Three Brothers. A Folktale

There were three brothers on an Alpine farm who spoke three different languages and could never understand each other. The eldest was called Franz, the only one raised with their father Hans, who had been mayor of the county in the time of Kaiser Franz Joseph. Franz ate sausages at midnight, drank Tyrolean beer, and understood only German. He had inherited the farm from his grandfather and managed it together with his two younger brothers: Zan, the middle child, who had been raised by their maternal grandmother — a refugee who had fled to a Trentino mountain farm during the Great War — and knew only the dialect of the mountain folk; and Beppino, the youngest, who had studied with the priests in Trento and couldn’t understand a word of German or dialect, but spoke perfect Italian. In practice, the three brothers could only communicate through gestures.

You can imagine the misunderstandings, the confusion! Once Franz had suggested to his youngest brother, in an authoritative tone, that he follow a certain piece of advice, which sounded in his language something like: “Befolgen Sie meinen Rat” “You’re the yokel and the rat!” the other had replied, and they had traded blows for a couple of hours, cursing each other blue, each in his own tongue.

Another time Beppino had told his elder brother that he would call on him later, saying: “Passo dopo” [I’ll pass by later], but Franz…