Fortunatus is a German proto-novel or chapbook about a legendary hero popular in 15th- and 16th-century Europe, and usually associated with a magical inexhaustible purse.
The plot of the novel also appears in variants from oral tradition across Europe, Asia, Americas and Africa, which are classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 566, "The Three Magic Objects and the Wonderful Fruits".
Tale The tale follows the life of a young man named Fortunatus from relative obscurity through his adventures towards fame and fortune; it subsequently follows the careers of his two sons. Fortunatus was a native, says the story, of Famagusta in Cyprus, and meeting the goddess of Fortune in a forest received from her a purse which was continually replenished as often as he drew from it. With this he wandered through many lands, and at Cairo was the guest of the sultan. Among the treasures which the sultan showed him was an old napless hat which had the power of transporting its wearer to any place he desired. Of this hat, he feloniously possessed himself and returned to Cyprus, where he led a luxurious life. On his death he left the purse and the hat to his sons Ampedo and Andelosia; but they were jealous of each other, and by their recklessness and folly soon fell on evil days.
Like Miguel de Cervantes' tale Don Quixote, Fortunatus is a tale which marks the passing of the feudal world into the more modern, globalised, capitalist world. Not quite a morality tale in the purest sense, it nonetheless was clearly written in order to convey lessons to the reader. The moral of the story is obvious: men should desire reason and wisdom before all the treasures of the world. It is far too easy, without wisdom, to lose one's fortune, no matter how it was acquired.
Sources
According to the recent English translator Michael Haldane, Fortunatus was first published in Augsburg in 1509. It was printed by one Johann Otmar and sold in Johannes Heybler's apothecary in that city. Many sources were integrated to create the text. These include: The Itinerarius of Johannes von Montevilla (or John de Mandeville), 1355; translated into German 1480, the oldest extant dated editions having been printed in Augsburg (1481 and 1482). The story of Wlad III Drakul (1456–62, 1476 Lord of Wallachia, or Vlad the Impaler), the oldest extant dated German accounts having been printed in Nuremberg (1488), Bamberg (1491) and Augsburg (1494). The Gesta Romanorum, printed in Augsburg in 1473. Two accounts of St. Patrick's Purgatory printed in Augsburg in 1489. Hans Tucher der Ältere, Beschreibung der Reyß ins Heylig Land [1479-80] (Augsburg, 1482). Bernhard von Breydenbach, Peregrinationes in terram sanctam (1486); Die heyligen reyssen gen Jherusalem (Mainz, 1486; Augsburg, 1488?). Rudolf von Ems, Willehalms von Orlens und Amelies. 13th century; printed in Augsburg, 1491. Perhaps the travels of the Bohemian nobleman Leo von Rozmital (1465–67). These can be read in: Malcolm Letts (ed.), The Travels of Leo of Rozmital through Germany, Flanders England, France Spain, Portugal and Italy, 1465-67. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957.
In its full form the history of Fortunatus occupies, in Karl Simrock's Die deutschen Volksbucher, vol. iii., upwards of 158 pages. The scene is continually shifted – from Cyprus to Flanders, from Flanders to London, from London to France; and a large number of secondary characters appear.
The style and allusions indicate a comparatively modern date for the authorship; but the nucleus of the legend can be traced back to a much earlier period. The stories of Jonathas and the three jewels in the Gesta Romanorum, of the emperor Frederick and the three precious stones in the Cento Novelle antiche, of the Mazin of Khorassan in the Thousand and One Nights, and the flying scaffold in the Bahar Danush, have all a certain similarity.
The 19th-century German journalist Joseph Görres wrote a lengthy essay about the source of the story of Fortunatus, suggesting a Nordic origin and a possible ancient source: the tale of Jonathan, son of Darius, in the Gesta Romanorum."Die teutschen Volksbücher". In: Görres, Joseph. Gesammelte Schriften. Band 3: Geistesgeschichtliche und literarische Schriften I (1803–1808). Köln: 1926. pp. 200-204.
The Brothers Grimm, in the annotations to their tales, suggested an Iberian or Spanish source for the Fortunatus tale, based on names such as Ampedo and Andolosia.Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Kinder Und Hausmärchen: Gesammelt Durch Die Brüder Grimm. 3. aufl. Göttingen: Dieterich, 1856. p. 205.
Author The author is not known; it has been suggested that he may have been Burkhard Zink (1396-1474/5), an Augsburg merchant, councillor, chronicler and traveller. His Augsburg chronicle covers the years 1368-1468 and comprises four books, of which the third, an autobiography, is considered the best, and he is praised for giving "Einblicke von seltener Eindringlichkeit in die Lebensrealität des SpätMA" ("outstandingly penetrating insights into the reality of life in the late Middle Ages");Citation from The Archives of the City of Augsburg, at:
. The most plausible suggestion to date is that Johannes Heybler – the publisher – was himself the author.
Versions
The earliest known edition of the German text of Fortunatus appeared at Augsburg in 1509, and the modern German investigators are disposed to regard this as the original form. Karl Simrock reproduced this version in his Deutsche Volksbücher (3 vols., Frankfort, 1846). In 1530 an edition was published entitled Fortunatus von seinem Seckel und Wunschhütlein. Innumerable versions occur in French, Italian, Dutch and English. The story was dramatized by Hans Sachs in 1553, and by Thomas DekkerHaldane, Michael. "The Date of Thomas Combe's "Fortunatus" and Its Relation to Thomas Dekker's "Old Fortunatus"." In: The Modern Language Review 101, no. 2 (2006): 313-324. doi:10.2307/20466785. in 1600, titled Old Fortunatus;Schlueter, June. "New Light on Dekker's "Fortunati"." Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England 26 (2013): 120-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24322743. and the latter's comedy appeared in a German translation in Englische Komodien und Tragodien, 1620. Ludwig Tieck has utilized the legend in his Phantasus, and Adelbert von Chamisso in his Peter Schlemihl; and Ludwig Uhland left an unfinished narrative poem entitled Fortunatus and his Sons.
19th-century theologue Johann Andreas Christian Löhr wrote an abridged and moralizing tale (German: "Fortunat mit seinem Säckel und Wünschhütlein"; English: "Fortunatus with his bag and wishing-cap"), using as basis the story of Fortunatus."Fortunat mit seinem Säckel und Wünschhütlein.". In: Johann Andreas Christian Löhr. Das Buch der Maehrchen für Kindheit und Jugend, nebst etzlichen Schnaken und Schnurren, anmuthig und lehrhaftig [1–]2. Band 1, Leipzig. [ca. 1819/20]. pp. 51-75.
An anonymous English compilation of French fairy tales written by Charles Perrault and Madame d'Aulnoy published the story as Fortunatus, or the Wishing Cap.[no authorship] The court of Oberon, or, Temple of the fairies: a collection of tales of past times. London: J. Harris and Son, corner of St. Paul's Church-Yard. 1823. pp. 230-249. A later publication renamed it Fortunatus and the Wishing Cap.Valentine, Laura. The Old, Old Fairy Tales. New York: Frederick Warner ed. 1890. pp. 238-252. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book as "Fortunatus and his Purse".Lang, Andrew. The Grey Fairy Book. New York: Longmans, Green. 1905. pp. 74-83.
A fairy tale compilation by English novelist Dinah Craik included the tale, under the name Fortunatus,Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock. The fairy book: the best popular fairy stories. London: Macmillan. 1913. pp. 97-107. following an 1818 publication by Benjamin Tabart, who included an homonymous tale.Tabart, Benjamin. Popular fairy tales: or, A liliputian library; containing twenty-six choice pieces of fancy and fiction, by those renowned personages King Oberon, Queen Mab, Mother Goose, Mother Bunch, Master Puck, and other distinguished personages at the court of the fairies. London: Published by Sir Richard Phillips and Co., Bride Court, Bridge Street. 1818. pp. 58-75. In the same vein, Ernest Rhys edited a collection of English fairy tales and included one version of tale, named Old Fortunatus after the English play.Rhys, Ernest (ed.). Fairy gold: a book of Old English fairy tales. London: J.M. Dent. 1906. pp. 113-124. A third English version exists, titled The History of Fortunatus.Scudder, Horace Elisha. The children's book: a collection of the best and most famous stories and poems in the English language. Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Mifflin. 1881. pp. 117-121.
Analysis Hero and donor In folkloristics, the gifting of a never-emptying purse by a magical being is part of a series of tales later classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as ATU 566, "The Three Magic Objects and the Wonderful Fruits".Thompson, Stith. The Folktale. University of California Press. 1977. pp. 73–74. . In several variants, the goddess of Fortune of the original tale is replaced by an old lady, a princess or other supernatural being.Thompson, Stith. "The Types of the Folktale". In: Folklore Fellows Communications (FFC) 184. pp. 207–208.
Scholarship points that the hero of the tale is sometimes an only child who is given the three objects, or one of three brothers or friends who are each given one of the items.Taggart, James. M. The Bear and His Sons: Masculinity in Spanish and Mexican Folktales. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1997. p. 94. . Folklorist Joseph Jacobs also noted that the protagonists of the story were "generally ... three soldiers, or often brothers, but more frequently casual comrades."Jacobs, Joseph (1916). European Folk and Fairy Tales. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 237.
Magic objects The tale is close to "The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn" (KHM 54 and ATU 569), where three brothers are given the magical objects.Kaden, Waldemar. Unter den Olivenbäumen. Süditalienische Volksmärchen. Leipzig: Brockhaus. 1880. pp. 257-258. In the same vein, scholarship points to some relationship between tale types ATU 563, "The Table, the Ass, and the Stick", ATU 566 and ATU 569,Chyet, Michael L.. ""Açil Sofram, Açil!" (Tischleindeckdich): A Comparative Study of Middle-Eastern Versions of AaTh 563". In: Fabula 28, no. Jahresband (1987): 90-92. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1987.28.1.90 a relationship already noticed by scholar Reinhold Köhler (de).Jacobs, Joseph (1916). European Folk and Fairy Tales. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 237.
Despite their proximity, these tales differ in that in the ATU 566 the adversary is a cunning princess who acquires the magical objects, but gets her just deserts with magical fruits that grow horns or other deformities when eaten.The Brother Grimm and folktale. edited by James M. McGlathery, with Larry W. Danielson, Ruth E. Lorbe, and Selma K, Richardson. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 1991 . pp. 150 and 162. . The usual deformities are horns, instead of the nose (as in Grimm's version).Grimm, Jacob & Grimm, Wilhelm; Taylor, Edgar; Cruikshank, George (illustrator). Grimm's Goblins: Grimm's Household Stories. London: R. Meek & Co.. 1877. p. 299."The motif of the nose ... does not appear as often ... as ... the motif of horns ...". Massignon, Genevieve. Folktales of France. University of Chicago Press. 1968. p. 287. In tale type ATU 563, the hero regains the magical objects by a third magical item, usually a stick.Jacobs, Joseph (1916). European Folk and Fairy Tales. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 237.