Language through Literature

Die Sterntaler — The Star Money


Brüder Grimm, 1857 · 298 words in German · part of the library.

How long «Die Sterntaler» is, and how hard

Length in German 298 running words · 11 sentences · about 1 printed page
Time to read about 3 minutes at a learner's pace, with the glosses to hand
Different words 126 dictionary words, averaging 27.1 words a sentence
Words glossed 126 of 126 — every one that appears in the tale
Words that appear once 74 — 59%. A word met once is a word you will not learn from this text alone
Where it stands 2 of 8 by length in the German room

112 of this tale's own 126 words, most frequent first, carry 95% of it; 67 carry 80%.

How it begins

Es war einmal ein kleines Mädchen, dem war Vater und Mutter gestorben, und es war so arm, daß es kein Kämmerchen mehr hatte darin zu wohnen und kein Bettchen mehr darin zu schlafen und endlich gar nichts mehr als die Kleider auf dem Leib und ein Stückchen Brot in der Hand, das ihm ein mitleidiges Herz geschenkt hatte.

There was once a little girl whose father and mother had died, and she was so poor that she no longer had a little room to live in, nor a little bed to sleep in, and at last nothing at all any more but the clothes on her body and a little piece of bread in her hand, which some compassionate soul had given her.

That first sentence is the free sample, and the only one: «Die Sterntaler» is part of the library — the eight German tales and the fifteen Russian books, every word glossed, sentence-by-sentence English — for €5 a month or €39 a year, cancel whenever you like, one subscription for both shelves. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, if you would rather taste the room first.

Shorter and longer in the same room

Der süße Brei — 222 words, free Kannitverstan — 847 wordsRumpelstilzchen — 1003 words

All eight German tales · the fifteen Russian ones