Kniha obsahuje
štyri poviedky, ktoré sú prepojené postavou
Old Shatterhanda. Prvé dve z nich, Old
Cursing Guy a Blizard
majú spoločnú tému – nadávanie a
rúhanie, a k čomu môže človeka priviesť. Muž s prezývkou Old
Cursing Guy naozaj robí „česť“ svojmu menu, keď jeho reči
Old Shatterhand ako rozprávač príbehu ani nereprodukuje celé, iba
s vybodkovanými časťami. Old Cursing Guy okrem
toho stále opakuje, „nech
na mieste oslepnem a nech zdochnem, ak ...“.
Dvojica z druhej poviedky má tiež podobné obľúbené výrazy.
Všetci títo sú vinní z vraždy a udalosti sa v oboch prípadoch
vyvinú tak, že Winnetou v jednej poviedke skonštatuje: „Súd
prérie ho odsúdil, no veľký Manitou vyniesol nad ním ešte
spravodlivejší ortieľ.Tomuto rúhavému šialencovi sa splnilo
presne to, čo si sám žiadal od Veľkého Ducha. Winnetou, náčelník
Apačov, videl a zažil už všeličo, čo iní nemohli zhliadnuť,
no pred týmto rozsudkom mu behá po chrbte mráz.“ Old
Shatterhand po rokoch stretáva vrahov,
ktorí napokon neboli odsúdení, ale, ako
vraví, „ich
terajšia situácia bola rozhodne útrpnejšia ako smrť“.
Dočkáme sa však aj konca, pri ktorom Winnetou Old Shatterhandovi
povie: „Predsa
sa teda splnila vôľa môjho bieleho brata: duša tohto muža našla
cestu k veľkému, dobrotivému Manitouovi. Jeho telo nech však aj s
telom odpočíva v zemi, až kým sa v ten večný, jasný deň znova
nenavráti doň duša. Howgh! “
Tretia
poviedka, Both Shatters,
sa medzi ostatné nehodí. O hlavnom hrdinovi sa explicitne nepovie,
že je to Old Shatterhand, ale z faktov ako jeho slávna puška a kôň
darovaný od Winnetoua usúdime, že je to on. Nevadilo by až tak,
že popisované okolnosti stretnutia s Winnetouom sú iné, ako sú
nám známe, alebo že nám nesedia informácie o Winnetouovej
sestre. To, že najskôr Old Shatterhand vysvetľuje, ako jeho
fowling-piece
vystrelí na jedno nabitie dvadsaťpäť nábojov a potom pri
príprave stratégie sú to už len dva – to patrí do zbierky
chýb, aké sa spisujú pri knihách alebo pri filmoch bez toho, aby
to človeku prekážalo. Ale že sa Old Shatterhnd pustí do boja bez
zisťovania, čo sa deje, že sa bez problémov pridá k ľuďom,
ktorí sú známi svojou nenávisťou k Indiánom a spolu s nimi ich
zabíja, … :-(
V
poslednej poviedke s názvom Synovia
Upsarokov však už máme znovu dvojicu
Winnetou – Old Shatterhand tak, ako ju poznáme. Ich pomoc teraz
potrebuje Uinorinča ota, squaw náčelníka Upsarokov, aby
zachránila svojich synov. Nevydrží však nečinne čakať, sama
sa pritom dostane do zajatia a Folder, ďalší z ľudí
nenávidiacich Indiánov, ju chce spolu s jej synmi zabiť,
a to zvlásť ohavným spôsobom. Winnetou a Old Shatterhand
zasiahnu, ale ešte predtým spraví Uinorinča ota takú vec, pre
ktorú Old Shatterhand uzavrie svoje rozprávanie slovami: „Dodnes,
vždy keď príde reč na materinskú lásku, myslím na Uinorinča
Otu, Indiánku z rodu Upsarokov.“
The book
contains four short stories that are linked
by a character of Old Shatterhand. The first two of them, Old
Cursing Guy and Blizzard, have a common theme - cursing
and swearing, and where they may lead. The man nicknamed Old Cursing
Guy really makes a "honor" to his name when Old
Shatterhand, as a storyteller, does not reproduce his whole speech
but only with dotted parts. Old Cursing Guy, moreover, always
repeats, "I shall get blind and
perish...". Two people from the second short story
have a similar favourite expressions. All of them are guilty of a
murder and in both cases the events develop in such a way that
Winnetou in one short story notes: ”The
prairie court sentenced him but great Manitou passed even more just
verdict. To this blasphemous madman happened exactly what he himself
asked from the Great Spirit. Winnetou, chief of the Apaches has seen
and experienced a lot of things which others could not see, but this
verdict makes his blood run cold.” Old Shatterhand after
some years encounters murderers who ultimately weren't sentenced,
but, as he says, “their current situation
was no doubt more suffering than death.” However, we
will see an end, in which Winnetou says to Old Shatterhand, “Yet
the will of my white brother has been fulfilled: this man's soul
found its way to the great, gracious Manitou. Let his body, together
with the body of his son, rests in the ground, until on the eternal,
bright day the soul returns back into it. Howgh!”
The third story,
Both Shatters, doesn't fit among the others. It is not
explicitly said that the main character is Old Shatterhand, but from
the fact like his famous rifle and horse gifted by Winnetou we deduce
it's him. It wouldn't matter that much that the described
circumstances of meeting with Winnetou are other than we know them,
or that the information about Winnetou's sister doesn't fit. That Old
Shatterhand firstly explains that his fowling-piece shoots
twenty-five bullets on a single charge and then, when preparing a
strategy, it's only two – that belongs to a list of mistakes which
are compiled for books or films without bothering/ But that Old
Shatterhands enters a fight without finding out what is going on,
that without a problem he joins people who are known for hatred to
Native Americans and together with them he kills them... :-(
In the last
story, entitled Sons of the Upsarokas, we once again have
Winnetou – Old Shatterhand as we know them. It is Uinorincha ota,
squaw of the chief of the Upsarokas, who needs their help in saving
her sons. However, she is not able to wait without doing anything,
she gets captured and Folder, another enemy of the Native Americans,
want to kill her together with her sons in a particularly nasty way.
Winnetou and Old Shatterhand intervene, but before that Uinorincha
ota does a thing, for which Old Shatterhand closes his narration with
the words: “Up to now, when the discussion
come to motherly love, I always think of Uinorincha ota, a Native
American from the tribe of Upsarokas.“
