There are no bushes or trees around. Only a small column stuck out from under the snow.

I somehow tied my cold horse to this post, and I myself lay down right there in the snow and fell asleep.

I slept for a long time, and when I woke up, I saw that I was lying not in a field, but in a village, or rather, in a small town, surrounded by houses on all sides.

What's happened? Where am I? How could these houses grow here overnight?

And where did my horse go?

For a long time I did not understand what happened. Suddenly I hear a familiar neigh. This is my horse neighing.

But where is he?

Neighing comes from somewhere above.

I raise my head - and what?

My horse is hanging on the roof of the bell tower! He is tied to the cross itself!

In one minute I realized what was going on.

Last night this entire town, with all the people and houses, was covered in deep snow, and only the top of the cross stuck out.

I didn’t know that it was a cross, it seemed to me that it was a small post, and I tied my tired horse to it! And at night, while I was sleeping, a strong thaw began, the snow melted, and I sank to the ground unnoticed.

But my poor horse remained there, above, on the roof. Tied to the cross of the bell tower, he could not descend to the ground.

What to do?

Without hesitation, I grab the gun, aim straight and hit the bridle, because I have always been an excellent shot.

Bridle - in half.

The horse quickly descends towards me.

I jump on it and, like the wind, I gallop forward.

But in winter it is inconvenient to ride a horse; it is much better to travel in a sleigh. I bought myself a very good sled and quickly rushed through the soft snow.

In the evening I entered the forest. I was already starting to doze off when I suddenly heard the alarming neighing of a horse. I looked around and in the light of the moon I saw a terrible wolf, which, with its toothy mouth open, was running after my sleigh.

There was no hope of salvation.

I lay down on the bottom of the sleigh and closed my eyes in fear.

My horse ran like crazy. The clicking of wolf teeth was heard right in my ear.

But, fortunately, the wolf did not pay any attention to me.

He jumped over the sleigh - right over my head - and pounced on my poor horse.

In one minute, the hindquarters of my horse disappeared into his voracious mouth.

The front part continued to jump forward in horror and pain.

The wolf ate my horse deeper and deeper.

When I came to my senses, I grabbed the whip and, without wasting a minute, began to whip the insatiable beast.

He howled and rushed forward.

The front part of the horse, not yet eaten by the wolf, fell out of the harness into the snow, and the wolf ended up in its place - in the shafts and in the horse harness!

He could not escape from this harness: he was harnessed like a horse.

I continued to whip him as hard as I could.

He rushed forward and forward, dragging my sleigh behind him.

We rushed so fast that within two or three hours we galloped into St. Petersburg.

Amazed St. Petersburg residents ran out in crowds to look at the hero, who, instead of a horse, harnessed a ferocious wolf to his sleigh. I lived well in St. Petersburg.

I often went hunting and now I remember with pleasure that fun time when so many wonderful stories happened to me almost every day.

One story was very funny.

The fact is that from my bedroom window I could see a vast pond where there was a lot of all kinds of game.

One morning, going to the window, I noticed wild ducks on the pond.

I instantly grabbed the gun and ran headlong out of the house.

But in a hurry, running down the stairs, I hit my head on the door, so hard that sparks fell from my eyes.

Should I run home for some flint?

But ducks can fly away.

I sadly lowered the gun, cursing my fate, and suddenly a brilliant idea occurred to me.

As hard as I could, I punched myself in the right eye. Of course, sparks began to fall from the eye, and at the same moment the gunpowder ignited.

Yes! The gunpowder ignited, the gun fired, and I killed ten excellent ducks with one shot.

I advise you, whenever you decide to make a fire, to extract the same sparks from your right eye.

However, more amusing cases have happened to me. Once I spent the whole day hunting and in the evening I came across a vast lake in a deep forest, which was teeming with wild ducks. I have never seen so many ducks in my life!

Unfortunately, I didn't have a single bullet left.

And just this evening I was expecting a large group of friends to join me, and I wanted to treat them to game. I am generally a hospitable and generous person. My lunches and dinners were famous throughout St. Petersburg. How will I get home without ducks?

I stood indecisive for a long time and suddenly remembered that there was a piece of lard left in my hunting bag.

Hooray! This lard will be an excellent bait. I take it out of my bag, quickly tie it to a long and thin string and throw it into the water.

Ducks, seeing food, immediately swim to the lard. One of them greedily swallows it.

But lard is slippery and, quickly passing through the duck, jumps out behind it!

Thus, the duck ends up on my string.

Then the second duck swims up to the bacon, and the same thing happens to it.

Duck after duck swallows the fat and puts it on my string like beads on a string. Not even ten minutes pass before all the ducks are strung on it.

German literature

Baron Munchausen

Baron Munchausen is the main liar of world literature. Please note, not a liar, not a malicious deceiver, but a liar - “a talker, a teller, an amusing idle talker, a joker, a buffoon” * or “one who likes to tell absurd, absurd, etc. things, making them up as we go along." This is how young children usually tell “true” stories, having their own ideas about the world order and the place of man in nature and society. As we grow older, the gift of liar dissolves into knowledge. One can only be surprised and admire those exceptional personalities who, throwing aside philosophy, science and everyday knowledge, manage to tell us stories so sincerely, so funny and captivatingly that allow us to leave everyday life, at least for a short time, and plunge into the world of childish spontaneity.
_____________________________
* V. Dahl. Dictionary. T.I.M.: State Publishing House " Fiction", 1935.
** Dictionary of the Russian language. T.I.M.: Russian language, 1985.

Such people included Rudolf Erich Raspe*, the creator of Baron Munchausen as a literary hero. We'll talk about the prototype of the great liar later.
______________________
* In Russian literature they also write Raspe - both spellings are correct.

Raspe was born in Hanover in 1737 into the impoverished family of a noble official*.
_______________________
* One of Raspe's ancestors was the Margrave of Thuringia, and Gerlach von Munchausen founded the famous University of Göttingen.

At the age of eighteen he entered the University of Göttingen, a year later he moved to the University of Leipzig, where he graduated, having studied the history of antiquity, archeology and geology. In those years, among friends and acquaintances, Raspe was known as a lively, cheerful person, who liked to joke, it was not for nothing that he was nicknamed Swift.
Having received his master's degree, he returned to Hanover, where in 1760 he entered the service of the Royal Library. At that time, Hanover was part of the possession of the English royal house.
The variety of interests and breadth of knowledge allowed Raspa to enter into correspondence with many outstanding people of its time. Among them were I.I. Winkelman*, G.E. Lessing**, I.G. Herder***, B. Franklin**** and many others. Seven years later, Raspe was already widely known in scientific and literary circles in Europe and America. By this time, his first works had been published - the poem “Spring Thoughts”, the one-act comedy “The Lost Peasant Woman”, the novel “Hermin and Gunilda, a story from the times of chivalry, which happened in Schaeferberg between Adelepsen and Uslar, accompanied by a prologue about the times of chivalry in the form of allegories” .
__________________________
* Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768) - an outstanding German historian of ancient art, archaeologist; founder of the aesthetics of classicism, which revived public interest in culture Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
** Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) - German philosopher-educator, writer, critic, founder of the national German theater.
*** Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) - an outstanding German cultural historian, founder of the historical understanding of art, critic, poet.
**** Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) - American scientist, prominent statesman.

In 1766, a vacancy opened up in Kassel for a library keeper and professor at Charlemagne College. Landgrave Frederick II (1720-1785) offered this court post to Rudolf Raspe, and he, having agreed, moved to Kassel - one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. In addition to lectures at the college, Raspe's duties included putting in order the collection of antiquities collected by the Landgrave, which numbered 15 thousand valuable items.
____________________
* Title of the sovereign prince in Germany.

Raspe rose to the rank of Privy Councilor and during this time published a number of valuable scientific works, thanks to which he became a member of the Royal Society of London, a member of the Dutch Society of Sciences in Haarlem, a member of the German and Historical Institutes in Göttingen, an honorary member of the Marburg Literary Society, and secretary of the New Kassel Society of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

However, court life required significant expenses. The frivolous Raspe got into huge debts. And then the unexpected happened - Frederick II set out to hit on the scientist’s young wife and sent him as ambassador to Venice. Raspa was not allowed to take his family with him. And then the jealous husband went on an adventure - he supposedly went to Venice, but in fact went to Berlin, and his wife and children joined him on the way. As soon as they learned about the deception in Kassel, an investigation immediately began. Immediately, rumors spread that in order to replenish funds, Raspe stole valuable coins and gems from the collection of antiquities. Upon inspection, a large shortage was discovered. The investigation could not establish whether Raspe really stole the valuables, but since that time, for the third century, the theft has been invariably attributed to him. Even the return of the fugitive, who was immediately offered to return 5 thousand thalers to the treasury, did not help. And Raspe really went on the run.

Four days after the run, on November 19, 1775, he was arrested in Clausthalle. On the way back to Kassel, Raspe told the policeman accompanying him his story. At the end, he silently walked to the window into the garden, opened it wide and left the room.

For some time, Raspe disappeared from the field of view of biographers. He showed up in England and began to earn a living there by translating German books into English language.

In 1781, in the Berlin humorous almanac “Guide for funny people"Sixteen anecdotes were published under the general title "Stories of M-x-z-na." Two years later, “Two More Fables by M.” appeared in the same magazine.

The author of these stories is still debated to this day. There is even an opinion that Baron Munchausen himself wrote them, but most literary historians do not agree with this point of view. The magazine fell into the hands of Raspe, and in 1785 he published a small book with his author’s transcription of these stories - “Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of His Wonderful Travels and Campaigns in Russia.” The book became popular, but the author of the “Narrative” remained unknown - Raspe chose to publish it anonymously.

The writer's subsequent life was sad: lonely - Raspe's family remained in Germany - he rushed around England, trying to earn capital with his knowledge of geology. Once in Ireland, he fell ill with typhus there in 1794 and died. Raspe's grave has not survived.

In 1786-1788 poet G.A. Burger* translated Raspe's book into German, trying to make it political satire. Although Bürger’s “The Adventures of Munchausen” was also published anonymously, until 1847 it was he who was considered their author, until the poet’s biographer Heinrich Doring spoke about the authorship of the forgotten Raspe.
_____________________
* Gottfried August Burger (1747-1794) - German poet, one of the exponents of the ideas of the Sturm and Drang movement; created a new one for German literature genre of serious ballad.

And now about the prototype of the great liar.

Baron Carl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen (1720-1797) belonged to one of the most distinguished aristocratic families in Germany. He was born in the small German town of Bodenwerder.

In his youth, the baron served at the court of Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick*, being a page of whom, in 1733, thirteen-year-old Munchausen came to Russia. It was then that the famous Field Marshal Minich** called the young man “neither fish nor fowl” due to his insignificance in all respects.
__________________________
* Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick (1714-1774) - father of the Russian Emperor Ivan VI Antonovich, deposed in infancy by the daughter of Peter I, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna; Generalissimo of the Russian Army; husband of the ruler Anna Leopoldovna, niece and heiress of the Empress Anna Ioannovna. From 1740, after the coup, he was in exile with his family until his death.
** Burchard-Christopher Minich (1683-1767) - count, field marshal, outstanding statesman of Russia.

In 1737, Munchausen left with the Russian army on a campaign against the Turks and took part in the siege of Ochakov. On the day of the decisive assault near Anton Ulrich, next to whom Munchausen was, a horse was killed, one of the duke's associates was seriously wounded, a page was killed, another was wounded.

During the coup d'etat of 1740, Munchausen went into the service of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In 1744, as the chief of the guard, he participated in the meeting at the border of the bride of the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Petrovich, Princess Sophia of Zerbst (the future Empress Catherine II) and her mother.

In 1750, Munchausen retired with the rank of captain, got married and returned to his homeland.

Then his life proceeded quietly and serenely. The baron was engaged in agriculture, managed the estate and indulged in his passion - hunting. And in the evenings he told random guests stories full of harmless boasting and fiction about his adventures in Russia.

But 1781 came, stories appeared in the “Guide for Merry People,” and everyone immediately recognized M-h-z-not as a noble baron. The poor fellow was only slightly upset at the time. But when the anonymous German translation of Munchausen was published in 1786 and became incredibly popular, dark times came for the baron. Everyone laughed at him, declared him a liar and a braggart, his relatives said that the old man had disgraced all of them. ancient family... And Munchausen didn’t even have anyone to challenge to a duel in order to get satisfaction. So he died unavenged, but remained in eternity one of the most beloved literary heroes.

We have to admit that both Raspe and Burger tried to declare “The Adventures of Munchausen” a moralizing or even satirical book, following the example of Swift’s “Lemuel Gulliver’s Travels.” Thus, Raspe assured that main idea his books are a punishment for lies, for with his stories about travels, campaigns and funny adventures, the baron denounces the art of lying and puts in the hands of everyone who finds himself in the company of inveterate braggarts a means that he could use on any suitable occasion. “The Punisher of Lies” is how the author defined the moral and educational meaning of his book.

In vain. And it is just as in vain that these days they are trying to squeeze out of “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” a far-fetched philosophy from hackneyed liberal cliches. The great liar Baron Munchausen is great and eternal in that with his very existence he gives each of us the bright world of childhood again.

Munchausen became the unique hero of numerous brilliant engravings by Gustave Doré. This is how we always remember his appearance.

Filmmakers have repeatedly filmed Raspe's book, but each time they tried to extract morality or, even worse, philosophy from it. So all the films were failures.

But it is necessary to note the wonderful Soviet animated series “The Adventures of Munchausen,” which clearly reflected the true essence of the great liar. The directors of the series A.I. Solin* and N.O. Lerner**, artist I.A. Wheat***.
_______________________
* Anatoly Ivanovich Solin (b. 1939) - Soviet and Russian animator director and artist. His works “Notes of a Pirate”, “The Adventures of Pig Funtik”, “The Magnificent Gosha”, etc. are widely known.
** Nathan Oziasovich Lerner (1932-1993) - Soviet animator director. The author of such famous cartoons as “Muk-Skorokhod” (based on the fairy tale by V. Gauf), “Plyukh and Plikh” (based on D. Kharms), “The Stolen Sun” (based on the fairy tale by K. Chukovsky), etc.
*** Inna Aleksandrovna Pshenichnaya (b. 1945) - Soviet and Russian animator and artist. Spouse A.I. Solina, together with whom she has produced a number of famous Russian cartoons since 1969.