Excerpt from A Comparison of G. Hauptmann's "Der Biberpelz" And H. V. Kleist's "Der Zubrochene Krug" Turning now from this brief general survey of Hauptmann's works we undertake a somewhat more detai ed study of one of hi earlier dramas, Der Biberpelz, and of its relations to Heinrich von Kleist's comedy, her Zerbrochene Krug. The plot of Der Hiber pels is briefly as follows: The action is the repetition of two thefts, the thief in both cases being a washerwoman, Frau Wolff, and the person robbed a wealthy man of the village, a certain Herr Kruger. The first thing stolen is a cord of wood. Frau Wolff'hears of this wood through her daughter, Leontine, who was Herr Kruger's servant, but who has left him because he commended her to carry this wood into the sheds. Kruger, when he finds that the wood 1 stolen, reports the theft to the town Judge, von Wehrhahn, and tells the Judge that since the servant neglected carrying in the wood, her parents will have to pay for it. Frau Wolff is summoned and told that her daughter must return to Kruger's service. But she invents a falsehood, saying that her husband does not wish heontine to work any more, and also tells the Judge that she knows nothing of the wood since she was at Trepow the night it was stolen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.