Baron Munchausen name. Online reading of the book The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

"Munchausen" (Author)

Author of "Munchausen" Rudolf Erich Raspe (1737-94), German writer, anonymously published The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in England in 1786. In the book, Baron Munchausen, the famous braggart and inventor, talks about his fabulous adventures and fantastic travels. The prototype of the hero is Baron K.F.I. Munchausen (1720-97), who served for some time in the Russian army.

"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" summary

Summary of "Munchausen" read in 10-15 minutes

A little old man with a big nose sits by the fireplace and talks about his incredible adventure, convincing listeners that these stories are pure truth.

Being in winter in Russia, the baron fell asleep right in the open field, tying his horse to a small post. Waking up, M. saw that he was in the middle of the town, and the horse was tied to the cross on the bell tower - during the night the snow that completely covered the city melted, and the small column turned out to be the snow-covered top of the bell tower. Having shot the bridle in half, the baron lowered his horse. Traveling no longer on horseback, but in a sleigh, the baron met a wolf. From fear, M. fell to the bottom of the sleigh and closed his eyes. The wolf jumped over the passenger and ate the back of the horse. Under the blows of the whip, the beast rushed forward, squeezed out the front of the horse and harnessed to the harness. Three hours later, M. rolled into St. Petersburg on a sleigh, which was harnessed by a ferocious wolf.

Seeing a flock of wild ducks on the pond near the house, the baron rushed out of the house with a gun. M. hit his head on the door - sparks fell from his eyes. Having already aimed at the duck, the baron realized that he had not taken the flint with him, but this did not stop him: he ignited the gunpowder with sparks from his own eye, hitting it with his fist. M. did not lose his head during another hunt, when he came across a lake full of ducks, when he no longer had bullets: the baron strung the ducks on a string, luring the birds with a piece of slippery lard. Duck "beads" took off and carried the hunter to the house; twisting the necks of a pair of ducks, the baron descended unharmed into the chimney of his own kitchen. The absence of bullets did not spoil the next hunt either: M. loaded the gun with a ramrod and strung 7 partridges on it with one shot, and the birds immediately fried on a hot rod. In order not to spoil the skin of the magnificent fox, the baron shot it with a long needle. Nailing the beast to a tree, M. began to whip it with a whip so hard that the fox jumped out of her fur coat and ran away naked.

And having shot at a pig walking through the forest with his son, the baron shot off a pig tail. The blind pig could not go further, having lost its guide (she held on to the tail of the cub, which led her along the paths); M. grabbed the tail and led the pig straight into his kitchen. Soon the wild boar also went there: chasing M., the wild boar got its fangs stuck in a tree; the baron had only to tie him up and take him home. Another time, M. loaded his gun with a cherry stone, not wanting to miss the handsome deer - however, the beast ran away anyway. A year later, our hunter met the same deer, between the antlers of which there was a magnificent cherry tree. Having killed the deer, M. got both roast and compote at once. When the wolf attacked him again, the baron thrust his fist deeper into the wolf's mouth and turned the predator inside out. The wolf dropped dead; his fur made an excellent jacket.

The mad dog bit the baron's coat; she, too, went berserk and tore all the clothes in the closet. Only after the shot did the fur coat let itself be tied up and hung in a separate closet.

Another wonderful animal was caught while hunting with a dog: M. chased a hare for 3 days before he was able to shoot him. It turned out that the animal has 8 legs (4 on the stomach and 4 on the back). After this chase, the dog died. Grieving, the baron ordered a jacket to be sewn from her skin. The new thing turned out to be difficult: it smells prey and pulls towards a wolf or a hare, which it strives to kill with firing buttons.

While in Lithuania, the baron curbed a rabid horse. Wanting to show off in front of the ladies, M. flew into the dining room on it and carefully prancing on the table, without breaking anything. For such grace, the baron received a horse as a gift. Perhaps, on this very horse, the baron broke into the Turkish fortress when the Turks were already closing the gate - and cut off the back half of the horse M. When the horse decided to drink water from the fountain, the liquid poured out of it. Having caught the back half in the meadow, the doctor sewed both parts together with laurel rods, from which a gazebo soon grew. And in order to find out the number of Turkish guns, the baron jumped on the cannonball fired into their camp. The brave man returned to his oncoming core. Having got into the swamp with his horse, M. risked drowning, but he grabbed tightly by the pigtail of his wig and pulled them both out.

When the baron nevertheless was captured by the Turks, he was appointed a bee shepherd. Beating off a bee from 2 bears, M. threw a silver hatchet at the robbers - so much so that he threw it on the moon. On a long stalk of chickpeas grown right there, the shepherd climbed to the moon and found his weapon on a pile of rotten straw. The sun dried the peas, so I had to go down a rope woven from rotten straw, periodically cutting it and tying it to my own end. But 3-4 miles before the Earth, the rope broke and M. fell, breaking through a large hole, from which he got out along the steps dug out with his nails. And the bears got what they deserved: the baron caught the clubfoot on a shaft smeared with honey, into which he hammered a nail behind the strung bear. The Sultan laughed his head off at this idea.

Having gone home from captivity, M. on a narrow path could not miss the oncoming carriage. I had to take the carriage on my shoulders, and the horses under the armpits, and in two passes to transfer my belongings through another carriage. The baron's coachman diligently blew his horn, but could not blow out a single sound. In the hotel, the horn thawed and thawed sounds poured out of it.

When the baron was sailing off the coast of India, a hurricane uprooted several thousand trees on the island and carried them to the clouds. When the storm ended, the trees fell into place and took root - all but one, on which two peasants gathered cucumbers (the only food of the natives). The fat peasants tilted the tree and it fell on the king, crushing him. The inhabitants of the island were terribly delighted and offered the crown to M., but he refused, because he did not like cucumbers. After the storm, the ship arrived in Ceylon. While hunting with the governor's son, the traveler got lost and came across a huge lion. The baron started to run, but a crocodile had already crept up behind him. M. fell to the ground; the lion jumped on him and landed right in the mouth of the crocodile. The hunter cut off the head of the lion and drove it so deep into the mouth of the crocodile that he suffocated. The governor's son could only congratulate his friend on his victory.

Then M. went to America. On the way, the ship came across an underwater rock. From a strong blow, one of the sailors flew off into the sea, but grabbed the heron's beak and so stayed on the water until rescued, and the baron's head fell into his stomach (for several months he pulled it out by the hair). The rock turned out to be a whale that woke up and, in a fit of rage, dragged the ship by anchor across the sea all day. On the way back, the crew found the corpse of a giant fish and cut off the head. In a hole in a rotten tooth, the sailors found their anchor along with the chain. Suddenly, water gushed into the hole, but M. plugged the hole with his booty and saved everyone from death.

Floating in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy, the baron was swallowed by a fish - or rather, he himself shrunk into a ball and rushed straight into the open mouth so as not to be torn to pieces. From his stomp and fuss, the fish screamed and stuck its muzzle out of the water. The sailors killed it with a harpoon and cut it with an ax, freeing the captive, who greeted them with a kind bow.

The ship sailed to Turkey. The Sultan invited M. to dinner and entrusted the case in Egypt. On the way there, M. met a small runner with weights on his feet, a man with sensitive hearing, a well-aimed hunter, a strong man and a hero who turned the windmill blades with air from his nostrils. The baron took these guys into his servants. A week later, the baron returned to Turkey. During dinner, the Sultan, especially for the dear guest, took out a bottle of good wine from a secret cabinet, but M. declared that the Chinese Bogdykhan had better wine. To this, the sultan replied that if, as proof, the baron did not deliver a bottle of this very wine by 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the braggart would be cut off his head. As a reward, M. demanded as much gold as 1 person could carry at a time. With the help of new servants, the baron obtained wine, and the strong man took out all the Sultan's gold. On full sail, M. hastened to go to sea.

The entire military fleet of the Sultan set off in pursuit. A servant with mighty nostrils sent the fleet back to the harbor, and drove his ship all the way to Italy. M. lived a rich life, but a quiet life was not for him. The baron rushed to the war between the British and the Spaniards, and even made his way to the besieged English fortress of Gibraltar. On the advice of M., the British directed the muzzle of their cannon exactly in the direction of the muzzle of the Spanish cannon, as a result of which the cannonballs collided and both flew towards the Spaniards, and the Spanish cannonball pierced the roof of one shack and got stuck in the throat of an old woman. Her husband brought her a snuff of tobacco, she sneezed and the ball flew out. In gratitude for useful advice the general wanted to make M. a colonel, but he refused. Disguised as a Spanish priest, the baron sneaked into the enemy camp and threw the cannons of the dadelko from the shore, burning the wooden vehicles. The Spanish army fled in horror, thinking that they had been visited by a myriad of English hordes during the night.

Having settled in London, M. once fell asleep in the muzzle of an old cannon, where he hid from the heat. But the gunner fired in honor of the victory over the Spaniards, and the baron hit his head in a haystack. For 3 months he stuck out of the haystack, losing consciousness. in the autumn, when the workers were stirring up the haystack with pitchforks, M. woke up, fell on the owner's head and broke his neck, to which everyone was only delighted.

The famous traveler Finne invited the baron on an expedition to the North Pole, where M. was attacked by a polar bear. The baron dodged and cut off 3 fingers on the hind leg of the beast, he released him and was shot dead. Several thousand bears surrounded the traveler, but he pulled on the skin of a dead bear and killed all the bears with a knife in the back of the head. The skins were skinned from the dead animals, and the carcasses were cut into hams.

In England, M. had already given up traveling, but his wealthy relative wanted to see the giants. In search of giants, the expedition sailed across the Southern Ocean, but a storm lifted the ship behind the clouds, where, after a long "sail", the ship landed on the Moon. Travelers were surrounded by huge monsters on three-headed eagles (radishes instead of weapons, fly agaric shields; stomach like a suitcase, only 1 finger on the hand, they can remove their heads, and take out and change their eyes; new residents grow on trees like nuts, and when they grow old, they melt in air).

And this swim was not the last. On a half-wrecked Dutch ship, M. sailed on the sea, which suddenly turned white - it was milk. The ship landed on an island made of excellent Dutch cheese, where even grape juice was milk, and the rivers were not only milk, but also beer. The locals were three-legged, and the birds made huge nests. Travelers were severely punished for lying here, with which M. could not but agree, for he cannot stand lies. As his ship sailed, the trees bowed twice. Wandering the seas without a compass, sailors met various sea monsters. One fish, quenching its thirst, swallowed the ship. Her stomach was literally stuffed with ships; when the water receded, M. went for a walk with the captain and met many sailors from all over the world. At the suggestion of the baron, the two highest masts were placed upright in the mouth of the fish, so the ships could swim out - and ended up in the Caspian Sea. M. hurried ashore, declaring that he had had enough adventures.

But as soon as M. got out of the boat, a bear attacked him. The Baron gripped his front paws so hard that he roared in pain. M. kept the clubfoot for 3 days and 3 nights, until he died of hunger, as he could not suck his paw. Since then, not a single bear has dared to attack the resourceful baron.

Yuri Kudlach. Photo by Ludmila Sinitsyna

In world literature there are many heroes whose names have become for us the personification of different human qualities: Oblomov - laziness, Plyushkin - stinginess, Salieri - envy, Athos - nobility, Iago - deceit, Don Quixote - disinterested romanticism. The hero of the book by Rudolf Erich Raspe "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" is considered a symbol of unbridled fantasy.

Aaron Munchausen. Illustration by Gustave Doré. 1862 Illustration: Wikimedia Commons/PD.

Report of the company commander Baron Munchausen to the regimental office with his own signature, written by a clerk in 1741. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/PD.

The barn, restored by the Society of Friends of Munchausen, is the oldest building on the baron's estate. It houses a museum collection.

A hunting pavilion where, among friends and neighbors, Baron Munchausen talked about his extraordinary adventures in Russia.

Monument to Baron Munchausen by A. Yu. Orlov, installed in Moscow ...

...and in Bodenwerder.

G. Bruckner. Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen in the uniform of a cuirassier. 1752. Illustration: Wikimedia Commons/PD.

Baron Munchausen tells stories. Vintage postcard. Written by Oskar Herfurt. Illustration: Wikimedia Commons/PD.

Unlike the vast majority of literary characters invented by writers, Carl Friedrich Hieronymus Baron von Munchausen actually existed. He was born on May 11, 1720 in the small town of Bodenwerder, next door to Hanover. The house where he grew up and spent the last years of his life is still preserved. Now it houses the municipality. Nearby there is a museum where things and documents related to the real Baron Munchausen are collected. And not far from the museum there is a sculpture depicting one of the adventures of the baron, colorfully described by himself: Munchausen pulls himself and his horse out of the swamp by the braid of his wig. The inscription on the monument reads: "Gift of the Foundation" Dialogue of Cultures - one world"". This work by the Moscow sculptor A. Yu. Orlov was donated to the city of Bodenwerder in 2008, and a little earlier, in 2004, the same monument appeared in Moscow, near the Molodyozhnaya metro station.

Why did the Russian sculptor decide to immortalize the German baron? What does Munchausen have to do with our country? Yes, the most direct. Confirmation of this is the first lines of the famous book: “I left home for Russia in the middle of winter ...” It is from this moment that his incredible adventures begin.

But how did the baron from Hanover end up so far from home? Let's turn to history.

Karl Friedrich Jerome Baron von Munchausen belonged to a very ancient Saxon family, the founder of which is considered the knight Heino - in the 12th century he took part in the crusade of Frederick Barbarossa to Palestine. Almost all of his descendants died in wars. Only one remained alive - he did not participate in battles, but lived in a monastery. The monk received permission to leave the monastery, and a new branch of the family began with him, the descendants of which bore the surname Munchausen, which means "House of the monk." That is why on all the coats of arms belonging to the Munchausen, a monk is depicted with a staff and a bag with a book.

In total, 1300 representatives of the Munchausen family are known, about fifty of them are our contemporaries. Among the descendants of the monk there were many prominent personalities, for example, the Minister of the Hanoverian court Gerlach Adolf von Munchausen (1688-1770), the founder of the University of Göttingen, and Baron Alexander von Munchausen (1813-1886) - the Prime Minister of Hanover.

The father of Karl Friedrich Jerome - Otto von Munchausen - successfully advanced through the military service, as was customary at that time, and rose to the rank of colonel. He died very early, when Karl Friedrich was only four years old. Our hero following family tradition, also preparing to become a military man. At the age of fifteen, he entered the service as a page to the sovereign Duke Ferdinand Albrecht II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. And two years later, Munchausen went to Russia, where he became the page of the young Duke Anton Ulrich.

At that time, the imperial throne in Russia was occupied by Anna Ioannovna, the daughter of Ivan V, the niece of Peter I. She had no children, and she wanted to transfer power to one of her close relatives. The Empress decided to marry her niece Princess Anna Leopoldovna to a European prince so that the children from this marriage could inherit the Russian throne. The choice fell on the young Duke Anton Ulrich, who served in Russia, who participated in campaigns against the Turks. During the assault on the fortress of Ochakov, he found himself in the thick of the battle, the horse under him was killed, the adjutant and two pages were wounded and soon died. We had to find a replacement for them. Munchausen was not afraid that the same fate that befell his predecessors might await him, and volunteered to go to the service of Ulrich. So the baron got a place in his retinue.

At that time, according to the tradition laid down by Peter I, people were invited to Russia to work and to military service many foreigners. Most of them were from Germany. They honestly served the new fatherland, and many made a brilliant career. Like, for example, Heinrich Johann Osterman, an outstanding diplomat who learned Russian in a year and became completely Russified. He accepted Russian name Andrei Ivanovich. The strength of his influence can be judged by the nickname assigned to him - the Oracle. Or Karl Wilhelm Heinrich von der Osten-Driesen, on whose family coat of arms the words were carved: "For the Fatherland and for honor - Everything." Or Count Burchard von Minich, according to whose project the Ioannovsky and Alekseevsky ravelins of the Peter and Paul Fortress were erected. Benckendorffs, Palenas, Korfis, Livens, Wrangels... Their contribution to the history of our country can hardly be overestimated.

Munchausen came to Russia in 1737. He was young, full of hope and confidence that fate would turn out well. His appearance and very attractive appearance were also of no small importance for promotion. Karl did not at all resemble the baron we know from the illustrations of Gustave Dore, a thin, funny old man with a famously twisted mustache. The real Munchausen had no mustache at all. On the contrary, the baron was always clean-shaven and elegantly dressed.

As Anna Ioannovna had planned, Anton Ulrich married Anna Leopoldovna. The young were waiting for the heir and with his appearance they could take the Russian throne ... It seemed that in this situation it would be most reasonable for the baron to remain in the service of Anton Ulrich. However, Munchausen makes a completely unexpected, but, as it turned out later, saving decision - to leave for military service. The prince did not immediately and reluctantly dismiss such a prominent page from his retinue.

In December 1739, Munchausen entered the service of a cornet in the Braunschweig cuirassier regiment in Riga. And since Prince Anton Ulrich was listed as the regiment's chief, the baron's military career went uphill. A year later, he became a lieutenant, commander of the first company of the regiment. The baron was a good officer and, probably, would have moved further in the service very soon, would have received a good pension and returned to his homeland to live out the remaining years in honor and contentment.

But then the unexpected happened. On the night of November 24-25, 1741, Tsesarevna Elizabeth - the daughter of Peter I - staged a coup d'état and seized power. Supporters of Anna and Ulrich were arrested. All of them were imprisoned in the Riga castle. Lieutenant Munchausen became an involuntary guard of his high patrons. Opala did not touch Munchausen himself, because he was no longer listed in Ulrich's retinue. And yet, many of the highest ranks in power remembered who patronized him. He received the next rank of captain only in 1750, the last of those presented for promotion.

By this time, the baron's personal life had settled down - he married a Baltic German woman, Jacobine von Dunten, the daughter of a Riga judge. Riga by that time had already become part of the Russian Empire, so a Russian subject became Munchausen's wife. This marriage further strengthened the baron's ties with Russia.

Having received the rank of captain, the baron took a year's leave and went home, to Germany, to his family Noble Nest in the town of Bodenwerder "for the correction of extreme and necessary needs," as it was written in the petition. Munchausen twice extended his vacation, realizing that he could not wait for a new rank, and in the end, in 1754, he was expelled from the regiment for failure to appear.

After serving in Russia, the baron got bored. In a town with a population of only 1,200 people, the brave captain had nowhere to apply his strength and energy. This is probably why he built a hunting pavilion in the then fashionable park style on the estate in order to receive friends there. Already after the death of the baron, the grotto was nicknamed the "pavilion of lies", because it was there that the owner told the guests fables about his life in a foreign country.

Fantastic stories - about an enraged fur coat that tears to shreds everything that hangs in the wardrobe, including the dress uniform, about entering St. Petersburg on a wolf harnessed to a sleigh, about a horse cut in half in Ochakovo, about a cherry tree that grew on the head of a deer, and many others - neighbors and visiting guests listened with interest. They believed and did not believe, but they came again and again. So popularity came to Munchausen.

It should be noted that the baron did not aspire to world fame at all. And I wouldn’t have had it if Rudolf Erich Raspe hadn’t wandered into one of these evenings, who was simply fascinated incredible stories the owner of the house. And since Raspe himself was no stranger to creativity - an excellent storyteller, writer, historian and archaeologist, the author of one of chivalric romances“Hermin and Gunilda,” the idea came to him to collect the stories he had heard and publish them. Whether he knew that the first notes based on the baron's stories were already being published is hard to say. They were first printed in 1761 in Hannover under the title "Eccentric". Three stories - about a dog with a lantern on its tail, about partridges shot with a ramrod, and about a hound that whelped on the run in pursuit of a hare - published without indicating the author's last name, were later included in all collections. After 20 years, in 1781, the "Guide for Merry People" was published in Berlin, where 16 stories were already presented on behalf of the quite recognizable "M-g-s-n". But world fame the baron was brought a book by Raspe, which he published in 1785 in England. It was a small collection of short stories called False or Fictional Stories.

Upon learning of the book, Munchausen felt that Raspe had publicly presented him as a liar with this title. The baron allegedly flew into a rage and threatened to stab the insolent man who dishonored his name. Munchausen was not at all indifferent to how his writings were received by the English public. The fact is that in 1714 George, Elector of Hanover, became the King of Great Britain, and this, of course, contributed to the cultural and economic development of both countries. The Hanoverian royal dynasty was renamed Windsor only in the 20th century due to the outbreak of the First World War, in which Great Britain turned out to be the enemy of Germany.

Fortunately for Raspe, he never met Munchausen, and the book brought him money and world fame. The baron also received the title of "king of liars" and "liar of all lies." In 1786, G. A. Burger translated Raspe's book into German.

The fictional Baron Munchausen won fame throughout Europe, and life real character turned out to be difficult. In 1790, the wife of Munchausen Jacobin died. Four years later, he remarried a very young Bernardine von Brun, who turned out to be frivolous and wasteful. It ended up that the baron went bankrupt and died in poverty in 1797 from apoplexy.

Summarize. Three people became the creators of Munchausen's adventures: the baron himself, Rudolf Erich Raspe, who published the book in England, and Gottfried August Burger, who published the collection in Germany. The books published by Raspe and Burger differ from one another. Each publisher added something, borrowing plots from literature, from folk tales and using own fantasy. But this whole story was started by a resident of the German town of Bodenwerder, captain of the Russian service Karl Friedrich Jerome Baron von Munchausen, who is now known to the whole world.

Report of the company commander Munchausen to the regimental office (written by a clerk, with the handwritten signature of Lieutenant v. Munchhausen). 02/26/1741

Munchausen's wedding. Latvian postcard. In the background is a church in Pernigel (Lielupe) near Riga, where Munchausen really got married.

Carl Friedrich Jerome Baron von Munchausen(German , May 11, Bodenwerder - February 22, ibid) - German freiherr (baron), a descendant of the ancient Lower Saxon family of Munchausen, captain of the Russian service, historical person and literary character. Munchausen's name has become a household name as a designation for a person who tells incredible stories.

Biography

Youth

Karl Friedrich Jerome was the fifth of eight children in the family of Colonel Otto von Munchausen. His father died when the boy was 4 years old, and he was raised by his mother's sister, Aderkas, who was taken as a governess to Anna Leopoldovna. The mother died three days after giving birth. In 1735, the 15-year-old Munchausen entered the service of the sovereign Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Ferdinand Albrecht II, as a page.

Service in Russia

Return to Germany

Having received the rank of captain, Munchausen took an annual leave "to correct extreme and necessary needs" (specifically, to share family possessions with brothers) and left for Bodenwerder, which he got during the division (). He twice extended his leave and, finally, submitted a letter of resignation to the Military Collegium, with the assignment of the rank of lieutenant colonel for impeccable service; received an answer that the petition should be submitted on the spot, but he never went to Russia, as a result of which he was expelled in 1754 as having left the service without permission. Munchausen for some time did not give up hope of achieving a profitable resignation (which, in addition to a prestigious rank, gave him the right to a pension), as evidenced by the petition to the Military College of his cousin, Chancellor of the Principality of Hanover, Baron Gerlach Adolf Munchausen; however, this had no results, and until the end of his life he signed as a captain of the Russian service. This title proved useful to him during the Seven Years' War, when Bodenwerder was occupied by the French: the position of an officer in the allied French army saved Munchausen from standing and other hardships associated with the occupation.

Life in Bodenwerder

From 1752 until his death, Munchausen lived in Bodenwerder, communicating mainly with his neighbors, whom he told amazing stories about his hunting adventures and adventures in Russia. Such stories usually took place in a hunting pavilion built by Munchausen and hung with the heads of wild animals and known as the "pavilion of lies"; another favorite place for Munchausen's stories was the inn of the King of Prussia Inn in nearby Göttingen. One of Munchausen's listeners described his stories as follows:

The stories of the baron (such plots that undoubtedly belong to him, such as entering St. Petersburg on a wolf harnessed to a sleigh, a horse cut in half in Ochakovo, a horse on a belfry, fur coats that went berserk, or a cherry tree that grew on a deer’s head) widely dispersed around the neighborhood and even penetrated in print, but with decent anonymity. For the first time, three plots of Munchausen (anonymously, but knowledgeable people knew well who their author was) appear in the book "Der Sonderling" by Count Rocks Friedrich Linar (). In 1781, a collection of such plots (16 plots, including plots from Linar, as well as some "wandering" plots) was published in the Berlin almanac "A Guide for Merry People", indicating that they belong to Mr. z-well, living in G-re (Hannover); in 1783, two more stories of the same kind appeared in the same almanac (it is not clear whether the baron himself played a role in their publication). However, the publication of the book Raspe, or, more precisely, its German version of Burger, published in 1786 at the side of the baron, in Göttingen, infuriated the baron due to the fact that the hero was provided with his full name. The baron considered his name dishonored and was going to sue Burger (according to other sources, he filed, but was refused on the grounds that the book was a translation of an anonymous English edition). In addition, the work of Raspe-Burger immediately gained such popularity that onlookers began to flock to Bodenwerder to look at the "liar baron", and Munchausen had to put servants around the house to drive away the curious.

Last years

The last years of Munchausen were overshadowed by family troubles. In 1790 his wife Jacobina died. After 4 years, Munchausen married 17-year-old Bernardine von Brun, who led an extremely wasteful and frivolous lifestyle and soon gave birth to a daughter, whom the 75-year-old Munchausen did not recognize, considering the clerk Huden to be the father. Munchausen started a scandalous and expensive divorce proceedings, as a result of which he went bankrupt, and his wife fled abroad. This sapped Munchausen's strength, and shortly afterwards he died in poverty from apoplexy. Before his death, he let go of his last characteristic joke: to the question of the only maid who was caring for him, how he lost two toes on his foot (frostbitten in Russia), Munchausen replied: “They were bitten off by a polar bear while hunting.”

Carl Friedrich Munchausen
German Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen
Illustration by Gustave Doré
Creator:	R. E. Raspe
Artworks:	"Tales of Baron Munchausen about his amazing travels and campaigns in Russia"
Role played by:	Yuri Sarantsev; Oleg Yankovsky

Munchausen - literary character

The literary baron Munchausen became a well-known character in Russia thanks to K. I. Chukovsky, who adapted E. Raspe's book for children. K. Chukovsky translated the baron's surname from English "Münchhausen" into Russian as "Munchausen". On the German it is spelled "Münchhausen" and transliterated into Russian as "Munchausen". Many foreign and Russian authors, both in the past and in the present, complementing the formed image (character) with new features and adventures. The image of Baron Munchausen received the most significant development in Russian - Soviet cinema, in the film "The Same Munchausen", where the scriptwriter Grigory Gorin gave the baron bright romantic traits character, while distorting some of the facts of the personal life of Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchausen. In the cartoon "The Adventures of Munchausen" the baron is endowed with classic features, bright and magnificent.

Evgeny Vishnev wrote and in 1990 published the fantastic story "The Herd of Star Dragons", preserving the style of Raspe's presentation, where a distant descendant of Baron Munchausen acts (in the distant future, in space). Vishnev's character is also an amateur astronomer, and he calls the comet he discovered after his ancestor.

In 2005, the book Nagovo-Munchausen V. was published in Russia. “The Adventures of Childhood and Youth of Baron Munchausen” (“Munchhausens Jugend- und Kindheitsabenteuer”), which became the first book in world literature about the childhood and youthful adventures of Baron Munchausen, from the birth of the baron to his departure to Russia.

Appearance of the real and literary Munchausen

The only portrait of Munchausen by G. Bruckner (), depicting him in the form of a cuirassier, was destroyed during World War II. The photographs of this portrait and description give an idea of ​​Munchausen as a man of a strong and proportional physique, with a round right face (physical strength was a hereditary quality in the family: Munchausen's nephew Philip could stick three fingers into the muzzles of three guns and raise them). The mother of Catherine II especially notes in her diary the “beauty” of the commander of the guard of honor. The visual image of Munchausen as literary hero represents a wizened old man with a famously twisted mustache and a goatee. This image was created by illustrations by Gustave Doré (). It is curious that, supplying his hero with a beard, Doré (generally very accurate in historical details) made an obvious anachronism, since in the 18th century they did not wear a beard. However, it was during Doré's time that beards were reintroduced into fashion by Napoleon III. This gives rise to the assumption that the famous “bust” of Munchausen, with the motto “Mendace veritas” (Latin “Truth is a lie”) and the image of three ducks on the “coat of arms” (cf. three bees on the arms of the Bonapartes), had a political the subtext of the caricature of the emperor (see the portrait of Napoleon III).

Screen adaptations

Musicals

The world's second monument to Baron Munchausen was erected in 1970 in the USSR, the city of Khmelnitsky, Ukraine. The authors of the sculpture - M. Andreychuk and G. Mamona - captured an episode from the baron's story, in which Munchausen was forced to ride half a horse.

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Name: Baron Munchhausen (Karl Munchhausen)

Country: Germany

Creator: Rudolf Erich Raspe

Activity: military

Family status: married

Baron Munchausen: character history

The biography of a German baron with a difficult to pronounce surname Munchausen is full of unprecedented adventures. A man flew to the moon, visited the stomach of a fish, fled from Turkish Sultan. And most importantly, all this actually happened. So says Baron Munchausen personally. 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 existed in reality. Karl Friedrich was born in the family of Colonel Otto von Munchausen. At the age of 15, the young man went to military service, and when he retired, he spent his evenings telling stories of fables:

"Usually he began to talk after dinner, lighting a huge meerschaum pipe with a short mouthpiece 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 played scenes from the adventures he had experienced in his faces. Sometimes the baron added small details to plausible stories in order to interest listeners.

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

In 1786, the book "The Narrative of Baron Munchausen about his wonderful travels and campaigns in Russia" saw the light of day. To add spice, Raspe inserted more nonsense into the Baron's original stories. The work was published in English.

In the same year, Gottfried Burger - 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 Journeys of Baron von Munchausen on Water and on Land, Campaigns and Fun Adventures, as He Used to Tell About Them Over a Bottle of Wine with His Friends" came out anonymously, the real baron guessed who glorified his name:

"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 engaged in raising offspring, the father had a high military rank. In his youth, the baron left his home and went in search of adventure.

The young man took over the duties of a page under the German duke. As part of the retinue of the 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 will drag on, night was already approaching. Everything was covered with snow and there were no villages nearby. The young man tied his horse to a 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 occurred with the faithful horse of the baron.

After serving at the Russian court, an attractive nobleman went to Russian-Turkish war. To find out about the plans of the enemy and to count the guns, the baron made the famous flight on horseback. The projectile turned out to be not the most convenient means of transportation and fell into the swamp along with the hero. The Baron was not accustomed to waiting for help, so he pulled himself out by the hair.

“God, how you bored me! Understand that Munchausen is famous not for flying or not flying, but for not lying.”

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

In Lithuania, the baron met a girl named Jacobina. The charm charmed the brave soldier. 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 gatherings by the burning fireplace, and with pleasure tells those who wish about his tricks.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Often funny situations happen to a man during a hunt. The Baron doesn't waste time preparing for a campaign, so he regularly forgets to replenish his supply of bullets. Once the hero went to a pond inhabited by ducks, and the weapon was unsuitable for shooting. The hero caught birds on a piece of fat 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 in Russia, the baron saw a strange beast. While hunting in the forest, Munchausen came across an eight-legged hare. The hero drove the animal around the neighborhood for three days until he shot the animal. The hare had four legs on its back and stomach, so it did not get tired for a long time. The animal simply turned over on its other paws and continued to run.

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

Before returning home, the man was attacked by a bear. Munchausen squeezed the clubfoot with his hands and held the animal for three days. The steel hugs of the man caused the paws to break. The bear starved to death because he had nothing to suck. From that moment on, all local bears bypass the harrow.

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

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

Screen adaptations

The first film about the adventures of the fearless baron was released in France in 1911. The picture called "Hallucinations of Baron Munchausen" lasts 10.5 minutes.

Because of the eccentricity and colorful character, Soviet filmmakers and animators liked the character. Four cartoons about the baron were released, but big love won the 1973 series from 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 "The Same Munchausen" was released. The film tells about the baron's divorce from his first wife and attempts to tie the knot with an old lover. The main characters are different 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 the actress played her beloved Marta.

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

• Munchausen means "monk's house" in German.
• In the book, the hero is presented as a wizened, unattractive old man, but in his youth, Munchausen was distinguished by impressive external data. The mother of Catherine II 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 his personal life. The second wife of a nobleman squandered the family fortune.

Quotes and aphorisms from the movie "The Same Munchausen"

“After the wedding, we immediately went on a honeymoon trip: I went to Turkey, my wife went to Switzerland. And they lived there for three years in love and harmony.

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

"All love is legal if it is love!"

“A year ago, in these very parts, can you imagine, I meet with a deer. I throw up the gun - it turns out there are no cartridges. Nothing but cherries. Loading the gun with a cherry pit, ugh! - I shoot and hit the deer in the forehead. He runs away. And this spring in these very parts, imagine, I meet my handsome deer, on whose head a luxurious cherry tree grows.

“Are you waiting for me, dear? I'm sorry... Newton held me up."

Who does not know the famous inventor - Baron Jerome von Munchausen. This was facilitated by Soviet films and cartoons and books. But the book hero had a prototype - the real Baron Munchausen, and maybe someone else does not know his story?

The history of the Munchausen family goes back to the 12th century - it was at this time that the knight Heino founded the family, who took part in the crusade led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. All the descendants of the knight fought and died. And one of them survived because he was a monk. It was he who gave the family a new name - Munchausen, which means "monk's house". Since then, a monk with a book and a staff has been present on the family coat of arms of the Munchausen family.

There are a lot of Munchausen! Since the 12th century, almost 1300 people have gathered on the family tree, about 50 are alive today. A dozen and a half castles are scattered across Lower Saxony, which once belonged or belong today to members of this venerable family. And the family is really respectable. In the XVIII and XIX centuries, he gave eight persons in the rank of ministers of various German states. Here and such bright personalities, as well-known in the 16th century land-sknecht Hilmar von Munchausen, who got himself a lot of money 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, among them "the first poet of the Third Reich" Berris von Munchausen, whose poems were chanted by teenagers of the Hitler Youth, marching through the streets. And the whole world knows only one - Carl Hieronymus Friedrich von Munchausen, according to the genealogical table number 701. And, probably, he would remain number 701, if even during his lifetime two writers - R. E. Raspe and G. A. Burger - either they heard from Munchausen, or invented by them funny stories that for two centuries have been making smiles from all kinds of people in all corners of the earth have not been allowed to go around the world. If we have in mind a literary hero, then he, in fact, is not a German, but rather a citizen of the world, only his name speaks of his nationality.

The very first line in the millions of books on which this name is written reads: "I left home for Russia in the middle of winter ..." And for the third century millions of readers perceive Russia, according to his stories, as a country where "wolves on the run devour horses where snow covers the ground to the domes of churches and where a stream of urine freezes right in the air.

Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Baron von Munchausen was born on May 11, 1720 at the Bodenwerder estate near Hannover. In his home now housed the burgomaster's office and a small museum. Carl was the fifth child among eight children in the family.

Two hundred and sixty-five years ago, a seventeen-year-old youth from Germany crossed the border of the Russian Empire. The young man was to serve as a page in the retinue of another distinguished guest of Russia - Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick. The rest of the pages refused to go to Russia - it was considered a distant, cold and wild country. It was said that hungry wolves and bears run around the streets of cities there. And the cold is such that words freeze, they are brought home in the form of ice, they thaw in the warmth, and then a speech sounds ... “It’s better to freeze in Russia than to be bored in the palace of the Duke of Brunswick!” our hero argued. And in February 1738, the young Baron Jerome Karl Friedrich von Munchausen arrived in St. Petersburg. Jerome has long grown out of the short pants of a page; he dreamed of the glory of his ancestors. After all, the founder of their family was the knight Heino, who in the XII century participated in a crusade under the banner of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. His other ancestor, Hilmar von Munchausen, already in the sixteenth century, was a famous condottiere - the commander of an army of mercenaries; military booty was enough for him to build several castles in the valley of the river Weser. Well, the uncle of the young man, Gerlach Adolf von Munchausen, is a minister, founder and trustee of the University of Göttingen, the best in Europe ...

Cute boy! He did not yet know what awaited him in Russia, he did not assume that wolves and bears were not the most terrible inhabitants of this place. That words freezing in the cold are not the greatest wonder; he was to see the Ice Palace!.. In those years, Russia was ruled by Empress Anna Ioannovna, the niece of Peter I. In many ways, she continued the work of her great uncle. But Anna despised the descendants of Peter and Catherine - after all, Catherine was from the "vile class." The descendants of Ivan, the early deceased brother and co-ruler of Peter, behind their backs called Ekaterina “portomoy”, that is, a laundress. This means that the power should belong to the "Ivanoviches" and nothing more! But Anna Ioannovna herself had no children, she was widowed early. Therefore, in order to transfer power along the Ivanovo line, Anna Ioannovna decided to marry her niece Anna Leopoldovna to some European prince and bequeath the throne to their child - her great-nephew. Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick was one of the possible suitors. He was a distinguished and educated young man, a knowledgeable and brave officer. But his matchmaking dragged on for almost seven years! Because Anton Ulrich, for all his merits, knew nothing about politics, did not know how to hide his feelings and weave intrigues. There was enough intrigue: the all-powerful favorite of the Empress Biron, Field Marshal Munnich, Chancellor Osterman, many other courtiers, foreign diplomats - everyone played "their own game", entered into temporary alliances and betrayed yesterday's friends. In this drama, young Munchausen turned out to be just an extra. He did not know "plays" in general. He saw only individual actors and heard only some of their remarks. But even what he witnessed gave rise to a feeling of anxiety, imminent disaster.

In 1738, von Munchausen sniffed gunpowder for the first time. He accompanied Prince Anton Ulrich of Brunswick on a campaign against the Turks. At that time, they fought only in the summer. In addition, the "theater of military operations" was far to the south, it was necessary to cross half of Russia. The army marched across the steppes. Crimean Tatars - allies of the Turks - set fire to the steppe grass; their flying cavalry detachments appeared from smoke and flame, like devils from the underworld, and attacked Russian columns and carts. The troops were missing clean water, food, ammunition ... But, despite the hardships and dangers of the campaign, Munchausen decided: his place in the army. For another six months, the young man acted as a page: he accompanied Prince Anton Ulrich everywhere, attended receptions, balls and maneuvers with him. Once, at a parade in St. Petersburg, a soldier accidentally fired a gun. And then the ramrod was kept in the trunk. Page Munchausen heard a shot, something whistled near his ear. The ramrod, like an arrow, pierced the leg of Prince Anton Ulrich's horse. Horse and rider fell to the pavement. Fortunately, the prince was not hurt. “You can’t come up with it on purpose,” Munchausen thought. - There will be something to talk about at home ... ”Finally, after long and persistent requests, Prince Anton Ulrich released his page to military service. In 1739, Jerome von Munchausen entered the cuirassier regiment as a cornet.

Cuirassier regiments had recently appeared in the Russian cavalry. They could resist both the light Turkish-Tatar cavalry and the heavy cavalry of the Europeans. Cuirassiers could "pierce" even an infantry square, bristling with hundreds of bayonets. Because the cuirassiers wore a metal breastplate - a cuirass, their weapon in battles was a heavy broadsword. Only hefty fellows were recruited into cuirassiers, and the horses were a match for them, they were bought abroad. A year later, Munchausen was already a lieutenant, commander of the first, consider, guards company of the regiment. He turned out to be an intelligent officer, quickly got up to speed. “The noble and respectable lieutenant” takes care of ordinary cuirassiers and horses, demands money from the authorities for fodder and ammunition, writes reports, draws up reports: “I humbly ask you to send a cornet to help me, because ... to keep people and horses clean alone impossible to handle." “At the same time, about the receipt of provisions and fodder for people and horses for this February 741, two statements are attached.” “The fallen horse ... was expelled and there was a statement about it in the form of a sender” ... But there was no war for Lieutenant Munchausen. Russia made peace with the Turks, and during the Swedish campaign of 1741-1743, his company did not participate in hostilities. And without war - how to advance in the service of an officer?

And soon trouble came to the Brunswick family. Events in St. Petersburg developed rapidly. Anton Ulrich and Anna Leopoldovna finally got married, their first child was born, named Ivan. Shortly before her death, Empress Anna Ioannovna proclaimed him the heir to the throne, John III, and her favorite Biron as regent under him. But Biron could not resist even a few months - he was hated by everyone and always. The parents of the baby emperor plotted, Field Marshal Munnich arrested Biron. The emperor's mother, Anna Leopoldovna, herself became the "ruler of Russia" with her young son, and father Anton Ulrich received the title of generalissimo. Everything would be fine, but ... Anna Leopoldovna was a useless ruler, and her husband under normal circumstances, perhaps, would not have risen above the colonel. Power in Russia was as weak as ever. And only those who were in power did not notice this.

And at this time, Cinderella at the court lived-was Tsesarevna Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. No, not dirty, on the contrary: she was the first beauty and fashionista in Russia. But the "daughter of Petrov", deprived of power - this fate, perhaps, is worse than an orphan's share. Maybe that's why she was loved by the guards and pitied by the people. In addition, Elizavet - so she signed - never felt safe. "Ivanovtsy" always wanted to get rid of her: to marry off some foreign duke, for example, or to be tonsured as a nun. Unless they decided to finish off. Clouds were gathering over the head of the princess: it became known about her secret negotiations with the French envoy, and through him with the Swedes. The case smelled of treason! In the autumn of 1741, an order was received from the guards to march from St. Petersburg. There was nothing surprising in this - after all, the war with Sweden had begun. But Elizabeth was afraid that the guards were being taken away on purpose, so that it would be easier to deal with her. The princess had no choice, she appeared in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky regiment, and then, at the head of a detachment of 300 grenadiers, went to Winter Palace- for power and crown. The entire “Brunswick family” and its associates were sent first to the fortress, then to exile ... For some time, noble prisoners were kept in the Riga Castle. And Lieutenant Munchausen, who guarded Riga and the western borders of the empire, became an unwitting guard of his high patrons. Opala did not touch Munchausen (after all, he left his retinue in time), and, nevertheless, the lieutenant lost his peace for a long time, became more careful in words and deeds. And the next rank - captain - received only in 1750, moreover, the last one presented for promotion. This was a bad sign: the military career did not develop brilliantly, and there were no more patrons at the top.

But life and service went on as usual and brought many meetings and impressions. In 1744 two royalty crossed the border of the Russian Empire: Princess Elizabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst and her daughter Sophia Frederica Augusta - the future Empress Catherine the Great. They were met by a guard of honor of Russian cuirassiers, commanded by the stately lieutenant Baron von Munchausen. Oh, if the lieutenant knew that the future Empress Catherine the Great waved to him with a lily pen from the window of the carriage, probably, he would have drawn himself even more. And the mother-princess wrote in her diary: "I really praised the cuirassier regiment I saw, which is really extremely beautiful." The young and sociable baron had many friends in St. Petersburg and Riga. One of them, the Baltic nobleman von Dunten, invited Munchausen to his estate to hunt. The lieutenant shot a lot of game and he himself was smitten on the spot - he fell in love with the owner's beautiful daughter Jacobina von Dunten. In the same year, 1744, Jerome and Jacobina got married in a local church. Having received the long-awaited rank of captain, Munchausen asked for a year off and left with his wife for Germany. He had to settle inheritance matters with his brothers. The Munchausens had two estates, Rinteln and Bodenwerder, and three brothers - go ahead and undress! .. The baron extended the vacation for another year, but it also expired, and the captain did not turn to the military authorities with a new petition. At this time, one of the brothers was killed in the war. The two remaining heirs simply cast lots - and soon Jerome Karl Friedrich Baron von Munchausen entered into legal possession of the Bodenwerder family estate near Hannover, on the Weser River. That is, he returned as an owner to where he was born 32 years ago, on May 11, 1720. He returned from Russia, as if from the Moon or from the North Pole. After all, few returned from Russia: some died, while others remained to live there, becoming Russian Germans. Moreover, he left underage, and returned as a husband - in the literal and figurative sense of the word.

And at this time in the cuirassier regiment there was a verification. Where is Captain Munchausen? There is no captain Munchausen. And good reasons there is also no absence. And therefore, in 1754, Baron Munchausen, aka Minikhhausin, aka Menechhausen (this is how the staff clerks distorted his name), was expelled from the regiment and the Russian army.

It would have been more profitable and honorable to retire, and Munchausen regretted his carelessness, but his belated petitions remained unanswered. True, this did not prevent Munchausen from recommending himself as a captain of the Russian imperial army until the end of his days. And the baron began to live like a gentleman. At first, he put the neglected park in order, built a pavilion in fashion style"grotto". But pretty soon the economic ardor of Munchausen faded away, or maybe the money just ran out. It was impossible to live like a lord on the modest income from the estate. And, finally, the baron became bored. After all, from a young age, Munchausen was always at the center of a large company: among peers-pages or fellow officers. And now he found himself alone in his charming but provincial Bodenwerder, far from his former friends and relatives... Jerome and Jacobina von Munchausen loved each other, but God did not give them children. Perhaps only on the hunt did the baron flourish - he was a passionate and skillful hunter. And at a halt, the neighbors-landlords turned to the ear: they sounded amazing stories Munchausen. He would have wanted to tell the truth, and he had something to tell about his experiences ... But the faces of the listeners immediately became boring - what did it matter to them that Munchausen spent almost fourteen years in Russia with two empresses and an infant emperor, witnessed rapid rises and crushing falls, conspiracies and coups, he himself barely escaped punishment ... No, his friends didn’t want to hear about that: “Is it true that Russians can live under the snow?” “That's right,” Munchausen picked up. - Once I tied a horse to a peg and went to bed right on the snow. In the morning I woke up already on the ground, and my horse was hanging on the cross of the bell tower. It turns out that the whole village was buried under the snow, and in the morning it melted! .. "

And it went, and it went. Here, by the way, I also remembered the ramrod-arrow (only in the story of the baron he pierced a flock of partridges), and many other incredible cases seen, heard, read and invented. The fame of Munchausen's stories quickly spread throughout the district, and then throughout Germany. It would seem that they were special? After all, before, various lies and stories were passed from mouth to mouth; some even found their way into magazines and books. And yet the stories of Munchausen were unique. A hero appeared in them, and this hero was created by the narrator out of himself. The hero had the same name, the same title, the same biography as the author, a nobleman with unusual fate. All this gave Munchausen's inventions some credibility, and the narrator seemed to play with the listener in "believe - do not believe." And, of course, they were funny stories who were laughed at from the bottom of their hearts. In addition, the baron turned out to be an excellent storyteller-performer of his stories, like the satirical writers of today, who themselves read their compositions from the stage. Munchausen knew how, as they say, to capture the attention of the public. And not only his friends on a hunting halt, not only guests in his estate; he was not shy about a large audience. A contemporary from Göttingen recalled Munchausen's speech in the restaurant of the King of Prussia Hotel: “Usually he began to talk after dinner, lighting his huge meerschaum pipe with a short mouthpiece and placing a smoking glass of punch in front of him ... He gesticulated more and more expressively, twisted his hands on his head his little dandy wig, his face became more and more animated and reddened, and he, usually a very truthful person, played out his fantasies wonderfully at these moments. A very true person! Yes, it was Jerome Karl Friedrich Baron von Munchausen who was a truthful person, a man of his word and honor. In addition, he is proud and quick-tempered. And now, imagine, an insulting, unfair nickname "lugenbaron" - a liar baron - stuck to him. Further - more: both the "king of liars" and the "liar of lies of all the lies" ... Munchausen's reputation suffered especially when his stories appeared in print.

In 1781, the first stories behind the transparent signature " mister M-h-s-n"appeared in the magazine" Guide for funny people. A few years later, the German scientist and writer Rudolf Erich Raspe, who was forced to flee to England, remembered the tales of his fellow countryman and wrote a funny book, Baron Munchausen's Tale of His Amazing Travels and Campaigns in Russia. At the same time, Raspe remained anonymous, and the hero, on behalf of whom the narration is being conducted, first appeared before the readers as an outright liar and braggart. The collection was published in 1785 and went through five editions in three years! The very next year, a book in German appeared in Germany. famous poet Gottfried August Burger under the long, in the fashion of that time, title “Amazing travels by land and sea, military campaigns and funny adventures of Baron von Munchausen, which he usually talks about over a bottle with his friends” (1786, 1788). Burger returned Munchausen to Germany, supplemented the fantastic adventures with satire, included new plots (for example, duck hunting with a piece of lard and twine, rescue from a swamp, flight on a core). And artistically, Burger's book is, of course, more perfect. So another, fictional Munchausen appeared. This other completely obscured the real one, made of flesh and blood, and dealt blow after blow to its creator. Hieronymus von Munchausen was furious. He did not understand how it was possible to distort the meaning of his fantasies in such a way? He amused his listeners and amused himself at the same time. Yes, his hero fools the listener, but - completely disinterestedly! And with all his exploits he claims: there are no hopeless situations, you just don’t have to despair, or, as the Russians say, we will be alive - we won’t die! .. Meanwhile, it was popularity that played a cruel joke on the baron.

Munchausen's fantasies were well understood by those for whom he composed them: relatives and friends, friends and neighbors, familiar writers and scientists - all people, as they say, of his circle. But the “stories of M-x-z-na” very soon found their way into the environment of burghers, artisans and peasants, and they perceived them a little differently. No, they also laughed, of course. Maybe even louder than the nobles. But, having laughed, they shook their heads: well, a liar, and also a baron! It is a sin to lie, so from childhood both the mutter and the fatter, and Mein Gott in heaven, and the pastor in the church taught. And who lies and who composes - go figure it out, we are not up to subtleties. Let the barons argue, they have nothing more to do, and our brother from noble gentlemen - only insults and oppression ... To all the troubles, in 1790 Munchausen's wife, Jacobina, died, with whom he lived in love and harmony for 46 years. The baron felt completely alone. He was a widow for four years, and suddenly... How often this word appears in his stories! But there the hero always makes the only right decision. But in life... His friend, retired major von Brun, with his wife and daughter, visited Munchausen's estate. Munchausen really, well, just really liked the young Bernardine von Brun. And the von Brun family liked the Munchausen estate more. The estate is small, four hectares of land - but what land! On the banks of the "quiet Weser" stick a stick into the ground - it will bloom. And the house? It will last another three hundred years. (So ​​it is, it now houses the burgomaster and a small Munchausen museum.) It's even better that the owner is at a venerable age: how long does he have to make people laugh? It seems that only the baron himself did not notice - or did not want to notice - what everyone around sees and understands. It was like an obsession: the border between reality and fantasy was erased, and the author imagined himself the hero of his stories - forever young and indestructible ... As expected, this marriage brought everyone nothing but trouble. Bernardina, a real child of the "gallant age", turned out to be windy and wasteful. From the very beginning she neglected marital duties, and the baron himself turned out to be ... oh, old age is not a joy! Therefore, when Bernardine became pregnant, Munchausen refused to recognize the child as his own. A scandalous divorce proceeding began, finally ruining Munchausen.

He never recovered from the trauma he had experienced.

The baron was dying alone in an empty, cold house. He was looked after only by the widow of his huntsman, Frau Nolte. One day she discovered that the baron was missing two toes and cried out in surprise. “Nonsense! The baron reassured her. “They were bitten off while hunting by a Russian bear.” So, with the last joke - as with a farewell sigh - on his lips, Jerome Karl Friedrich Baron von Munchausen died. It happened on February 22, 1797. His debts were paid only by the second generation of heirs. But he left behind the immortal Munchausen - a comedy created at the cost of personal drama. This - another - Munchausen, during the life of his creator, went on an endless journey through borders and centuries: either riding half a horse, or in the belly of a monstrous fish, or riding a cannonball. He also returned to Russia - to where the real Baron Munchausen began his journey and without which there would be no amazing stories. But that's a completely different story.

The baron was buried in the Munchausen family vault in the village of Kemnade, near Bodenwerder. In the church book, he is called "a retired Russian captain." Centuries later, the floors and the crypt were opened in the church, they wanted to transfer the remains resting there to the cemetery. An eyewitness (the future writer Karl Hensel), who was then still a boy, described his impressions as follows: “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, a skull appeared, instead of a body, bones." The coffin was closed and did not begin to be transferred to another place.

Well, for us it is, of course, like this:

A smart face is not yet a sign of the mind of the Lord. All the stupid things on earth are done with this facial expression. Smile gentlemen, smile. (With)