Der weisse Büffel, oder, Von der grossen Gerechtigkeit
By: Ernst Wiechert
Series: Harvard College Library preservation microfilm program 2002 -- 08953
Publisher: K. Desch
Published: 1946
Place of publication: München
Language: ger
Number of pages: 109
Subjects: Resistance to Government; Religious aspects; Christianity; Fiction; Denial of justice; Civil disobedience; German Short stories; Underground literature
Other titles: Weisse Büffel; Von der grossen Gerechtigkeit; Weisse Büffel, oder, Von der grossen Gerechtigkeit
Description: This anti-Nazi parable is set in an antique Indian village that is overrun by Aryan militants. The young man Vasudeva becomes a sort of guerrilla dissident and tries to kill one of the invaders, but his mother returns him to a life of peace and prayer. When the warriors kill a poor farmer's buffalo, Vasudeva and his mother travel to demand justice from King Murduk. They refuse to worship an idolatrous statue of the ruler and are cast into jail. However, in discourses with the king on the subjects of justice, law and violence, Vasudeva enlightens him on the necessary limitations of power. Vasudeva and his mother are martyred, burned at the stake; but Murduk is converted and sends one hundred white buffaloes to the farmer. Wiechert wrote the story in 1937 but could not publish it until 1946.