Atta Troll

In Short

Heinrich Heine's Atta Troll is a satiric narrative poem that parodies political extremism, social levelling, and the excesses of German Romanticism. Set in the Pyrenees, the story follows Atta Troll, a bear who breaks free from his human captor and flees to his cave, where he delivers fiery, pomposity-filled lectures against human tyranny and in favor of absolute equality. Horrified by the bear's anti-human demagoguery, a traveling poet joins forces with a pale, ghostly hunter named Lascaro. Together they track the fugitive bear, culminating in Atta Troll's death and a trenchant mocking of revolutionary posturing.

The Story

The tale opens in the Spanish mountain valley of Cauterets, where an old soldier-turned-showman forces two dancing bears—Atta Troll and his mate Mumma—to perform for a laughing crowd of tourists and locals. While Mumma dances with shameful levity, Atta Troll performs with a sullen, stiff gravity, harboring deep rage at his humiliation. Seeing his opportunity, Atta Troll snaps his chains and escapes into the wilderness, returning to his native Pyrenean peaks.

Deep within a remote cavern, Atta Troll reunites with his offspring. Safe in his lair, he gives free rein to his bitter grievances against humanity. He delivers lengthy, radical sermons to his cubs, denouncing human privilege and calling for a universal beast revolution. In Atta Troll's ideal world, strict equality will reign: lions will haul corn to the mill, asses will serve as Prime Ministers, and private property will be utterly abolished. He pairs his egalitarian political philosophy with an intense hatred of human laughter, which he views as the ultimate insult to the dignity of animals.

The narrator, a exiled German poet traveling through the region, finds Atta Troll's animal-rights ideology to be an intolerable insult to the majesty of humanity. He resolves to track down and kill the rebellious beast. To execute the hunt, the poet partners with Lascaro, a strangely mute, deathly pale hunter who functions almost like an automaton. Lascaro is kept artificially alive by his mother, the mountain witch Uraka, who nightly rubs his body with a magical salve made from fat.

The pursuit leads the hunters through eerie, misty alpine passes and into Uraka's foul-smelling shack, where the witch and her son cast magic bullets designed to strike the bear down. While staying at the hut, the poet witnesses surreal supernatural occurrences, including the passing of the Wild Hunt on Saint John's Eve, featuring spectral figures, fairy queens, and historical ghosts.

Despite these otherworldly distractions, the hunt proceeds. Guided by the witch’s dark arts and using the enchanted bullets, Lascaro tracks Atta Troll to his cavern. Atta Troll is lured out and shot dead. The town celebrates the fall of the notorious monster with a grand parade, hailing Lascaro as a local hero. The flayed skin of the revolutionary bear is auctioned off to a furrier, mounted on bright scarlet cloth, and ultimately ends up serving as a bedroom rug for the poet's own mistress in Paris. Meanwhile, Atta Troll's mate Mumma finds a comfortable, permanent home in the Jardin des Plantes, living out her days contentedly among Paris's exotic animals.

How It Unfolds

The break for freedom At a public square in Cauterets, the captive bear Atta Troll performs his forced dance before a crowd of laughing spectaors. Seized by memories of his lost mountain home and hatred of his captors, he snaps his bonds and flees into the wilderness.

Sermons in the cavern Safely hidden in his mountain cave, Atta Troll gathers his young cubs around him. He rails against the tyranny of man, preaching a radical political program of total equality among beasts and demanding the utter destruction of human privilege.

The hunt is joined Disturbed by the bear's anti-human doctrines, the narrator resolves to hunt him down. He joins forces with Lascaro, a spectral, barely living hunter who relies on his mother's magical salves to maintain his unnatural existence.

Night at the witch's shack The hunters reach the cliffside dwelling of Uraka, Lascaro's witch mother. Amidst stinking herbs and stuffed birds, Uraka and her son cast enchanted lead bullets while the narrator witnesses the ghostly procession of the Wild Hunt.

The downfall of the forest king Using Uraka's magic shot, Lascaro ambushes Atta Troll near his cave and slays him. The dead bear is carried in triumph to the town hall, where local officials deliver pompous speeches praising the heroic deed.

Aftermath in Paris Atta Troll is flayed and his pelt is sold at auction, eventually becoming a bedside rug for the poet's lover in Paris. His mate, Mumma, is relocated to a Parisian zoo, where she lives happily without her moralizing husband.

The People

• Atta Troll: An escaped dancing bear who considers himself the "Forest King." Pompous, self-righteous, and intensely vain about his dancing ability, he harbors a fiery hatred for human beings. He preaches a radical doctrine of strict egalitarianism among beasts, dreaming of a world where asses become Prime Ministers, only to be slain and turned into a rug.
• The Narrator: A sensitive, ironic German poet living in exile. He loves beauty, romance, and the majesty of humanity, which makes him deeply repulsed by Atta Troll's levelling political doctrines. He joins the hunt to defend human dignity against the bear's absurd egalitarian radicalism.
• Lascaro: A tall, deathly pale, and mostly silent hunter who accompanies the narrator. More dead than alive, he functions like a cold automaton whose only purpose is to carry out the chase without losing what little vitality he has left.
• Uraka: An old mountain witch and dealer in dried herbs and stuffed birds. She is Lascaro's mother, keeping her son in a state of artificial life by salving his body every night with magic fat and casting the fateful magic bullets used to kill Atta Troll.
• Mumma: Atta Troll's dusky, free-spirited bear mate. Unlike her grave husband, she dances shamelessly, lacks moralistic airs, and easily moves on after his death, enjoying a comfortable life in a Paris zoo.

In Its Own Voice

"Strict equality! Each ass May become Prime Minister, On the other hand the lion Shall bear corn unto the mill."

Atta Troll outlines his vision of absolute egalitarianism to his listening cubs inside their mountain cave.

"Germany, my dears," I spoke, "Is my native country's name-- Bears are all too common there, So I took to hunting bears!"

The narrator explains his background and purpose to a cluster of mountain children playing in a village square.

Oh, how many nights I've stood Barefoot on the earthly husk Of my hero great and true, On the hide of Atta Troll!

The poet reflects ironically on the ultimate fate of the revolutionary bear, whose skin now rests beside his lover's bed.

What It's Really About

Beneath its whimsical surface of dancing bears and enchanted hunts, Atta Troll is a razor-sharp satire targeting political fanaticism, radical levelling, and the intellectual trends of 1840s Europe. Heine uses Atta Troll’s pompous speeches to mock the heavy-handed, moralizing rhetoric of contemporary political agitators who demand absolute equality at the expense of art, individual excellence, and nuance. The bear's insistence that dancing must strictly serve a moral purpose directly parodies the push to turn literature and art into mere tools for political propaganda. At the same time, the poem gentle-mockingly bids farewell to early Romanticism, surrounding its sharp political critiques with traditional romantic motifs—moonlight, witches, castles, and fairy queens—only to puncture them with witty, modern irony.

Why Read It Today

Atta Troll remains a delightfully acid satire for anyone who appreciates political wit, romantic imagery, and dark comedy. Heine writes with a sparkling, agile lightness that makes even his sharpest polemic read like a playful woodland romp. The poem's central target—the absurdities of self-righteous political demagogues who take themselves far too seriously—feels remarkably fresh and modern.

Readers should be prepared for a work deeply rooted in mid-nineteenth-century European contexts. The text abounds with references to contemporary German poets, obscure theologians, French political events, and localized political debates over sugar beets and constitutional monarchies. Its heavy reliance on period satire and deliberately disjointed narrative structure may occasionally confuse those unfamiliar with the era, though the underlying humor easily cuts through the historical distance.

Ultimately, what stays with the reader is Heine's remarkable ability to pair genuine lyric beauty with unsparing mockery. It is a brilliant, irreverent work that celebrates the freedom of poetry while mercilessly puncturing the pretensions of zealots, making it a rewarding read for lovers of classic European satire.