Line #5 Literature/EnselUndKrete


1	-> '''"Horr! Horr!"'''
2	-->-- ''Boris Boris MadnessMantra''
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4	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ensel_und_krete_cover.jpg]]
5	[[caption-width-right:240:Heimweh nach Zamonien?[[note]]Feeling homesick for Zamonia?[[/note]] ]]
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7	''Ensel und Krete'' by Walter Moers is the second book in the Zamonia saga and [[NoExportForYou sadly not released outside of Germany]], and a pastiche on the classic German fairy tale of ''[[Literature/HanselAndGretel Hänsel und Grete]]''.
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9	The story follows two young ''Fernhachens'', a race of ever-cheerful Zamonian people, as they venture into the newly-open-for-tourists Great Forest and come across [[FantasyKitchenSink all kinds]] of weird creatures, some friendly, some [[AlwaysChaoticEvil not so much]].
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11	The story is told by ''Hildegunst von Mythenmetz'' (known in English as Optimus Yarnspinner), who was in mentioned in ''Literature/TheThirteenAndAHalfLivesOfCaptainBluebear'' and then became the protagonist in ''Literature/TheCityOfDreamingBooks''. As usual, Creator/WalterMoers is [[DirectLineToTheAuthor just translating into German]].
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13	On occasion, whether it's appropriate to the story [[CueCardPause or not]], Mythenmetz will chime in and stop the story dead in it's tracks to go ahead and just kind of talk about whatever he feels like. He calls these ''Mythenmetz'sche Abschweifungen''.
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15	!!The Great Forest is just filled with all of these tropes:
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17	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The troglotroll makes a come-back.
18	* ArcWords: '''Hexen stehen immer zwischen Birken!'''[[note]]You can always find witches between birch trees.[[/note]]
19	* AuthorFilibuster: The ''Mythenmetz'sche Abschweifungen''. Taken to it's logical extreme when he fills an entire page with nothing but Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli on repeat.
20	* AuthorTract: InUniverse, Mythenmetz rants about the Zamonian education system.
21	* AxCrazy: Boris Boris, who likes to carry one around, just in case.
22	* BackFromTheDead: The Spiderwitch.
23	* BigBad: The Spiderwitch, who's BackFromTheDead.
24	* BigBrotherInstinct: Ensel is very protective of Krete and tries to keep a positive outlook the entire time (moreso than Fernhachens usually do).
25	* BigDamnHeroes: Boris Boris.
26	* BizarreAlienBiology: The Sternenstauner.
27	* BodyHorror: The witch's garden, where she turns the souls of those she killed into horrifying plant-animal-hybrids.
28	* BreakingTheFourthWall: So much that we are approaching there being NoFourthWall.
29	* CausticCritic: Laptantidel Latuda, if Mythenmetz is to be believed.
30	* ChekhovsGun: A whole bunch are set up in the first ''Mythenmetz'sche Abschweifung'' although only [[ItMakesSenseInContext the drawer full of raisins]] is fired.
31	** Also Boris Boris.
32	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Oh yes, that's the Troglotroll!
33	* CompleteImmortality: The Sternenstauner, although they bemoan the fact that they can't enjoy their immortality, as they are stuck to the ground and are suffering from TheFogOfAges and they may never know if they won't die someday anyway.
34	* CountingToPotato: Fernhachens count only in Zamonian mathematics which is based on the numbers one, two, three, four and then just continually doubling four (meaning 4, 8, 16, …).
35	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Boris Boris.
36	* TheCynic: A professor from the University of Gralsund named [[MeaningfulName Humri Schiggsall]] has invented a new kind of super-pessimism based on a glass of water The argument goes as follows:
37	--> Although this glass is now full, it will be empty once I drink it. That is depressing. If I don't drink it the water will evaporate. That is even more depressing.
38	** Once a student recommended just enjoying the moment, so Schiggsall replied that he was thirsty and threw the glass at the student who then had to be brought to the hospital.
39	* TheDitz: Boris Boris, who tried to eat the mushrooms linked to [[Literature/TheThirteenAndAHalfLivesOfCaptainBluebear the Spiderwitch]] after which he went mad.
40	* FantasticRacism: Mythenmetz voices his disdain about Zamonia issuing a general warning towards all species of witches.
41	* FantasticSlurs: ''Du kannst mir mal die Schere spülen!''[[note]]Go ahead and rinse my scissors![[/note]]
42	* TheFogOfAges: The Sternenstauner are suffering from this, which is one of the reasons they aren't exactly happy with being immortal.
43	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Once the Spiderwitch is defeated, Boris remarks that there might be who-knows-what lurking underneath the Zamonian surface. This is explored in the next book, Literature/RumoAndHisMiraculousAdventures.
44	* ImmediateSequel: Played with. From our perspective it could take place immediately after the end of Bluebear's tale, but InUniverse who knows when Mythenmetz wrote it.
45	* ImmortalityImmorality: The Sternenstauner, who request of Ensel and Krete that they sacrifice themselves to the Spiderwitch.
46	* MetaFiction: Oh boy.
47	* OverlyLongGag: Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli Brummli.
48	* PetTheDog: For ''once'', the troglotroll does a genuinely good thing when he helps Krete pull Ensel out of the meteor lake. He immediately goes back to his usual self afterwards, but still, for him, that's quite an achievement.
49	* RhymesOnADime: Mythenmetz feels very irritated about the firemen of the Great Forest being required to sing a four-line song on repeat, with what he feels are very poor rhymes.
50	** Mythenmetz also has a drawer full of green tea, which apparently makes him rhyme uncontrollably.
51	* ShoutOut: To many classic German Fairy Tales.
52	* SoulEating: The Spiderwitch.
53	* WouldHurtAChild: The Spiderwitch. Not only would she do it, she actively enjoys sucking up a children's souls more than any other.
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Context Literature / EnselUndKrete