Household Tales · Chapter
Herr Korbes explained
A cock and a hen build a carriage and set off for the house of Herr Korbes, picking up a cat, millstone, egg, duck, pin, and needle along the way.
What happens
A cock and a hen build a carriage and set off for the house of Herr Korbes, picking up a cat, millstone, egg, duck, pin, and needle along the way. When they arrive, Herr Korbes is absent, and each object hides in a specific spot. Upon his return, the objects attack him one by one, culminating in the millstone falling on him and killing him, suggesting he was a wicked man.
Themes in this chapter
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
Herr Korbes, implied to be wicked, is punished by the collective action of the objects and animals.
Characters to notice
- Herr Korbes
The antagonist who is killed by the objects' coordinated attack.
Key passages
“Herr Korbes must have been a very wicked man!”
The narrator concludes that Herr Korbes deserved his fate due to his evil nature.
This moralizing statement frames the entire story as a punishment for wickedness.