The first Karl May Quiz

Answer: 25 February 1842

He was born in a town called Ernstthal in Saxony, Germany. This town is now called Hohenstein-Ernstthal. The house in which he was born is now the Karl-May-Museum, and it is open to the public. On 30 March 1912 Karl May died in Radebeul.

Answer: blindness

He was blind until he was four years old. It was probably caused by malnutrition.

Answer: Apache

Winnetou is accepted by most tribes as a leader, because he is very noble and he always helps the good guys. He is very skilled at shooting, fighting, riding, etc.

Answer: Karl May

Karl May claimed that he really was Old Shatterhand and had actually done all the things he talked about in his books. Sam Hawkens, Will Parker and Dick Stone are all characters from Karl May`s books.

Answer: Mahedsch of Mossul

"Hadschi" indicates that a muslim has been on the Hadsch (a religious pilgrimage to Mekka). "Ben" means that he is the son of somebody, and "Ibn" means he is the grandson of somebody. So his name means: Hadschi Halef Omar, son of Hadschi Abul Abbas, grandson of Hadschi Dawud al Gossarah. For obvious reasons he is just called Halef (he loves to say his full name though!).

The Mahedsch of Mossul is the bad guy in one of the books.

Answer: They are the same person

They are both alter egos of Karl May, and as I mentioned before, Karl May claimed that everything he wrote about was true!

Answer: True

Her name was Nscho-Tschi (Beautiful Day), but she gets killed (along with her father). Winnetou and Old Shatterhand chase the murderer until they can catch and punish him. It takes them three books to do so! During the chase they have heaps of other adventures, too, so don`t worry: it doesn`t get boring.

Answer: Iltschi

Intschu-tschuna is the name of Winnetou`s father. Rih is Kara Ben Nemsi`s horse. Hatatitla (Thunder) is Old Shatterhand`s horse. Iltschi means "Wind" in the Apache language. (Well, at least that´s what Karl May says. He gives lots of translations of names or sentences in various languages.

But actually I doubt that he is using the real languages. Does anybody know where he got the names/ sentences from? Did he have reliable sources or did he just make them up? Please let me know! Thanks!)

Answer: Yes

In fact he was in jail several times (usually for burglary). It is very likely that he created Winnetou and Old Shatterhand while he was in jail.

Answer: twice

His first marriage was with Emma Pollmer (1880). A couple of weeks after their divorce (1903), he married his neighbour and friend Klara Plöhn, who had been a widow for two years.

Answer: 1908

He wrote most of his books before he ever left Europe. He went to the Arabic region for the first time in 1899 and to the USA in 1908. Nevertheless he was able to give detailed discriptions about those (and other) regions. He had good resources and a very vivid imagination.

Answer: Pierre Brice

Even today Pierre Brice is mainly known for this role. The movies were shot in the 1960s in Germany and Yugoslavia. Old Shatterhand and Kara Ben Nemsi were both portrayed by Lex Barker - which makes sense, since they are the same person. (By the way: I know that Van Damme is not French!)

Answer: He can knock out a man with just one hit

Old Shatterhand is a very religious and peaceful man. He only kills his enemies if he really has to. Usually he just knocks them out with his fist (remember: the books are fiction!), ties them up and then thinks of a way to punish them.

Answer: No

In the second "Winnetou" book we are told that he once was in love with a girl, but she ended up marrying Old Firehand. However, in the movie "Winnetou 2", he does marry the girl, but she gets killed at the end of the movie. When you know both - the books and the movies - you will notice that the directors changed many things.

Answer: Australia

There are a number of books that take place in Germany (mainly in Karl May`s home region Saxony). Other locations include Arabia, Egypt,China and South America. Thanks for taking my quiz. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have never read a Karl May book before, then go ahead and do so!