Papegøien
book by Henrik Wergeland
Papegøien (English: The Parrot) is a farce from 1835, written by Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland under the pseudonym "Siful Sifadda".
The farce was published by Johan Dahl's publishing house, and Dahl himself is immortalized through Wergeland's farce, where his course of life forms the basis for a wild parody.
Synopsis
Johan, a spoiled Danish brat, is punished on midsummer eve by his uncle, the "sensible" Tobias Güldenthal (proprietor of the Gyldendal bookstore in Copenhagen). Johan has been naughty, spanking his mother, being rude to people around him, and during his grounding in the garden, he effectively maims and kills a butterfly, a scarab beetle, and ribs the parrot resting nearby. After molesting a bed of flowers, the scent of the flowers drowse him, and he falls asleep. At this point the elves intervene, punishing Johan even more. As they protect nature and all living things, they decide to "borrow" Johan's soul, and put it into the dying parrot. From now on, he will live his life inside the parrot, as the "human condition" is too big for him. The elves wow to come for him if he doesn't better himself. Hence, Johan the parrot is afraid of elves.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Papegøien” as book by Henrik Wergeland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as book by Henrik Wergeland. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 30, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7132560. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1835.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Papegøien” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.