The Cucumber King

by Christine Nöstlinger, Anthea Bell (Translator)

Twelve-year-old Wolfi Hogelmann and his family lead an uneventful life until the autocratic Cucumber King suddenly appears from the depths of their cellar and throws himself on the mercy of the Hogelmann household.

Genres: Childrens, German Literature, Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult, Novels, 20th Century

153 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Christine Nöstlinger was an Austrian writer best known for children's books.

By her own admission, Nöstlinger was a wild and angry child. After finishing high school, she wanted to become an artist, and studied graphic arts at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. She worked as a graphic artist for a few years, before marrying a journalist, Ernst Nöstlinger, with whom she had two daughters.

The majority of Nöstlinger's production is literature for children and for young people, and she also writes for television, radio and newspapers. She centres on the needs of children in her work, with an anti-authoritarian bent. She does not shy away from tackling difficult subjects like racism, discrimination and self-isolation.

Her first book was Die feuerrote Friederike, published in 1970, which she illustrated herself. The book was published in English in 1975 as Fiery Frederica.

Awards and recognition:

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) 1973, 1988
Friedrich Bödecker Prize 1972
Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis der Stadt Wien (Viennese Youth Literature Prize) (five-time winner)
Österreichischer Staatspreis für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (Austrian Youth Literature Prize) 1974, 1979
Hans Christian Andersen Award 1984
Tolereis des österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln 1998
Zürcher Kinderbuchpreis "La vache qui lit" (Zurich Youth Literature Prize) 1990
Erster Preis der Stiftung Buchkunst 1993
The inaugural Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation for Der Hund kommt! (English: A Dog's Life, translated by Anthea Bell) 1996
Wildweibchenpreis 2002
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2003

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when you think you've read every possible children's book plot...you run across The Cucumber King. I've just finished another of Christine Nöstlinger's 1001 Children's Books You Must Read books, the innocuous-sounding (it's far from that) Fly Away Home, so I knew enough about Nöstlinger to expect an amazingly-astute (but not impossibly-so) narrator, some political themes, and some wonderfully real and snarky characters. Nothing in Fly Away Home led me to expect a Cucumber King, however; wherever did the idea of having a cucumber king joining a human family upstairs after being overthrown by his cucumber subjects come from? It's clever and fun and strange, everything I love in a children's story.

[Ана Хелс · Rating 5 out of 5]

Една малка детска книжка, пропуснала ме в обичайното за подобни заглавия време, но намерила ме няколко десетилетия по-късно, естествено – по доста необичаен и напълно случаен начин, както обикновено ми се случват хубавите неща. И за пореден път се убедих, че авторите от държавите, където лятото се пада в сряда около обяд, имат един по-особен поглед върху предназначените за подрастващи текстове, където малките герои има доста по-злободневни и напълно актуални дори на настоящата реалност проблеми. А като вземете предвид, че става въпрос за книга писана по време, когато най-модерните по нашите ширини заглавия са били все пак „епосите“ за овчарчето Калитко и Тимур и неговата команда, то нещата отиват към сравнение на различни биологични видове, а не на почти съседни, уж европейски нации.

Та, ако се абстрахирате от доста многозначителната корица, която не това, което виждате… ах, вие мръсници такива, чувам ви, никой не демонстрира гордо как си е вързал панделка на мечето, а детска ръка се опитва да удуши гнусния краставичен цар, ако искате да знаете. Кой е Краставичния цар ли? Ами практически краставица мутант, живееща във влажни мазета на стари къщи, които не са прилежно бетонирани и хигиенизирани, и властваща върху нещо средно между космати картофи и шарени миньони, нарекли се в източен стил куми-ори, и току – що открехнали се на теми като равноправие, приложен комунизъм и анархия. И вместо да заколят тихичко ненавистния си владетел, добрите безушати чебурашки просто го изхвърлят на светло, за да се разложи на туршия, каквато е най-достойната съдба за всеки прорасъл корнишон. Ама навън чакат роялистки настроени човешки същества, които го приютяват – и се почва един безкрайно странен сюжет за детски роман, в който смисълът по линия е в пъти повече, отколкото над нея.

Едно обикновено семейство, с обикновена съдба, но забележете – обикновено по настоящите стандарти. Спокойно се говори за болестта и смъртта на възрастните членове на фамилията; безсилието на възрастните да имат живота, за който мечтаят; разводите, раздялата, подлостта, безочието, неразбирането между поколенията, неспазването на правилата; ежедневните проблеми на децата в училище с учители, съученици и родители. И всичко това се промъква покрай един великолепен фентъзиен сюжет, възпитаващо неусетно и изграждащо безумно лесно ценности, които да влязат в главите на хлапетата в правилния момент и да изменят целия им мироглед към вероятно по-добро. Странна, чаровна и много по-мета книга от Пипи, да речем, но също като нея – задължителна за умни и чувствителни деца, в които вярвате, че няма да пораснат въргалящи се в салфетки, недоволни, бездуховни боклучета. С радост открих, че Ньостлингер има още издадени книги на български език, та ще чуете скоро отново за австрийската Астрид Линдгрен и нейните мъничко тъжни, книжни очарования.

[Kristina Monika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knyga iš vaikystės knygų lentynos. Puikiai prisiminiau jos viršelį, bet turinio ir įspūdžio - ne.
Joje išspausdinti du kūriniai: "Šalin agurkų karalių" ir "Pirmadienį viskas kitaip". Labiau patiko pastaroji - istorija apie mergaitę Kati ir jos kasdieniškus nuotykius bei rūpesčius, manau, puikiai atpažįstamus ir leidžiančius susitapatinti tiek vaikams, tiek tėvams (ar suaugusiems, dar prisimenantiems vaikystę).
Patiko smagi ir kieta pagrindinė veikėja Kati - užsispyrusi, drąsi ir protinga mergaitė, analizuojanti tiek save, tiek kitus. Plius mokanti atstovėti už save ir savo teisę į šukuoseną bei pasaulėžiūrą :)
Taip pat patiko šiltas Kati santykis su močiute (arba Ledi), kuri yra jos didžiausia sąjungininkė, bei kuri parodo mergaitei, kaip paprasta išspręsti nesutarimus ir "santykių problemas" su bendraamžiais.
Smagi ir šilta istorija, kalbanti apie pasitikėjimą savimi ir drąsą, vaiko asmenybės pripažinimą, kantrybę ir tarpusavio santykį.

"Šalin agurkų karalių" patiko mažiau - istorija pasirodė truputį ištęsta, personažai mažiau patrauklūs ir įsimintini. Jei Kati pasakojime "didžiausia blogietė" buvo jos mama, tai čia - tėtis. Pasakojimo pabaigoje taip ir nesupratau, ar jis kažko pasimokė iš visos istorijos su agurku. Labiausiai patiko brolio ir sesers draugystė bei vienas kito palaikymas, sprendžiant savo problemas. Na o ką daryti, jei namuose visą tėvų dėmesį okupavo agurkas :)

Bendras vidurkis 4*.

[Maing Ziggurat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok so I just suddenly remember this book and realize that it was some heavy shit in there, with discussion of patriarchy and autocracy, legitimacy of divine rights of the king (none, that is), how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and all that and realize that it was told through the eyes of like, 12 years old kid and it was so seamlessly weaved with all his thought and worry on everyday life stuff like his swimming practice, math homework, hanging out with friends, god that was some good storytelling right there. I completely forgot how much I loved this book, I swear I read it more than ten times during fourth grade or something. And now that I remember it, I love it even more.

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 4 out of 5]

در بچگی من با عنوان «داستان عجیب سلطان زیرزمین» چاپ شده بود و چه‌قدر دوستش داشتم. روزی را که توی کتابخانهٔ داداش‌مهدی کشفش کردم هیچ وقت یادم نمی‌رود. چه‌قدر کیف داشت وقتی که از توی آن کتابخانهٔ جادویی یک دفعه یک کتاب جدید/نخوانده از نویسنده‌ای محبوب پیدا می‌کردی. و این کتاب دیگری بود از نویسندهٔ فوق‌العادهٔ «کنراد پسرک ساخت کارخانه».
و اصلاً به همین دلیل بهش چهار ستاره می‌دهم! تا معلوم شود که با همهٔ خوبی، جایگاهش نسبت به کنراد یک پلّه پایین‌تر است!

[Zygintas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pirmas sakinys: Mano senelis sako, kad kuris nors vienas iš mūsų turėtų aprašyti šitą atsitikimą.

Knygoje yra du romanai vaikams: 1972 m. "Šalin agurkų karalių" ir 1984 m. "Pirmadienį viskas kitaip". Apie vieną geriausių savo vaikystės ir paauglystės knygų – "Pirmadienį viskas kitaip" – rašiau čia. 1988 m. pirmą kartą skaičiau ir "Šalin agurkų karalių" – tuo metu ši istorija buvo nuvilianti, nes tikėjausi panašaus romano kaip ir apie Kati.

"Šalin agurkų karalių" pirmą kartą pasirodė prieš 50 m., tačiau visai linksmai susikaito ir dabar. Šiek tiek kliūva vietomis senstelėjęs vertimas (supratau, kad jau atpratau nuo žodžio "negrai") ir socialistinė(?) kova prieš tironus, tačiau santykiai šeimoje (tėtis, mama, trys vaikai ir senelis) atpažįstami, o aprašomos situacijos priverčia nusišypsoti.

Šiame romane labiau nei "Pirmadienį viskas kitaip" kliuvo neišplėtotos, per staigiai nutraukiamos kai kurios siužeto linijos (taip ir nesupratau, kodėl Volfgango koja sugipsuota), tačiau, iš kitos pusės, dėl to veiksmas (abiejuose romanuose) vystosi greitai ir skaityti neturėtų prailgti nei jaunesniems, nei vyresniems.

P. S. Nesuklyskite – "Šalin agurkų karalių" nėra politinis manifestas ar programa Darbo partijai ;)

[Literary Strawberry]

OH MY GOSH I REMEMBER THIS BOOK
IT WAS SO WEIRD AND THE CUCUMBER KING CREEPED ME OUT BUT I MUST HAVE READ IT LIKE THREE TIMES
it was one of those books that just kind of laid around and I would pick it up now and then and stare at the cover and ponder why exactly the cucumber's toenails were painted red and then i would end up reading it whether I planned on it or not
I don't know how much I remember but just
like the thing lived in their basement
and there were all these potato things that lived there too
(and somehow the people never noticed before now?? I don't remember maybe they moved there recently or something)
and the cucumber king got kicked out or something cause he was a lousy ruler and he came up and bossed people around and he was sO OBNOXIOUS yet also somehow horrifying and near the end the kid is trying to get rid of him and I don't even remember what happened exactly but IT WAS CREEPY, MAN

Ah, childhood memories.

[Airina · Rating 4 out of 5]

NUOTAIKA perskaičius knygą: ir vėl likau maloniai nustebinta. Autorė rašo vaikams skirtą knygą, tačiau taip, kad: ir vaikas ras sau, ir suaugęs turės apie ką susimąstyti, tiek skaitantis 1972 m., tiek ir po 50 m. (2022), tiek austras, tiek ir lietuvis.
Rašoma, atrodo, apie tokius paprastus dalykus, tačiau supranti, kad agurkų karalius tik simbolis. Atvertos problemos - kas žmogui turėtų būti prioritetas, kaip gali nepastebėti manipuliacijų, kaip svarbu sąžiningumas, palaikymas ir pagalba tarp artimiausių žmonių.Turėsiu naują posakį: tavo namuose tik agurkų karaliaus trūksta.
Beje, nustebino vaikų išradingumas surenkant inventorių agurkų karalystei atstatyti - tokių "verslumo" apraiškų neatsimenu nei vienoje vaikystėje skaitytų knygų: rinkti "labdarą", tai ne obuolius pardavinėti.

[Billy Wood-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in German a while ago - by my favorite German-language Author, my fellow-Austrian Christine Nöstlinger. I am not sure if the book is as funny and wise in English as it is in German. One thing is for sure, though, Christine Nöstlinger has an amazing way with finding pointed words that totally hit the nail on the head and make me laugh a lot. The interaction between family members amongst each other and with the stuck-up, demanding cucumber-king is priceless and so entertainingly realistic. (For an Austrian family, at least...)

[Lena Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das war wirklich ein sehr sehr schönes Kinderbuch. Es hat sehr Spaß gemacht, die Geschichte zu lesen. Besonders schön fand ich, wie dargestellt wurde, was es bedeutet, Geschwister zu haben :)
Würde ich auf jeden Fall meinen hypothetischen Kindern zu lesen geben :)

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich kannte es als Kind nicht und jetzt hat es mich ehrlich gesagt nur mäßig begeistert. Es war aber auf jeden Fall nett zu lesen, nur ich gebe zu beim Schluss fehlt für mich irgendwas...Es wirkt für mich noch so unabgeschlossen. Ich hätte mir von dem ganzen Theater von manchen Figuren noch gewünscht, dass sie zumindest irgendwas erkennbares mitnehmen, aber ich hab das Gefühl, das ist einfach nicht wirklich der Fall.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing good could come out of letting a king cucumber sleep in your bed with your husband.

[Matija · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Slovene under the title Požvižgamo se na kumaričnega kralja.

A cute children's book about a visit paid to an ordinary German family by the great Cucumber King, chased from the pantry by a produce rebellion.

The book is interesting in the sense that is written as if the author is a sixth grader that just learned the rules of essay composition.

[Ayse · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is good and funny

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saw this for sale on Vinted and had to have it due to the sinister cover. Somehow the story itself is even weirder than I could have ever imagined.

Just bizarre.

[Álvaro Díaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

De niño no leí esta edición, pero la que yo leí no aparece. Un libro que me divirtió de veras y sobre el que luego dibujaría muchas escenas imaginándomelas. Es difícil valorar un libro infantil tantos años después y siendo un adulto, pero desde luego que es un libro recomendable para niños.

[Tapioca]

Great sense of humour and enjoyable characters...Just a fresh look at children-adult relationships through children's eyes.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Endlich!

[Bach-r · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beautiful childhood book. I remember being amazed by cucumber king world. I want to give Christine Nostlinger books to all children around me.

[Parisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it more than 4 times when I was kid! Still remember it was amazing! I love it

[Angelika Rust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irgendwie seltsam, irgendwie absurd, irgendwie wundervoll.

[qershore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird ass ride. It wasn't that bad, but it is a I-have-to-read-this-for-class-book, so I can wholeheartedly say I never would've picked this up on my own

[Liberty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realising that your father has always had totalitarian tendancies and then discovering he is planning an act of genecide.
This is a pretty intense story - I loved it.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly I want to discuss the cover.
The version I've just read is actually older than the one pictured here, but as it has no date or ISBN I can't verify the age or the printing year. One of the things I loved about the version I have is the illustrated cover with three members of the family gathered around the Gurkinger (as the Gherkin King is referred to in the book) with the father looking on lovingly at his adopted houseguest.
This cover suggests a few things that seem to have been altered or completely removed in modern and English-language versions, which is a shame. Notably the love and support the father is offering to the king, he's not even visible in the cover here, and that the sister Martina has a sour/worried look on her face compared to her father and brother instead of the somewhat smile she sports here.
Perhaps this isn't such a big issue but the father and the Gurkinger have a weirdly close relationship, even sharing the same bed so seeing him vanish entirely from the cover and then seeing another cover where all three kids are smiling at the Gurkinger seems unrepresentative of the actual story.

And that leads me to my next point, the subject of the book.
I thought this was going to be some childlike fantasy book about a Gherkin King.
Instead it's a drama about the mundanity of everyday life filled with family politics and juvenile angst. The fantasy element of the book is mostly forgotten with very little story time given over to the king and only a single chapter much later in the book devoted to his subjects.
If I'd bought this as a kid I'd feel a little ripped-off.

Finally as a novice German reader I found the text harder than most of the other books I've read. There's a huge range of words I hadn't come across before and the constant use of the definite article before the name of every character I found quite jarring, die Martina, der Niki etc. Even when a new character was introduced the definite article was used and I felt this interrupted the flow and made it harder to read. Also should point out there's a few sentences that could be considered racist by modern standards but I believe these have been edited out in later versions.

Overall the story was ok, it just wasn't what I was expecting.
The adage about never judging a book by its cover proved true!

[Angelika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christine Nöstlinger was one of my favourite authors as a child, probably because of the fact that apart from having a hilarious sense of humour, she also didn't take children for idiots. She took them seriously. She took them seriously as young individuals growing up to become adults.

This novel is especially memorable to me because the plotline is so immensely bizarre!! In many ways I would not characterize it as a children's book since some of the themes dealt with are pretty advanced stuff.

Basically, the "cucumber king" seeks refuge with "Familie Hogelmann" because of being exiled by his "ungrateful" potato-like subjects. There is a yet undiscovered "empire" in the lower, the "second" basement, which to me is a great idea since it is the cellar nobody ever goes to, the uncivilized "subconscious" so to speak.

The dynamics in the family are also very interesting. Who wants to help the cucumber king, who hates him? The father, the grandfather and the younger brother are supporters and enablers if you will, whereas the mother, her eldest son (the narrator), and her teenage daughter dislike as well as distrust the "monarch" and don't believe his stories about the guilty subjects.
It's not exaggerated to claim that the father is almost in love with the cucumber king, fulfil's his every whim (Of course, the king can speak) and worships him, for no reason at all. The younger brother, who is still a child, just doesn't know any better.

Throughout the book, there is this creepy, horror-like atmosphere brought about by the fact that this is not really a fantasy story, but a story with very real human characters living ind this very world, definitely not expecting some vegetable king to turn up on their threshold at any time. So, despite of a lot of very funny scenes, there is still something darker, something perverted hidden in the story, which made the novel so readable for me.

I will never forget the ending, which is a little ambiguous. You know something terrible must have happened, but what exactly it is, you can only guess. Psychological horror to some degree. At least this is how I remember reading it when I was 10 ;-)

[Isabel Jazmín · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es una novela, por decir lo menos, extraña. Un buen día la familia Hogelmann se encuentra con un pepino gigante con rasgos humanizados que se queja amargamente de que he perdido a sus súbditos. Los integrantes de la familia en un principio lo apoyan pero luego se dan cuenta de sus verdaderas intenciones excepto el papá, por lo que los demás deberán enfrentarlos.

El hecho de que la única explicación de la presencia del rey sea que pueden vivir mejor en los sótanos húmedos y oscuros no fue suficiente para mí, me hizo falta "algo" más para poder entrar de lleno en la historia. A pesar de eso, disfruté los otros aspectos: la relación entre los integrantes de la familia, especialmente entre los hermanos; la vida escolar de Wolfi y cómo el maestro de Matemáticas influye en ella.

Una historia sobre la dinámica familiar y cómo se puede perder ese equilibrio fácilmente.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

actually as a kid, i loved this, my parents couldn't stand it. Got rid of it with all my other kids' books when i found out i was infertile and couldn't adopt, reread it skimming first, it was fun with quite cliched parents (eg dad's a tyrant, mum's a bit of a doormat, everyone's nice in the end) and a weird weird plot - there is a king cucumber, the reality isn't weird, it's not magical realism or anything. As an adult, the thing i've learned since is, by cucumbers germans usually mean gherkins, the pickled sort, which are everywhere in food over there, so they'd have been smaller than i thought.

[Stamen Stoev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книгата дълго стоеше в библиотеката, някак невзрачна. И както често се оказва, не е обикновена книга. Няма да обяснявам как се озова в ръцете ми тези дни. Не това е интересното. Това, което ще споделя е, че някои четива идват точно тогава, когато ти трябват. Някак всичко се наглася, за да попадне точно в теб - тук и сега. Със своята простота на изразяване и лекотата, с която се преминава от тема в тема се създава една специфична атмосфера, не толкова детска, колкото вдъхновяваща. Житейските несгоди са навсякъде, а лекотата, с която се решават могат само да ни послужат като поредния пример, че простите решения са най-ефективни.

[Женя · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очередная семья, со своими семейными проблемами.

Здесь проблемным оказался папа. Такой себе семейный тиран: старшей дочери не разрешает одеваться, как той хочется и ходить в походы; среднего сына - терроризирует за учебу; жену - за траты; с младшеньким пока проблем нет, но только "пока"... И вот в этой расчудесной семье появляется огуречный король. Как говорится - Власть меняется! - и вот уже эта маленькая непонятнось диктует папе, что делать. Семья, естественно, взбунтовалась, но разве это кого волнует...

Ничего не случатся "просто так", благодаря общей беде, семья смогла объединиться и общим фронтом выступит против монархии в целом и домашней тирании в частности.

[Suay Erkusoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bunu cocukken okuyup cok seven bir arkadasimdan hediye olarak aldim. Bu yasimda okumama ragmen cok sevdim. Hedef kitlesi olan yaslara otoriterligi ve adalet ve haklar icin ses cikarmanin onemini cok guzel anlatiyor. Kendi cocuklugumdan da cok oruntu vardi kitabin icinde, bir an 12 yasima geri dondum. Kim bilir belki bizim bodrumda da krallarini devirmis bir salatalik ya da daha gercekci olacaksak salca ve kislik domates kavanozlari halki yasiyordur.