True Friends | Tiger and Bear carry on

Photo: Janosch A long time ago, almost a quarter of a century ago, the Hamburg band Blumfeld sang a beautiful song: “Everything goes on.” It was a further development of an even older poem by the Hamburg writer Hubert Fichte. Blumfeld sang: "Everything goes on / time and its garden / the tree in front of the window / the hope and waiting (...) / the loneliness in the crowd / the happy hours / fantasies and plans / Planten un Blomen / ducks and swans ..." You would now have to add "Little Tiger and Little Bear", the most important hero from the children's books by Janosch, who was actually called Horst Eckert. Because the two of them will definitely carry on, even if their author died last Tuesday, he was 95 years old. Only very few literary characters manage to carry on in fantasy. "'Yes,' said the little bear, 'I am strong as a bear and you are strong as a tiger. That's enough,'" says the animated film of her best-known story, "Oh, how beautiful Panama is."

And once again, Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer was wrong when he announced: "With Horst Eckert, we are all losing a piece of childhood history." We haven't lost anything, because Little Tiger and Little Bear are carrying on. The trick is that they are not afraid and are very friendly, peaceful and cozy. Also because the author was regularly beaten up by his father. And anyone who has ever experienced that no longer wants to see or feel it. That's why the two of them move fearlessly through the landscape. The most famous quote is: “‘How good,’ said the little tiger, ‘to have a friend who can build a raft. Then you don't have to be afraid of anything.'"

They want to walk to Panama, but no one can tell them how to get there, so they walk in circles and are happy when they get home. It's also very nice on the sofa. Every day the Little Bear catches fish and the Little Tiger collects mushrooms in the forest. The Little Bear fries the fish with salt, pepper, lemon and onions – actually every day. Variant: Braised mushrooms. There is also water, which is called “goose wine” here. Only when Little Tiger is sick is he allowed to make a wish: trout with almond kernel sauce and breadcrumbs. But the ingredients are missing, so there is broth with parsley.

It is this casual laxity that characterizes the Janosch books; they are miles away from today's optimization of performance in kindergarten and primary school, where children are constantly supposed to learn something in order to outdo the others in a neoliberalist way. But tiger and bear are confident, solidarity-based buddies. Are they perhaps queer pioneers like Ernie and Bert? When the bear fishes, the tiger feels lonely. And the bear becomes jealous when the tiger hangs out with the Little Pig and even moves in with him. But they can solve this together. Yes, they are absolutely lovely. And Blumfeld sing: "Everything continues as before / time passes and yet stands still / the birds fly over the sea / and the wind blows wherever it wants."

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