Kaiser Karl-An Oral Story

I wanted to share a short oral story that my dad often repeats and that his grandmother, who came to the United States from Germany in the late 1800s, taught him.  I thought it was fitting to do a post on the saying during a month when many celebrate Oktoberfest and spend more time appreciating German culture in the United States.  It is in Low German or Plattdeutsch and I share it as he repeats it.  This dialect or language has several other names in the Netherlands and Germany and has been considered a dialect by many since it remains unwritten. Since this is an informal blog, I will not delve into the linguistic and also long history of which I am barely scratching the surface. 

Although a colleague was able to find out about the saying in Germany through his personal experiences and on the Internet, I could not find anything about it specifically, but did find a website that attempts to translate to Low German and vice versa on the Internet here in the US.  I tried to match up the translation, but there were a few words for which I could not find a match.  It is a challenge on how to spell words, so they are not exact due to the oral language aspect.  However, others in the US and abroad who are familiar with the riddle may recognize it too.

The saying goes as follows:

Low German

Pas uup! Da ist a vood ich sayc.  Kaiser Karl hat en Hund.  De is vit un oak swat bundt.  Vo hat Kaiser Karl seen Hund?  

(Answer):  Dey hat von Pas Uup!                                     

English

Look out!  The first word I say.  Kaiser Karl has a dog.  He is white and also black striped.  What is Kaiser Karl's dog's name?  

(Answer):  His name is Look Out!

            A colleague in Germany, Stefan Zeidenitz, German Language and Culture Instructor, did some research on the saying and concluded that it is a very old German saying or riddle that likely originated in northern Germany or was particularly popular there.  It was especially told to small children in diverse variations, but all hinting at the dog´s name in a deflecting context.  He found a slightly different version where Kaiser Karl (emperor Charles) gave his dog a name in his own language.  He used the word, ‘Thus’ which the emperor called his dog.  So what was the dog´s name? (answer: "Thus")  He found that the riddle may also be an allusion to what is said about German emperor Charles V. (1500-1558) in that he allegedly communicated in Italian with the ladies, French with the gentlemen, and German with his dogs.

            So, all in all, it was interesting to do some research on this saying and its possible connection to Charles V of Germany.  It has lasted several generations in the United States despite that the use of Low German is decreasing.  By posting this, I hope to save a little bit of German heritage and a piece of diverse linguistic history in the United States.