Mutter und Kind. Ein Gedicht in sieben Gesängen

Mutter und Kind. Ein Gedicht in sieben Gesängen, an epic idyll (see Idylle) by F. Hebbel, published in 1859. In 1857, when the work was still in MS., it received the Tiedge prize (see Tiedge, C. A.) established by the Tiedge-Stiftung for a worthy successor of Goethe's Hermann und Dorothea. Not unlike the latter, it has a contemporary background and serves a didactic purpose. Its original setting, Gmunden near Vienna, was transposed to a less specific place of action in the Harz mountains before its publication.

A well-to-do merchant and his wife decide to adopt a child to end the misery of their childless marriage. Their maid, Magdalena, loves Christian, a man of her own class, but poverty prevents them from marrying. The merchant enables the couple to marry on condition that he and his wife adopt their firstborn. Magdalena, having given birth to a son, cannot face the parting and runs away with the baby. Christian finds and understands her. Their common feeling of parental love and duty proves stronger than the contract with their benefactors, and they go into hiding. In the end the merchant and his wife face the situation with magnanimity and indeed repentance, and succeed in finding and helping the fugitives.