the seven swabians, starring: a rabbit

photo: A. Praefcke

A little known Grimm tale, "The Seven Swabians" tells the story of seven friends from southern Germany and their search for adventure and success. Only one thing stands in their way: they're Swabian, an area which for a long long time "real" Germans looked upon as bumpkins and generally no fun at all. You figure this out right about the time they get seriously terrified by a sleeping rabbit:

A few days later their path led them across an unplowed field where a hare was sitting asleep in the sun. Its ears were standing straight up, and its large glassy eyes were wide open. All of them were frightened at the sight of this terrible wild beast, and they discussed with one another what would be the least dangerous thing to do. If they were to run away, they feared that the monster would pursue them and devour them all, even their skin and hair.

Things don't improve from there, but I don't want to spoil the story.

The image of the seven facing off the bunny pops up in regional craft and artwork, hopefully tongue in cheek by now. The illustration, a photo taken by Andreas Praefcke, shows the scene as depicted on an oven door in Deggenhausertal.