How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog

by Johann Peter Hebel, John Hibberd (Translator), Nicholas Jacobs (Translator)

'The devil gave the woman a nudge: "Look at that belt full of money peeping out from under the butcher's shirt!"'

Written for a local German journal and published in 1811, these fabulous, funny, jewel-like miniature tales describe con men, tricksters, disasters, murders, rascals and lovers, and include Franz Kafka's favourite story.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826).

Hebel's The Treasure Chest is available in Penguin Classics.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, German Literature, 19th Century, 18th Century

54 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1811

About the author

Johann Peter Hebel (10 May 1760 – 22 September 1826) was a German short story writer, dialectal poet, evangelical theologian and pedagogue, most famous for a collection of Alemannic lyric poems (Allemannische Gedichte) and one of German tales (Schatzkästlein des rheinischen Hausfreundes – Treasure Chest of the Family Friend from the Rhine).

Goethe, Tolstoy, Gottfried Keller, Hermann Hesse and other writers have praised his works.

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some wise advice to share with you all. This is important stuff, so pay attention! Don’t ever murder a butcher in your tool shed. Got that? Because if you do his dog may be watching, he then may go to another butcher, yes another butcher, and tell on you. So, think twice because the law enforcement will soon follow, and don’t listen to the devil either. He’s very bad news!

'The devil gave the woman a nudge: "Look at that belt full of money peeping out from under the butcher's shirt!"'

I hope you are taking notes. This is vital stuff. I do love a good bit of irony. Hebel’s fables evoke a strong sense of what goes around comes around. Many depict a crime, whether theft or murder, in which the foolish perpetrator thinks he has gotten away with it. But, the most unlikely of circumstance prevents him form escaping justice. This was very didactic. Hebel, through his twisted humour, is suggesting that crime doesn’t pay. So don’t do it! He is suggesting that it is very unlikely that one will get away with it; therefore, it shouldn’t be undertaken.

The tales were very witty. Some required a multiple read to get the full effect or the pun. However, for every good one, there were a couple of bad ones. These ones felt a little weak and a little pointless. For example, the one where a drunk man walks through a stream was quite crap. This really is a mixed bunch of stories. I suppose it really depends on your personal sense of humour. There are a few good ones, though I have no inclination to read them again or read any more of Hebel’s work. This is more than enough.


Penguin Little Black Classic- 22



The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.

[Darwin8u · Rating 3 out of 5]

"For peace pays, whereas quarrels have to be paid for."
- Johann Peter Hebel, "The Cheap Meal"



Vol 22 of my Penguin Little Black Classics Box Set. This represents a collection of Hebel's Kalendergeschichte (Calendar Stories) taken from Schatzkästlein des rheinischen Hausfreundes. These folk idylls float between being miniture morality tales and cheeky grift sketches. They are distilled, funny, and meant originally to help sell Lutheran calendars and were intended to entertain and provide a "moral education." Usually, the trespasser would get it in the end, but it is hard to box the stories in. Here is the list of tales included in this volume, along with my rough star-rating:

1. The Silver Spoon- ✭✭✭✭
2. The Cheap Meal- ✭✭✭✭
3. Dinner Outside- ✭✭
4. The Clever Judge- ✭✭✭
5. The Artful Hussar- ✭✭✭✭
6. The Dentist- ✭✭
7. A Short Stage- ✭✭
8. Strange Recockoning at the Inn- ✭✭✭
10. Unexpected Reunion- ✭✭✭✭
11. The Sly Pilgrim- ✭✭✭
12. The Commandant & the Light Infantry at Hersfeld- ✭✭✭
13. A Poor Reward- ✭✭
14. A Curious Ghost Story- ✭✭✭✭
15. One Word Leads to Another- ✭✭✭
16. A Bad Bargain- ✭✭✭
17. A Secret Beheading- ✭✭✭
18. A Fake Gem- ✭✭✭✭
19. How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog- ✭✭✭✭✭
20. A Cunning Styrian- ✭✭✭
21. A Report from Turkey- ✭✭
22. The Lightest Sentence- ✭✭
23. A Stallholder Duped- ✭✭✭
24. Patience Rewarded- ✭✭
25. The Champion Swimmer- ✭✭✭✭
26. The Weather Man- ✭✭✭✭
27. The Safesty Path- ✭✭✭

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would be unfair to criticize this based on the time period it was written in, but the stories themselves are badly presented based on other works at this time. Bad bordering on infantile.

Number 22 in the series and I intend to read them in order rather than pick and choose.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES!!!!!!!! I was wondering why I keep slogging through my box set of Penguin Classics when they're all tending towards evil, and than I get to Johann Peter Hebel! Yes! Today it is good to be Swiss.

Hebel, first off, keeps his stories short. He paints detail sparingly and in such a perfect way that you feel like you are sitting in a Swiss inn . Loved it. Some anecdotes are only a few lines long, and the longest is maybe three pages. The tales have morals, but sometimes they are unexpected, like the clever traveller who demands a good dinner for his money, and when he is done eating sumptuously, shows that his money is only a small coin. The landlord is angry, but he appreciates the trick and tells the traveller to go play it on the landlord of the inn across the square. But the landlord across the square sent the trickster here! "For peace pays, but quarrels have to be paid for." There is also a lesson about some beggars who concoct toothache pills, and why you should not trust strangers with miracles. There is a man set to be executed, but the prince allows him to choose his own method of death, so he chooses old age. There is the titular murder story, which meh. There is the story of the wise judge. There is a man who stays the night in a haunted house and finds forgers. There is a trick of a robber with an unloaded gun. An Englishman and a Frenchman on a bridge with a newspaper. Lots of tricksome people, lots of deception, but honesty finds a way. Top shelf book. It was fun. I might need to find the long version.

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories each of which has a moral and provides a lesson on how to live a life and what to expect if you don't.

The stories are set in various parts of the European continent and may well be based on local folklore in some cases, as they have a timeless quality to them that indicates to me an oral tradition as their basis. The title story was apparently the favourite of Franz Kafka.

[Vishy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is bad news and good news. I would have given the book a different title. But the stories are all nice. Like fables. Most of them are one to two pages long and some of them have morals. Good to read while commuting or waiting somewhere. The size of the book is just around 50 pages and so the pages fly by fast. A good book for the internet era.

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot overstate how little I liked this book. The writing was so incredibly dull, the stories were really short and still such a drag to get through. And I won't even begin of all the "along came a Jew" parts.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This are some very good stories.

[spillingthematcha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jest w tych krótkich historiach coś intrygującego, ale niewiele z nich zostanie w mojej pamięci.

[[ J o ] · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johann Peter Hebel was a 18th-19th Century German writer and theologian. These short stories are taken from The Treasure Chest, a selection of his shorter writings chosen by John Hibberd.

"Great houses on the town square and small dwellings in the alleyways are all the same when burnt to the ground, just like rich and poor in the graveyard."

These stories are, as one would except, short. They vary in length a little: either half a page to two pages long, but their themes are all akin. They concern people being tricked, either by cunning men or the devil himself, and either give a little moral at the end or simply laugh it off as "eee, nowt as queer as folk".

They're decent short stories with recognisable characters and are amusing to dip in an out of. Good also for historical knowledge.


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[Charissa Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the more entertaining classics I've read. Kudos to Mr HEBEL, the short stories had me laughing all the way! It's impossible for me to pick a favorite.

*Adds to favorites*

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on https://urlphantomhive.wordpress.com

This was a Little Black Classic that I was looking forward to read, mainly because of its strange title, which was almost as long as the story. It sort of spoils the story sure, but what intrigued me mainly was that in such a long title there was still room to discuss different names for certain dogs ' a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog '. Moral of the story, if you should plan to commit a crime make sure the dog is not watching it. The fables are not very complicated in that they basically want to warn people away from crime. Crime doesn't pay and all that.

~Little Black Classics #22~

[philosophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atlhough I'm generally not that into folk tales, this collection of short stories was fun. Some of the tales had moral teachings while others were absolutely bizarre and hilarious. Having read nothing by Hebel I found his writing style simple and approachable.

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no recollection of ever buying this book. Nevertheless it is a curious find.

How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog is an abridged collection of antiquated cautionary tales, fables exploring the greedy deceptions of Hebel's contemporary world, though with quaint moralising in its closing sentences.

I use the word 'quaint' to highlight how naïve some of his summations are. One fable ends 'Remember: Someone will always stand up for what is right.' Another 'For peace pays, whereas quarrels have to be paid for.' Hebel's telling of most of these tales has clear and would-be poetic purpose from the first word to the last, though not all. Some feature action that eludes explanation or at least leaves the story open to the reader's interpretation. Often these are grisly and feature a perverse admiration of the cunning of evil men. These tales were undoubtedly my favourites.

What was much less palatable were Hebel's dusty stereotypes. Every time a Jew appears in this collection, there follows an element of greed. The one time a black man turns up, he is a Moor to bet money on. While these portrayals are pretty mild and incidental by 18th Century standards, they may still frustrate a present-day eye.

Regardless my eye was, for the most part, fascinated by this little black Penguin book. Despite the title, How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog is a surprisingly easy read with some unique turns of phrase. I, for one, won't easily forget the moral 'Other people's property can eat into your own just as fresh snow swallows up the old.' Hebel has quite the insight into human behaviour.

I recommend How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher's Dog to those who enjoy the occasional old-fashioned moralistic misadventure.

Notable Stories

• One Word Leads to Another – the form of this story better resembles a joke than a fable: a macabre one.

• A Secret Beheading – an intimate mystery focusing on the one job that would definitely haunt an executioner.

• A Report from Turkey – a short, sharp tale of vigilantism showing that flattery may get the job done strangely.

[~Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

really didn't like the writing but the stories were decent enough

a common theme of death and justice and birds lol

[Russio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully entertaining shirt stories - and loads of them, frequently a page or two long, even in this small manuscript. Pithy, witty and with a skewed morality that often takes the side of conman and rogues. It reminded me a little of the wit of Sveyk, and there can be no greater compliment. A brilliant book: the best of the little black classics I have read this far (and I have marched through about 20).

[Kirstie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of Penguin's 80 books for 80p for their 80th anniversary. Admittedly this one was chosen primarily because the title intrigued me. A small book full of German moral and folk tales. Not quite as interesting as the title implies.

[Rhys Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really fun little collection. Short stories that are cunning and involve some form of swindle or moral teaching. I feel as if three stars is harsh but I couldn't bring myself to make it four.

[Poundcaker · Rating 1 out of 5]

What?

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book to dip in and out of on the train.

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the Gertrude Stein Food of the Penguin Black collection in that it completely sucks. Where it differs from "Food", which was laughably bad is that this collection of short stories (or should one rather say badly written moral parables and grandma's tales) is laughable AND bad.

[Niamh Lusson · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Cristina Mureșan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really short short stories, but also really enjoyable. I especially liked the one where the man is sentenced to death, but receives the option to choose the way he dies - and he chooses to die of old age :))))

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supposedly, Goethe lauded Hebel as an unmatched poet in a very specific type of German poetry which is functionally untranslatable due to reliance on the nuances of the language. Throughout German literary history, the respected authors keep coming back to Hebel as a source of inspiration and admiration. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this collection of flash fiction and anecdotes, but I did not find it lived up to such hype.

These pieces average 1 to 3 pages, sometimes a single paragraph, recounting wives’ tales, local legends, and stories of con men accomplishing exceptional grifts. There are ghost stories and tales of murder, sometimes accompanied by a moral thesis as endnote. More than anything else, there are stories of perfectly maneuvered scams to get a free lunch of hustle a greedy merchant. Some of these stories are even given dates and locations, indicating that many might have been local news Hebel thought worthy of recording in story editorial form.

Interesting reading, very light gossip.

[JK · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this little collection of German folk tales, Hebel presents us with a number of shorter than short stories, and aims moralistic and karmic arrows at us in order to penetrate his point. Most of his tiny scenarios depict some sort of wrongdoing followed by some sort of comeuppance. The others are just simply peculiar and difficult to fathom.

My favourite story was The Lightest Death Sentence in which a man is sentenced to death. Pitying him, and wishing to maintain his respect, the prince allows the man to choose his method of dying, whether by the wheel, hanging, guillotine, anything he'd like. The man chooses to die of old age.

The stories all follow a similar pattern, and you know what's coming before it does. There was nothing outstanding for me here; these read as witty little stories a drunk old man would tell you in the pub - those which are enjoyable, and make their point at the time, but which are soon forgettable after the point's been made.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

My parents were afraid of my sexuality, and so they kept me over-protected and forbidden from interacting or knowing much about the world until they spat me out into it. As a child I spent most of my time alone and understimulated. Now an adult, I do enjoy reading folk tales such as these, imagining that if I had at least discovered such things at an earlier age I might have been less surprised by people's cunning, duplicitousness and insincerity.

This collection is sold as containing "Kafka's favourite story," which is also presumably the one chosen for the title. Although that story did seem pretty straight forward to me, so I am surprised it was Kafka's favourite, but who knows!

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published as a Penguin 80, this collection of (very) short stories were written in 1881 by the German author.
They are seldom more than 3 pages in length, and are of varied topics. Given the age of the stories it is unsurprising that some of them fall completely flat. Other however are fun and have an unexpected twist.
Fables and moral teachings, often with a thief or a wrongdoer getting short-changed in the end. Remember kids, crime doesn't pay...

Definitely non-taxing in the attention requirements, short, quick and fun.

Three stars.

[Nusaiba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half of it was quite fun to read, with stories like "The Clever Judge", "A Short Stage" or "One Word Leads To Another", which were downright witty and funny. But the other half was too boring. Or maybe it wasn't, because one thing I've noticed whenever I'm reading short stories is when a story "seems" to be longer than the others, I skip it. Without a thought, I just skip it.
Oh don't @ me, they were supposed to be short in the first place.

[Smitchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was in interesting collection of anecdotes and fables. Some tended to be a bit moralistic, others were just odd little stories (ie this happened in 1807 at such and such place). Some I was wondering how true they really were and how many were just recordings of contemporary urban ledgends.

[Andy Turton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love a good, short morality tale, me.
The drunk walking in the stream so that if he fell over he'd land on the path instead of the other way around continues to tickle.
Go on. You'll finish it inside the hour and it'll amuse you long after you've put it down.