The German reading room
Die Sterntaler — The Star Money
The Brothers 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 interactive library in German, Russian, Spanish, French and Italian, with word meanings and sentence translations — one subscription for all five rooms. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, on its editorial reference page.
Shorter and longer in the same room
Der süße Brei — 222 words, free Kannitverstan — 848 wordsRumpelstilzchen — 1004 words