The Adventurous Simplicissimus · Chapter
VI: Is So Short and So Prayerful That Simplicissimus Thereupon Swoons Away explained
Simplicissimus, hiding in a hollow tree, hears a voice praying fervently.
What happens
Simplicissimus, hiding in a hollow tree, hears a voice praying fervently. He emerges to find a gaunt, ragged hermit clutching a crucifix, whom he mistakes for a wolf. Terrified, Simplicissimus plays his bagpipe to scare the figure away, but the hermit, initially startled, advances toward him, causing Simplicissimus to faint.
Themes in this chapter
Innocence and Experience
Simplicissimus's naive terror and ignorance of prayer contrast with the hermit's devout spirituality, highlighting the clash between innocence and religious experience.
Religion and Morality
The hermit's fervent prayer and crucifix symbolize Christian devotion, while Simplicissimus's bagpipe and fear represent a superstitious, uncomprehending response to faith.
Characters to notice
- Simplicissimus
Emerges from hiding after hearing the hermit's prayers, mistakes him for a wolf, and faints from fear.
- The Hermit
First appearance: a gaunt, ragged man with a crucifix, praying fervently; initially startled by Simplicissimus's bagpipe.
Key passages
“But hardly had I composed myself to sleep when I heard a voice that cried aloud, “O wondrous love towards us thankless mortals! O mine only comfort, my hope, my riches, my God!””
Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a voice exclaiming about God's love and calling Him their only comfort and hope.
Simplicissimus hears the hermit's prayer, which he cannot understand.
“So I plucked up heart to come out of my hollow tree and to draw nigh to the voice I had heard, where I was ware of a tall man with long greyish hair which fell in confusion over his shoulders: a tangled beard he had shapen like to a Swiss cheese; his face yellow and thin yet kindly enough, and his long gown made up of more than a thousand pieces of cloth of all sorts sewn together one upon another.”
I gathered my courage and left the hollow tree to approach the voice, and saw a tall man with messy grey hair, a tangled beard, a thin yellow face, and a patched gown made of many different fabrics.
Simplicissimus describes the hermit's ragged appearance.
“So I could fancy nought else but that this old grey man must be the Wolf of whom my dad had of late told me: and in my fear I whipped out my bagpipe, which, as mine only treasure, I had saved from the troopers, and blowing up the sack, tuned up and made a mighty noise to drive away that same grisly wolf.”
I thought the old man was the wolf my father had warned me about, so I pulled out my bagpipe and played loudly to scare him away.
Simplicissimus mistakes the hermit for a wolf and uses his bagpipe as a defense.
“But presently recovering himself, he mocked at me as his tempter in the hollow tree, whither I had retired myself: nay, plucked up such heart that he advanced upon me to defy the enemy of mankind.”
After recovering from his surprise, the hermit mocked me as a tempter and bravely advanced toward me to confront what he thought was the devil.
The hermit mistakes Simplicissimus for a demonic tempter.