the blue blog archives: Heiko Zweilinks-Zweirechts

Germany has a very famous puppet theater in Augsburg that puts on productions for German television (every German kid - and adult! - knows these shows). The most well known production is Jim Knopf, which involves a little boy named Jim Button, a train named Emma and a king named King Alfonse the Quarter to Twelve-th. (When they were littler, the boys used to make us fast-forward and rewind this one constantly, skipping the story so they could just see the scenes where the little train drives around the island.)

Every year, Oma and Opa introduce the boys to another one of the Augsburger Puppenkiste productions and this year it was Fünf auf dem Apfelstern (Five on the Apple Star), where a strange group - consisting of a sailor, a porcelain doll, a russian nesting doll, a little chinese boy and a blowfish that always burps when anyone mentions food - find themselves on a planet that is essentially a giant apple (thus allowing for lots of burp-worthy conversation).

The sailor, who always wears a thick ribbed sweater and knitted cap, is named Heiko PurlTwo-KnitTwo. The rest of the story is totally weird, but that makes perfect sense to me.

posted by alison at 4:16 pm | in vacation 2006

Comments

Jim Knopf!!!!! Thanks for the reminder. Very nice tradition Oma and Opa have there with the boys.

Posted by: valentina at July 29, 2006 4:40 PM

What fun!

Posted by: Michelle at July 29, 2006 5:41 PM

Seriously, I love your knitting, but I love how you are such a great Mom. I can only hope that one day my husband and I can be such great parents! I show him your posts about the boys and we just love how cute they are. :)

Posted by: Lelah at July 29, 2006 7:32 PM

Boy, that puppet show sounds like pure silliness. I love silly, especially when children are involved!

Posted by: katie at July 29, 2006 7:45 PM

This makes me wonder if Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was adapted from Jim Knopf. They sound a little alike. It also sounds like you are having a great time. I miss Germany. Enjoy!

Posted by: Katherine at July 30, 2006 9:10 AM

I had the same thought about Mr. Rogers Neighborhood - the puppets, the train, the king, etc.

Are your boys growing up bilingual? What a great gift to give them! :-) My dad was raise in a home that spoke both English and French. Alas, I did not inherit his French fluency.

Posted by: Mary at July 30, 2006 11:21 AM

Hoho! How could you forget one of the importenst persons for Jim Knopf - the famous "lukas the lokomotivfÃ¼hrer " ;-)
When I was child I loved the TV Production - and in last year my husband bought a DVD with Jim Knopf. I love it when I hear the song "eine Insel mit zwei Bergen und im tiefen Tal....."

Barbara from Germany
(I love it how you describe Germany - and everything is really true :-)

Posted by: Barbara at July 30, 2006 11:27 PM

Barbara from Germany
(I love it how you describe Germany - and everything is really true :-)

Posted by: barbara at July 30, 2006 11:29 PM

Hey and Jim Knopf goes to Lummerland which is really similiar to the last name of my husband so he has a strong relationship to this play. I loved the Apfelstern Story when i was smaller and would enjoy if they show it again in tv, but there has been no rerun I know yet :/

Posted by: Sibylle at August 7, 2006 5:44 PM