Daydreams at French chimneys

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Dreams at French chimneys is a collection of fairy tales by the German surgeon and writer Richard von Volkmann ( pseudonym as writer: Richard Leander; today: Richard von Volkmann-Leander ). The collection consists of 22 art fairy tales that the author wrote for his family during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 during the months of the siege of Paris . The fairy tales reached his wife and children piece by piece in the field post in Halle.

When von Volkmann-Leander returned from the war, the individually written down and sent home stories had grown into a small collection of fairy tales, which the author published as a book in 1871 ( Breitkopf & Härtel Verlag , Leipzig ) and dedicated to his wife Anne. While other writings by the author such as drinking and love songs, occasional poems or post-poems have been forgotten, the “Reveries at French Chimneys” are published and read to this day, and the fairy tale collection has more than 300 editions .

Fairy tale collection (summaries)

The fairy tales are in the order of the 1st edition from 1871

The artificial organ

A talented organ builder builds many organs and ultimately designs an artificial (= artistic) organ that starts to play by itself when a bride and groom enters the church that God has pleased with. When the organ builder finally enters the church with his own bride, his heart is full of pride and ambition, so that the organ remains silent. In his delusion, he thinks that it is his bride's fault, leaves her and moves far away. After years, he regrets his behavior and longs to return to his homeland and his wife. However, when he returns home, his wife, who has been loved by everyone for her good deeds, has just passed away. In pain, the man joins the funeral procession , even carries the coffin, and when he enters the church the organ begins to play. The organ builder falls to the ground and dies, and he is buried with his wife.

Gold daughter

Golddaughter lives with her parents in a house by the forest. On a sunny summer morning, the girl goes for a walk, because it is so beautiful today and can rain again tomorrow, but without telling her parents. Little Golddaughter runs behind the house, across the meadow and from there into the hazelnut grove . At the pond it talks to the duck, which it pulls across the pond to the other bank on a water rose leaf. There the child meets the stork in a meadow, who is currently eating a frog. Since Golddaughter is also hungry, the stork conjures up a golden cup with milk and a sugar bag for him. After dinner, Golddaughter plays catching a butterfly until evening. When it dawns and all the flowers are tired and want to fall asleep, Golddaughter also lies down in the grass and falls asleep. At home, his mother has been looking for the child all day in the house and outside, in the surrounding area. And the father also walks around the city full of worry and asks about the child. When it is dark, one of the twelve angels comes who fly over the world every evening to look for children who may have lost their way. He finds Golddaughter and, without waking her, carefully places her in the house under the stairs. When the mother looked once more into every nook and cranny of the house, she was overjoyed to see the sleeping child.

From the invisible kingdoms

A young farmer named Jörg lived with his old father away from the village. In the evening, when he had done his work, Jörg sat on an old broken millstone , looked down at the beautiful valley and dreamed. The people in the village called him Traumjörge in mockery, but he didn't care. The older Jörg got, the quieter he became; and when his old father died and he had buried him under a great old oak, he became very still. One day when he was sitting on the old millstone again, he fell asleep. Then he dreamed that a golden swing hung from the sky on two silver ropes. But on the swing sat a charming princess who flew down from heaven to earth and from earth back up to heaven. When the swing reached the ground, the princess clapped her hands for joy and tossed him a rose. But suddenly the ropes broke and the swing flew with the princess into the sky until he could no longer see her. Then he woke up to find a large bouquet of roses on the millstone next to him. The next day Jörg fell asleep again and dreamed the same thing. It went on like this all week. Then Traumjörge went to look for the princess. After many days he saw a land from afar where the clouds hung down to the earth. He wandered towards it, but came into a large forest. Suddenly he heard a frightened groan, and soon he found a venerable old man with a silver-gray beard lying on the ground. Two disgusting, stark naked guys kneeled on him and tried to strangle him. Then he tore off a large branch from the tree and hit the two guys so that they jumped away. Thereupon he lifted the venerable old man on top of him and asked why the two naked men had wanted to strangle him. Then he said that he had come to the kingdom of his greatest enemy, the king of reality, the king of dreams and a little off the road.

The King of Dreams then led Jörg down to his kingdom. The kingdom was unspeakably beautiful! There were castles on islands in the middle of great lakes, and the islands swam around like ships. The king showed Jörg his whole dream kingdom and his subjects . Suddenly Jörg saw the princess from his dreams. So he ran up to her, and as soon as she saw him coming, she jumped straight into his arms. But he took her by the hand and led her to a golden bench. Both sat down and told each other how nice it would be that they would meet again. In the evening the king wanted to bring Jörg up again, but Jörg said: “Herr König, I will never part with my princess. Either you have to keep me down here or you have to give them to me on earth. I can't live without her! ”At first the king didn't want to part with his most beautiful dream, but then he remembered that Jörg had saved his life and said:“ So be it. Take your princess and go up to earth with her. And you should get an invisible kingdom that only you can see, but not the others. ”Traumjörge said goodbye to the king of dreams and went up with the princess. At the top he lost consciousness , and when he came to he was sitting on the old millstone and next to him was the princess, who was now flesh and blood like an ordinary human child.

Suddenly something fell at her feet like a large folded sheet. They picked up the cloth and spread it apart. When they unfolded it completely, it looked like a large map. There was a river in the middle, and on either side were towns, forests, and lakes. Then they realized that it was a kingdom and that the good dream king had let it fall down from heaven for them. And when they looked at their little house, it had become a wonderful castle. Then they went into the castle, and inside the subjects were already gathered and bowed deeply. Timpani and trumpets rang out, and noble boys walked ahead of them scattering flowers. There they were king and queen. The next morning it ran like a fire through the village that the Traumjörge had come back and had brought a woman with him. But the people did not see the kingdom and thought the princess was a very ordinary person, short, thin and also rather poorly dressed. Jörg did not care about the stupid people, but lived wonderfully and happily in his kingdom and with his dear princess.

How the devil fell into holy water

The devil went one day in the Cologne Cathedral , perhaps a fat monk or an old nun to annoy. Then he stumbled and fell in the middle of the holy water font . He snuck out of the cathedral in a hurry so as not to be laughed at. But in front of the cathedral it was freezing cold. In the wet elevator, however, he couldn't show himself to his grandmother. So he went to Mohrenland for a few hours until his skirt was dry again. Grandmother noticed him immediately, when the devil went to hell, her face turned sulfur yellow. "What do you smell like, have you been hanging around the churches again?" The devil shamefully told what had happened to him. And while the grandmother was washing his skirt, he went to bed. Grandmother was disgusted with the skirt. She carried it into the gutter, where all the thick hell mud and dishwashing water drains, and washed the skirt a few times and then let it dry on the fire. The devil wanted to put it on again after sleep, but grandmother sniffed it again, sneezed and said: "Ugh, what a church smell is hard to get away with." when it started to smell awful there. "Now the skirt is clean again," she said, "but I forbid anything like this from happening again!"

The rusty knight

A rich knight lived in frenzy, but was proud and hard on the poor. So God let his arms and legs rust on the left side , but his face remained free. The knight then covered his rusty side, withdrew and tried to change himself. He dismissed his old friends and drinkers and married a pious woman. On the wedding night the woman saw the man's left hand, but said nothing, but asked the old, pious hermit in the forest for advice the next morning . The hermit said that the woman could redeem her husband if she lived in rags like a poor beggar woman and begged a hundred gold florins. The knight's wife said she wanted to do this and from then on led a hard begging life in dirty clothes. After nine months, when she had saved the first guilder, she gave birth to a beautiful son, whom she called "Docherlöst". She tore a strip off the bottom of her skirt, wrapped her son in it, and continued begging.

When the knight realized that his wife had left him, he became very sad. He went to the hermit to hear whether the woman had been with him. The hermit noticed that the knight's heart was not yet rusty, and so he advised him to do good from now on and to go to all churches. Then he will find his wife again. So the knight also went out to look for his wife, and after almost a year he got to the town where his wife was begging in front of the church. The woman recognized the knight as soon as he approached the city. But she hid her face because she had only begged two guilders. When the knight walked past her and saw her and the beautiful child, he took pity and gave her his whole wallet with all the gold he had left. Then the woman's cloak fell off her head, and the knight saw that it was his own wife. The knight hugged her, and when he learned that the child was his son, he hugged him too. The woman led her husband into the church and put the money on the church basin, and when the knight stepped out of the church the curse was lifted and the rust disappeared.

About the queen who couldn't bake ginger nuts and the king who couldn't play hummingbirds

A king who has been in his prime for some time decides to take a wife. “She has to be beautiful and clever, but above all she has to be able to bake pepper nuts , which I love to eat!” So ​​the king, accompanied by the minister, sets off into the kingdoms that princesses have to forgive. But there are only three princesses who are so beautiful and clever at the same time that they please the king, and none of them can bake ginger nuts. The first one can't bake pepper nuts, but it can bake pretty little almond cakes. The second calls the king silly, because there is no princess who can bake pepper nuts. The third princess doesn't let him get as far as his question, but asks himself whether he knows how to play the humming-iron ? Otherwise she likes it very much; but she has made up her mind not to take a man who cannot play the humming-iron. Then the king goes home with the minister, dejected. After a long time he lets the minister come to again and tells him that he has given up on finding a woman who can bake pepper nuts and that he has decided to marry the princess, who they first visited at the time, and to close the little almond cakes bake understands. The next day the minister returned and reported that the princess had married the king from the country where the capers grow. So the minister is sent to the second princess, but unfortunately she passed away. Finally the king sends his minister to the third princess, perhaps she has changed her mind in the meantime. The third princess told the minister that she had actually decided to take only one man who knew how to play the hummingbird, but she saw that her wish could not be fulfilled and that she would otherwise like the king very much they take him as a husband. This is how weddings are celebrated that people don't talk about anything else for a fortnight. The king and the young queen, however, live happily ever after, he has completely forgotten about the pepper nuts and the queen about the humming iron. One day, however, the king gets up wrong-footed first and everything goes wrong. It rains all day and the orb falls. Then it happens that the couple quarrel for the first time : "You can't even play the humming- iron ", says the queen and the king replies: "And you can't even bake ginger nuts!" Both immediately regret what they said but only in the evening do they forgive each other. And from then on, two words are forbidden in the kingdom: hummingbirds and ginger nuts.

The wishing ring

A young farmer, who worked hard but earned little on his farm, was approached by a witch in the field and told him to walk straight for two days until he came to a fir tree that stood free in the forest. He should cut them down, then he would make his fortune. The farmer immediately took his ax and set off. After two days he found the fir, immediately began to fell it, and when it toppled over, a nest with two eggs fell out. The eggs broke and a young eagle came out of one and a small gold ring fell from the other. The eagle grew up quickly and shouted: “You have redeemed me! As a thank you, take the ring that was in the other egg! It's a wishing ring. If you turn it on your finger and express a wish, it will soon come true. But there is only one wish in the ring, so think carefully about what you wish for! ”Then the eagle soared into the air and flew away. The farmer took the ring, put it on his finger, and started walking home. In the evening he came to a town and asked the goldsmith what the ring was worth. "A stick of cardboard!" Said the goldsmith. The farmer laughed and told him that it was a wish ring. But the goldsmith was a fake, wicked man. He invited the farmer to stay the night and secretly exchanged the wishing ring for an ordinary ring. As soon as the farmer was gone, the goldsmith closed the door and shutters, turned the ring and shouted: “I want a hundred thousand thalers right away .” As soon as he had spoken this, it began to rain thalers, hard, shiny thalers. And the thalers hit him on the head, shoulders and arms. He began to scream pitifully and fell to the ground bleeding all over. Then it rained on and on until the goldsmith was dead and all the money on him.

Meanwhile, the farmer went home happily and showed his wife the ring. “Our happiness is made,” he said, “we just want to think carefully about what we want.” “What do you think if we wanted some more land?” Asked his wife. "If we work hard for a year and are a little lucky, we might be able to buy it," replied the farmer. Man and woman worked hard on it for a year, and the harvest has never been as good as this time, so they could buy the piece of land with money left over. The woman said it would be good if they wanted a cow and a horse too. "We get the cow and the horse that way too," said her husband. And right, after a year they had earned the cow and the horse. But the woman persuaded her husband to finally address the wish. He could be king, emperor, count, all chests full of money. "Let go of your eternal urge," replied the farmer. "A wish is only in the ring, and who knows what will happen to us again, where we will need the ring." That was the end of the matter for the time being. And it really was as if the full blessing had come into the house with the ring , because the barns were getting fuller and fuller from year to year, and after years the small, poor farmer had become a big, fat farmer, who Worked with the servants all day, but sat sedate and content in front of the house in the evening.

The three sisters with the glass hearts

A royal couple had three daughters, and all three had glass hearts. “Be careful with your hearts,” said the Queen, “they are fragile!” And they did too. One day, however, the oldest sister leaned out the window and looked down into the garden. At the same time she pressed her heart: sound! it felt like something shattered, and she fell down and was dead. After a while the second daughter drank a cup of coffee that was too hot. There was another sound like a glass cracking, only a little finer than the first time, and it too fell over. Then she picked up her mother, but noticed to her joy that she was not dead, but that her heart had just jumped, but still held. The king and queen were very worried, but the princess said: "Sometimes what has been cracked lasts a long time!"

When the youngest king's daughter grew up, many king's sons came to free her. But the old king said: "It has to be a king who is also a glazier and knows how to handle such fragile goods." A noble boy who was trained by the king only had to carry the train of the youngest king's daughter three times to become a real nobleman to become. When he carried the train of the princess, he liked the princess very much and the princess also liked the noble boy, so that they both grew in love. When he was a real nobleman, the king thanked him, congratulated him and said he could go now. At the garden door the king's daughter said to him: "If only you were a glazier!" To which the nobleman replied that he would do his best to become one; she may just wait for him. So he went to a glazier and studied for four years until he was a real master glazier . After his apprenticeship , he put on his noble clothes again, said goodbye to his master and thought about how to start it in order to become king. While he was walking down the street, lost in thought, a man came up to him and asked if he had lost anything. Then he replied that although he had lost nothing, he was still looking for something, namely a kingdom. Then the man told him the story of the three sisters with the glass hearts, and how the old king wanted to marry his daughter to just one glass maker. “In the beginning, the condition was that the glazier also had to be a king or prince; but because nobody can be found who is both, he gave in a little and made two other conditions. But he still has to be a glazier. ”“ What are the two conditions? ”Asked the young nobleman. “He must have liked the princess and smacked velvet . There have already been a lot of glasses at the castle, but none of them wanted to please the princess. In addition, they all had no velvet slippers, but rather rough hands, as is to be expected from ordinary glaziers. ”Then the nobleman went to the king, who had the princess called. The princess recognized the nobleman at once and of course she liked him. There was no need for him to take off his gloves because she knew he really had velvet slippers. And so the two married and became happy. The nobleman took great care of the princess' heart and it lasted until her blessed end. The second sister, however, became the aunt, and she too grew old, although her heart jumped.

A children's story

Two small children, Trinchen and Hans, were playing in a churchyard . In the very corner of the churchyard was an abandoned grave. Only grass grew on him. Because in the grave lay an old Hagestolz that had left behind neither wife nor child nor anyone else who cared about him. He had come from a foreign country. But soon he died and was buried. Nobody knew his name, not even the gravedigger . The gravedigger's two small children were particularly fond of the old, abandoned grave in the corner of the churchyard; for they were allowed to play and trample on it as much as they liked, while they were not allowed to touch the other graves. “Trinchen, our house is ready. I am the father and you are the mother. - Good morning, mother, what are our children doing? "" Hans, "replied the little one," I haven't got any children yet, but I'll have some in a minute. "Then she ran around between the graves and came with both hands filled with snails , again: "Listen, father, I already have seven children, seven beautiful snail children!"

Old Hagestolz in his lonely grave had heard everything; for the dead hear everything very clearly what is said at their grave. He thought of the time when he was a little boy. He had known a little girl there, too, and they had played together, had built houses and had been husband and wife. And then he thought of the later time when he had seen the little girl again when she was grown up. Afterwards he had never heard from him again, for he had gone his own way, and it must not have been very beautiful, because the more he thought of it and the more the children chattered on top of his grave, the sadder it became he. He started to cry and cried more and more. But when the gravedigger went through the churchyard the next morning, a spring had sprung out of the old abandoned grave . Those were the tears old Hagestolz had cried. The gravedigger was delighted, for now he no longer had to carry the water to water the flowers up the steep path from the village. He made a neat pipe for the spring and surrounded it with large stones. On the grave of old Hagestolz, however, the wild mountain flowers grew more luxuriantly than in any other place, and the two children often sat at the source, built mills and let paper boats float on it.

Sepp on the open air

An old farmer's wife who had broken gout in bed for five years wanted her son Sepp to finally marry. And since it was the church fair, he was supposed to go to the dance in the evening and choose a girl from the village. But the son said he liked all the girls in the village equally and did not know which to choose. So his mother advised him to go straight into the village and see the girls he thought would be suitable for him. He should make a note of what exactly they did and then tell her. When Sepp returned, he reported that the Ursel had come from church with a beautiful dress and new earrings. The mother said she was not for him, because if she went to church often, she would soon forget God, like the miller, who could no longer hear the rattle of the mill. Then he would have gone to Kathe's. She would have stood in the kitchen and moved all the pots and plates. The pots were black, but their fingers were white. Then the mother said: “Let them go. She bakes cakes and porridge and forgets about children and cattle. ”Finally he went to Anne, said Sepp, but she didn't do anything. Then the mother said: “Take Anne, my boy! There are the best women who do nothing that the boys can tell! ”And Sepp took Anne and was overjoyed and later often said to his mother:“ Mother, you were right in your advice. ”

Heino in the swamp

The king's son Heino loved Blauäuglein , a woman from the people who lived in a house hidden behind the forest. The king and queen wanted to marry their son to the daughter of a powerful king and so they tried to separate the two. The queen had a herb planted by the roadside that was poisonous and had a beautiful red flower. As the king's son rode by, he found the plant and broke off the flower. While he was doing this, it happened and he had forgotten his love. The king gave the son gold armor and said, “I am old and weak, go out into the world and see what it looks like outside. After two years I want to give you the kingdom. ”So Heino chose thirty squires and rode out into the world.

But when Heino did not come back, Blauäuglein noticed that he had left her. Every morning she sent out her white dove, which had to fly around the world until it found Heino. And every evening the white dove came back and told Blauäuglein where Heino was and how he was. Two years had passed since the white dove came one evening back again and reported Heino would be in the wisp fall swamp and lay bewitched in the arms of Irrwischkönigin. Then Blauäuglein asked the white dove to sit on her shoulder and set out to look for Heino. After hiking for three days, she came to the wisp swamp. When night came she saw the first blue flames rising in the swamp. Boldly Blue-Eyes climbed down into the reed grass and followed the will-o'-the-wisps into the swamp. Finally she reached the Wisp Queen's castle. Then the will-o'-the-wisps tried to persuade Blauäuglein to stay with them. Suddenly she recognized the enchanted Heino in one of the will-o'-the-wisps and she screamed loudly: "Heino, God help you in your great need!" As soon as she had called out, a violent gust of wind drove over the swamp and the lights of the wisps went out. Then the castle sank silently into the depths, and in its place stood the remains of an old fisherman's hut. In front of Blue Eyes, however, sunk to the waist in the deep swamp, stood Heino, in person as he had been, but pale and sad. “Is it you, blue eyes?” He asked wistfully. "Yes, Heino, it's me." "Leave me alone," he replied, "I'm a lost man!" But she shook hands with him and encouraged him; and he tried to take a few steps forward. So she helped him forward step by step. With unspeakable effort they had finally come so far that they could see the end of the swamp and the road from afar. “I can't go any further, blue eyes! You go back alone and say hello to my mother. You will come out because you do not sink in deeply; but it goes almost to my heart. ”He turned around and looked back at the place where the castle had sunk. "Don't look around!" Cried Blue-Eyes fearfully. A single flame floated toward both of them, the wisp queen. With her glowing eyes she looked at Heino, as if she wanted to see his heart. Then she put her hand on his shoulder and pleaded: “Come back, Heino!” And he stood and looked at her and swayed unsteadily. Then Blue Eyes tore the sword from his side and swung it at the wisp queen. And when the Wisp Queen made one more attempt to drag Heino, whose right hand she had grasped, with her, she shouted: "Heino, it doesn't hurt!" And cut off his arm close to the wrist with one blow. Then the flame on the queen's head also went out, and she herself melted away like a mist . “Now you are released, Heino!” Shouted blue eyes. “Come on, it's not far to the road; gather your last strength. See, you don't sink in any more. ”So they finally got back to the castle and the wedding was celebrated. But when they stood in front of the altar and were supposed to change the rings, Heino forgot that he was missing his right hand, and he held out the stump to the priest. Then a miracle happened; for when the priest touched the stump, a new hand grew out of it, like a white flower from a brown branch. But around the wrist ran a fine red stripe, narrow like a thread. He kept it all his life.

Unlucky and lucky child

There was once a young man living in a town who was disappointed in everything he started. Both parents had died early, and the long, skinny aunt who had taken him in would beat him every time she came out of mess. But since she went to mass every day, she also beat him every day. But he was also very unlucky. For when he carried a glass it usually fell to him; and when he then picked up the broken glass, crying, he always cut his fingers. So it was in all things. Then he decided to go into the big wide world. After Unlucky several weeks had wandered long, one day he came to a wonderful garden. He stepped in, took a side corridor between tall jasmine and rose hedges . When he turned a corner, the top of the hill was before him, and on the hill in the grass sat a beautiful girl. She had a golden crown on her lap that she kept breathing on. Then she took her silk apron, rubbed the crown with it, and when she saw that it was becoming completely shiny again, she clapped her hands with joy, pushed her long hair behind her ears and put the crown back on.

Unlucky man approached. "Come here, sit down with me a little," she said with a laugh. “You can tell me something really nice, but what a laugh! But you look so sad! What's wrong with you? If you didn't scowl like that, you'd really be a very pretty person. ”“ If you want it, ”replied the unlucky fellow,“ I will probably sit with you for a moment. But who are you I've never seen anything as beautiful and glorious as you in my life! ”“ I'm the lucky princess , and this is my father's garden. ”“ What are you doing here so alone? ”“ I feed my roe and deer and clean my crown. ”“ And afterwards? ”“ Then I'll feed my goldfish! ”“ And when you're done with it? ”“ Then my playmates come back, and then we laugh and sing and dance! ”“ Oh, what you do for live a blissful life! And that works every day? ”“ Yes, every day! But now say who you are and what your name is. ”“ Oh, most beautiful princess, I am the most unhappy person under the sun and I have the ugliest name. My name is Unlucky. ”“ Unlucky? That's hilarious! I want to think of a pretty nice name for you. Tell me why are you so sad? Because I'm always happy and everyone I talk to is happy. Only you can't see it at all! ”“ Why am I so sad? Because I've been sad all my life and I'm always unhappy. And are you always funny? How do you start that? ”“ A fairy held me about holy baptism, which my father once did a great service. She picked me up, kissed my forehead and said to me: 'You should always be happy and make everyone happy. If a very sad person looks at you, let him forget his misfortune! You should be called lucky child! ' - But no fairy has kissed you? ”“ No, no! ”He replied hastily,“ never! ”Then the princess became very quiet and thoughtful and looked at him with her big blue eyes so strangely that it made his back freezing cold ran down. Then she started again: “Does it always have to be a fairy? A princess is something too. Come here, kneel down once; because you're too big for me. ”Then she stepped in front of him, gave him a kiss and ran away laughing. He got up slowly. It was as if he were awakening from a dream; and yet he felt a wonderful happiness. As soon as he got to the next town, he bought a red velvet doublet and a beret with a long white feather, looked at himself in the mirror and said: “Unlucky my name? Let's see if I don't get another name. ”Then he mounted a horse, spurred him on and continued his journey.

Princess Glückskind, however, after giving the unlucky one the kiss, ran and ran. Then she sat down on a bench not far from the castle and began to weep bitterly. When the king saw this, he took his daughter in his arms and comforted her, but she kept crying. And she told how she had kissed the unlucky one to see if that wouldn't make him a little happier. “I must have the people!” Thereupon the king ordered his horsemen to roam the country in all directions and look for the poor unlucky fellow. And the riders scattered and crossed the whole country. Some of them passed Unlucky, who in his elegant clothes sat proudly on the horse; but they did not recognize him, and most of them returned to the castle without having achieved anything. But the princess remained sad and came to table every noon with tearful eyes. So it went week after week. One day, however, there was suddenly a noise in the courtyard. Everything came together, and before the king had time to go to the window, two riders led the poor unlucky fellow into his room. His face was beaming as if nothing better had happened to him in his life. He bowed to the king. But the king stepped up to the unlucky person and said: “So you are the person who had the cheek to let the princess kiss you?” “Yes, Mr. King! And since then I've become the happiest person in the world! ”“ Throw him in the tower, he'll be beheaded tomorrow! ”

The king, however, was walking up and down his room with long strides and thought: “I have him, and he will be beheaded; but that alone will not make my lucky child funny again. ”Then he let his secret advice come. He said: “I don't know if it will help, but you could try. It's very likely that the kiss was to blame. Well, the unlucky one has to give the princess the kiss again, your Majesty! "The king considered, then said:" Well, we want to try it. Call all the counts and knights into the throne room and have the prisoner brought up! ”Then the king put on his state clothes and sat on the throne. Beside him stood the princess, to whom he hadn't dared tell why he had called her, and the whole court around him. Everything was very quiet. Then the door opened and the unlucky one was brought in. “You will be beheaded tomorrow,” snapped the king, “but first you will immediately and in front of all these noble and illustrious gentlemen give my daughter the kiss that she gave you without thinking!” Then unlucky stepped up to the princess and hugged she and gave her a kiss. But she took his hand and looked at him very kindly, and they both stopped before the throne. "Are you happy again, my dear daughter?" Asked the king. “A little bit, Father,” she replied. “But it will certainly not last long.” Then the princess lowered her eyes and said softly: “I know, father, and I want to tell you; But only in the ear. "Thereupon the king went with the princess into the anteroom, and when they came back in he took the hand of the unlucky fellow, put it in the princess`s hand and said to all the gathered gentlemen and counts:" It is not closed change, God's will be done; This is my dear son who will be king when I die. ”And unlucky became a prince and later a king. He lived in the golden castle and gave the princess so many kisses that she was even happier than before. Princess Glückskind gave him the most beautiful ones for his ugly name.

The old women mill

In Apolda in Thuringia is the old-wives-mill about looking like a large coffee grinder , only that it is not turned up, but down. At the bottom there are two large beams with which two farmhands turn the mill. At the top the old women are put in, wrinkled and hunchbacked, without hair or teeth, and below they come out again young: neat and red-cheeked like the bristle apples . It cracks and cracks that it drives you through your marrow. But if you ask those who have become young again whether it doesn't hurt terribly, they answer: “It is wonderful! It's like when you wake up early, have had a good rest and the sun is shining in the room, and then you stretch and straighten yourself again in bed. Sometimes it cracks. "

An old woman once lived very far from Apolda and she had heard of it too. Since she had loved being young, she set off. It was going slowly, but with time she got on and at last she stood in front of the mill. "I want to get young again and be regretted," she said to one of the servants. "What's your name?" Asked the servant. "The old mother Klapprothen!" "Sit down on the bench for a while," said the servant, went into the mill and came out with a long piece of paper. “The regrind doesn't cost anything, but you have to sign this first! All the follies that you have committed in your entire life are listed on the piece of paper, one after the other. Before you let yourself be regretted, you must undertake to do all the follies all over again, in exactly the same order as it is on the slip of paper! "The old woman sighed and said:" Then it is not worth it to be regrinded! Isn't it possible at least to cross out something on the piece of paper? ”Asked the old woman. “No,” replied the servant, “that is absolutely impossible. Either - or! ”“ Just take your note back, ”said the old woman and set off for home.

The rattle stork fairy tale

Everyone knows what the legs of the dachshunds are so short and that they have run off the same. But how the stork got its long legs is a completely different story. Three days before the stork brings a small child, it knocks with its beak on the window of the people who are to have it. Then people know where they stand. But sometimes he forgets it, and then there is great need because nothing is ready.

The stork had forgotten about two poor people who lived in a small hut in the village. When he came with the child, no one was home. The husband and wife had gone to work in the fields; nor was there even a staircase in front of the house on which to lay it. Then it flew onto the roof and rattled until the whole village came together and an old woman jumped out into the field to fetch the people. "Mr. Neighbor, Mrs. Neighbor! For God's sake! The stork sitting in your house and you want to bring a small child. "As the two went head over heels to house and took the stork the child from. As they saw it, it was a lovely little boy, and husband and wife were beside themselves with joy. As the child grew and became prettier one day, the woman said: “If only we could give something to the good stork who brought us the child! I don't want to think of anything! "

The next morning the man said: “What do you mean if I let the carpenter make some really nice stilts for the stork ? He always has to go to the swamp to catch frogs and then back to the large pond behind the village, from which he takes the little boys out. He's got to get wet feet very often! I also think that when he came to us it had rattled very hoarse. ”“ A wonderful idea! ”Replied the woman. “But the carpenter has to paint the stilts pretty red so that they match his beak!” So ​​the man ordered red stilts, and when they were finished he went to the swamp and brought them to the stork. And the stork was very pleased, tried it right away and said: “Actually, I was really angry with you because you made me wait so long back then. But because you are such good people and you give me the beautiful red stilts, I want to bring you a little girl too. ”When four weeks were up, the stork came flying and brought a little girl; that was even prettier than the little boy, and now the couple was full. Both children stayed beautiful and healthy, and so did their parents, so it was a real joy.

How Christoph and Bärbel always wished to get past each other

Christoph and Bärbel were both very fond of each other; for one tended the geese and the other the pigs, and they went well together because the position was no obstacle. They then resolved they wanted to get married. But the rulers disagreed. So they had to be content with being married. But because kissing is an important thing with bride and groom , they had agreed that seven kisses in the morning and seven kisses in the evening would be a good number. For a while it went quite well. But on the morning of the day when this story took place, just as the seventh kiss was about to come, Bärbel's favorite goose and Christoph's favorite piglet had disagreed over breakfast and they almost turned to violence . To settle the dispute, they had to leave it at the wrong number.

When afterwards both sat so lonely and far from each other at the edge of the meadow, it occurred to them that it was very bad after all, and began to cry, and continued to cry as God himself watched. God said: “I want to help them! Whatever they wish for today should come true. ”Christoph thought: If only I were over with the geese! and Bärbel sighed: Oh, if only I were with the pigs! Suddenly Christopher was really sitting with the geese and Barbel with the pigs; and yet again they were not together. Then Christoph thought: The Bärbel must have wanted to visit me. And Bärbel thought: Christoph walked over to me the other way around! - Oh, if only I were with my geese! - Oh, if only I were with my pigs! Barbel was sitting with the geese again and Christoph with the pigs, and so it went on all day long, because the two of them always wanted to pass each other. So the seventh morning kiss of the day is still missing today. But when the good Lord saw that the two of them always wished each other so past, he resolved never again to let love people's wishes come true so easily.

The dream beech

A mighty beech tree stood in a meadow outside the village. Everyone in the village knew: whoever fell asleep under her and dreamed, his dream would come true. That is why it has been called the dream beech since time immemorial . However, there was a special condition: whoever lay under the dream beech to sleep was not allowed to think about what he would be dreaming. However, that was a very difficult condition because most people are far too curious, and so the vast majority of those who tried it failed.

One hot summer day, a poor journeyman to the village. Then he saw the beautiful beech, lay down under it and fell asleep. He dreamed a beautiful dream of a house and a room. There he, his wife and two children sat at a table and since it was such a beautiful dream, he laughed all over his face in his sleep. When he woke up, the shepherd stood before him with his flock. He asked him what he had been dreaming and told the boy what the dream book was all about, but he did not want to believe a word the shepherd had said.

When he got into the village, he passed an inn. The host had just eaten well and was in a very good mood. So he invited the craftsman to sit down, he would have something done for him. Thereupon he sent his daughter, who brought bread and wine, sat down with him and was told what it was like in a foreign country. Then she told him everything she knew about the village. The boy mentioned that he slept under the beautiful beech tree that afternoon. Then the daughter became curious and asked him about his dream, which he had dreamed under the beech. She kept penetrating him and torturing him, he would like to say it. Then he moved very close to her and said seriously: "Just think, I dreamed that I would marry the landlord's daughter again and later become the landlord myself!" Then the girl first turned white and then purple and went into the house. There she paced back and forth, and finally she went to bed, and all night she dreamed of the handyman. But the craftsman had slept wonderfully on his litter in the stable; Dream book, dream and what he said to the landlord's daughter that evening have long been forgotten. He was standing in the tavern and was about to shake hands with the landlord to say goodbye. Then she stepped in and asked if he would not like to stay a day, so he would like to earn his bill and a bit of travel money on top of that. And the landlord didn't mind. One day became a week and the week became another. Week after week went by, and every night she dreamed of him. In the evening, however, she sat with him in the arbor in front of the house, and he told how it was sore and nausea for him among strangers. And after a year he was married to the host child, and everyone was happy. Soon afterwards the landlord fell asleep in his armchair after a good meal and when the daughter tried to wake him up he was dead. The young craftsperson was really the landlord, as he jokingly said, and everything else happened as he did dreamed it under the beech tree. Because very soon he also had two children.

One day his wife came in, stood in front of him and said: "Imagine, yesterday at noon one of our mowers fell asleep under the dream beech and didn't think about it. Do you know what he dreamed? He dreamed he was very rich. "Then the man laughed and said:" How can you believe in stupid things and are otherwise such a clever woman? Think for yourself whether a tree, no matter how beautiful and old it is, can know the future. ”The two got into an argument about this. “Do you want to deny me or the tree? On the first day we met, didn't you dream that you would marry me and become a landlord on top of that? ”The man remembered for the first time the joke that he had allowed himself with his current wife. and he said: “Nothing can help, dear woman! I really didn't dream of you then; and when I said it, it was just a joke. You were so curious; I wanted to tease you! ”Then the woman broke out into violent weeping and went out. Then he thought: Let her cry! Other thoughts come overnight; tomorrow she is the old one. But he was wrong; for the next morning the woman no longer wept, but she was serious and sad and avoided her husband. When this went on for several days without any change, he too felt a great sadness; for he feared that he would have lost his wife's love forever. He walked around the house quietly, trying to find a solution, but couldn't think of anything.

So one afternoon he went out to the village and strolled through the field. It was a hot July day; No cloud in the sky. From a distance he saw the old dream beech. It seemed to him as if she were waving at him with her green branches. So he went, and then his heart grew still, and he fell asleep; because he hadn't slept the last few nights out of worry. And not for long, he dreamed the same dream as five years ago, and the woman at the table and the children playing had the old, dear faces of his wife and children. Then he woke up, and the next day he told the woman his dream: “I dreamed that you were all right again and had forgotten everyone. But it is not true! It's nothing with the old good book, she doesn't know anything about the future. ”Then the woman stared at him, and then it went like sunshine over her face:“ Man, did you really dream that? ”“ Yes! ”Replied he stuck. "And I was really your wife?" When he said yes, the woman fell around his neck and kissed him so often that he couldn't help her.

The little hunchbacked girl

Once upon a time there was a woman who had an only daughter, that was a little different from other children. Because when the woman went out with him, people often stopped, looked after the child and whispered something to each other. When the little girl asked her mother why people looked at her so strangely, the mother replied every time: “Because you are wearing such a beautiful new dress.” The little girl was satisfied. But when they came back home, the mother took her little daughter in her arms, kissed her again and again and said: “You dear, sweet angel of the heart, what will become of you when I'm dead? Nobody knows what a dear angel you are; not even your father! "

After a while the mother suddenly fell ill and died on the ninth day. After a year the father took another wife, more beautiful, younger and richer than the first, but she wasn't that good for a long time. The little girl had sat on the window sill every day since her mother died ; because nobody wanted to go out with him. It had turned even pale, and it hadn't grown at all in the past year. When the new mother came into the house, she thought: “Now you will go for a walk again, in front of the city, in the merry sunshine.” The new mother also went out every day, but the little girl never took her with her. Then it finally took heart, and one day it pleaded with her to take it with her. But the new mother said: "What are people supposed to think, you're all hunchbacked." Then the little girl became very still, and stood on a chair and looked at herself in the mirror; and really, it was hunched, very hunched! Then she sat down on her window sill again and looked down at the street and thought of her good old mother, who had taken it with her every day.

And summer passed, and when winter came, the little girl had grown pale and so weak that she could no longer sit on the windowsill, but always had to lie in bed. And when the snowdrops were sticking out their first green tips from the earth, the good old mother came to him one night and told him how golden and glorious it looked in heaven. The next morning the little girl was dead. When the little girl was buried, an angel with large, white swan wings came flying down from heaven, sat down by the grave and knocked on it. The little girl came out of the grave and the angel told him that he had come to take her to his mother in heaven. The little girl shyly asked if hunchbacked children would go to heaven too. However, the angel replied: "You good, dear child, you are no longer hunchbacked!" And touched his back with his white hand. Then the old nasty hump fell off like a large hollow shell. And what was in it? Two wonderful, white angel wings! She stretched it out as if it had always been able to fly, and flew up into the blue sky with the angel. But on the highest place in heaven sat his good, old mother and spread her arms towards him. He just flew it onto his lap.

The little bird

A man and a woman lived in a pretty little house, and nothing was lacking for them to be fully happy. Behind the house was a garden with beautiful old trees in which the woman grew the rarest plants and flowers. One day the man went for a walk in the garden, was happy about the wonderful smells and thought: “What a happy person you are and what a good, pretty, skilful woman you have!” Something moved at his feet. The man, who was very nearsighted, bent down and saw a small bird that had probably fallen out of the nest and was not yet able to fly. He picked it up, looked at it, and carried it to his wife. "I caught a little bird," he called to her, "I think it will be a nightingale !" "How should a young nightingale get into our garden?" Asked the woman, "there are no old ones nesting in it." You can count on it, it's a nightingale! It will be wonderful when she grows up and starts to sing! ”“ It is not one! ”Repeated the woman, still not looking up; because she was busy with her knitted stockings. "Yes!" Said the man, "I can see it very clearly now!" And held the bird close to his nose. Then the woman came up, laughed loudly and called out: “Man, it's just a sparrow! Does a nightingale have such a broad beak and such a thick head? ”“ Yes, it does; and it is a nightingale! ”“ But I tell you, it is not one; hear how it beeps! ”“ Little nightingales beep too. ”And so it went on until they really quarreled. Finally the man went out of the room angrily and fetched a small cage. He put the bird in the cage, had ant eggs fetched and fed it.

At dinner, however, the man and the woman each sat at a corner of the table and did not speak to each other. Fourteen days passed like this. Happiness and peace seemed to have vanished forever from the little house. The man growled, and when the woman didn't growl, she cried. Only the little bird got bigger and bigger with its ant eggs. One day the woman was sitting alone in the room crying and thinking about how happy she had lived with her husband. Suddenly she jumped up, took the bird out of the cage and let it hop out of the window in the garden. Immediately afterwards the man came. “Dear man,” said the woman, not daring to look at him, “an accident has occurred; the cat ate the little bird. ”“ Eat the cat? You lie! You left the nightingale away on purpose! I would never have believed you would. You are a bad woman Now our friendship is over forever! ”At the same time he turned pale and tears came to his eyes. When the woman saw this, she suddenly realized that she had done a very great injustice, and weeping loudly she hurried into the garden to see if she might still find him there. And right, in the middle of the path the little bird hopped and fluttered. Then the woman rushed towards it to catch it, but the little bird scurried into the bed and from the bed into a bush, and the woman rushed after him. She trampled the beds and flowers, and chased around the garden with the bird for about half an hour. At last she caught him and came back into the room, purple in the face. Her eyes sparkled with joy and her heart pounded violently. “I caught the nightingale again. Don't be angry anymore; It was very ugly of me! ”Then the man looked at his wife again in a friendly manner for the first time, and when he looked at her he said that she had never been so pretty as at this moment. He took the little bird out of her hand, held it close to his nose again and then said: “Child, you were right! It's really just a sparrow. "Then he gave his wife a hearty kiss and went on:" Carry him back into the garden and let the stupid sparrow fly. "" No, "said the woman," he is not yet fully fledged. We want to feed him a few more days, and then we want to let him fly! "

The heavenly music

In the golden age the angels played with the peasant children on the piles of sand, and the gates of heaven were wide open. The people looked from the earth into the open sky; above they saw the blessed walking between the stars, and the people greeted up, and the blessed greeted down. But the most beautiful thing was the wonderful music that could be heard from heaven at that time. The good Lord had written down the notes himself, and a thousand angels performed them with violins, timpani and trumpets. When it began to ring, it became very quiet on earth. But the people nodded to each other and secretly shook hands. It was like that back then.

But one day the good Lord closed the gates of heaven as a punishment and said to the angels: “Stop your music; because I am sad! ”The angels were also saddened and each sat down with his sheet of music on a cloud and shredded the sheet of music into individual pieces; they made them fly down to earth. Here the wind took it, blew it like a snowflake over mountain and valley and scattered it all over the world. And the human children each got a schnitzel. But over time they began to quarrel and fall apart because everyone believed they had got the best; and in the end everyone claimed that what he had was the real heavenly music. - It is still like that today.

But when the last day comes, when the stars fall on the earth and the sun into the sea and the people crowd at the gates of heaven like the children at Christmas when the door is opened, then the good Lord will through the angels all the shredded paper to have his heavenly music book collected again, the big ones as well as the small ones, and even the very small ones, on which only a single note is written. The angels will put the pieces back together and then the gates will pop open and the heavenly music will resound, just as beautiful as it used to be. The human children will stand there and listen, amazed and ashamed.

Little Mohr and the Gold Princess

Once upon a time there lived a little black boy who was despised by people everywhere because of the color of his skin . In addition, the color was not quite real. In the evenings his shirt collar was always completely black, and when he touched his mother you could see all five fingers on the dress, so that his mother would always peel him away. When he was fourteen, his parents said it was high time he learned something to earn a living from. He said he wanted to go out into the big wide world and become a musician. But his father said that it was an artless art and his mother replied: “You can only become something black!” Finally they agreed that he was best suited to the chimney sweep , so they apprenticed him to a master. So now the black boy was a chimney sweep and had to crawl into the food day in and day out . And the meals were often so tight that he was afraid he would get stuck. But he always came out happy on the roof. When he had finished learning, the master ordered him to go to his room and wash and dress very finely and nobly. He wanted to acquit him , then he would be a journeyman . When he entered the master's room, where apprentices and journeymen had already gathered, he was still very black, although here and there something light shone through where he had rubbed the black in the food. Then everyone noticed with horror how things were with him. The master declared that he could not become a journeyman now because he was not even a proper Christian. And they shoved him out of the courtyard door.

Then a man came by by chance and looked at him from top to bottom, and when he noticed that he was a black youth, he said he was a distinguished gentleman and wanted to take him into his service. All he should have to do was stand in the back of his car when he was out walking with his wife, so that one could see straight away that noble people were coming. The little man didn't think twice about it, but went with them. One day, however, when they were walking again and he was standing on the back, a terrible storm arose and the rain poured down. When they got home, the gentleman saw that black dripping down the back of the car. The noble gentleman took a handkerchief, licked the tip, and ran it over the black man's forehead. The tip was black. "I thought so," he exclaimed, "you're not even real!" Then the poor little man, crying, packed up his belongings and wanted to go. But the noble man's wife called him back and said that he should not despair, but rather remain good and good. Then she gave him a violin and a mirror in which he should look once a week.

So the little man went out into the world and became a musician. He didn't have a teacher. But he listened to what the birds were singing and what the bushes and brooks rustled, and played it after them. And on his wanderings he was sometimes doing well, but mostly badly. If he stopped in front of some house in the evening, played a nice song and asked for a place to stay for the night, people would probably let him in. He moved on from town to town and country to country. Every Sunday he pulled out the mirror and checked how much was gone. It wasn't much, of course, but when he had been hiking for five years you could see the basic color shimmering through everywhere. At the same time he had become such a master of the violin that wherever he went young and old came together to listen to him. One day he came to a city where a golden princess ruled; she had hair, face and hands of gold. She ate with gold knives and forks from gold plates and wore gold clothes. For the rest, however, she was proud and haughty, and of the many princes who rode for her, none was beautiful and noble enough for her. When the black man heard how beautiful the princess was, he went to her palace , sat on the stairs, picked up the violin and began to play. Then the gold princess ordered her free maids to see who was playing so beautifully outside. Then they brought the news that it was a person with such a strange complexion. One said he was mouse gray; the second, it was pike-gray, and the third even, it was donkey-gray. Then the maids brought him up. When he saw the princess, who was really all over gold and shone like the sun, he threw himself on his knees before her and said: “Most beautiful gold princess! You are so beautiful as you don't even know it! I am a poor black man who keeps getting whiter; the song I played is far from my most beautiful, and if you want to marry me, I'll be so happy that I want to jump across the table with the same legs! ”When the princess heard this, she began to laugh out loud and the three maids laughed too. Then a tremendous horror befell him, because he realized that he had said something stupid. He took his violin and jumped down the stairs and ran into the woods. Finally he hung the violin over his back again, whistled his whistle, and walked on, going from town to town as before. And from year to year he got whiter and whiter, and people loved him more and more, because the songs he thought up became more and more beautiful, and no one could compete with him on the violin. And when he grew up and became a man, he looked all white. Nobody wanted to believe that he used to be black.

One day he came to a town where there was a fair . Then he saw a booth, in front of it was a mad fellow with a brightly colored jacket who shouted that people would like to come in, that the greatest wonders of the world could be seen: a calf with two heads, a pig that lay cards and tell fortune and the famous, beautiful gold princess that all men would have fought for. So he went in, and it seemed to him as if he were about to sink into the earth in shock; because it really was her. But the gold was almost everywhere, and he saw that it was only made of tin. He almost laughed out loud when he saw that she didn't recognize him. But he felt sorry for her, and so he only asked softly whether she didn't even know who he was. Now it was her turn to become very still and to be ashamed, and with much sobbing she told how the gold had first gone down in a few places and then almost everywhere; how they hid it from their subjects for a long time and how they finally noticed it and chased them away. Now she wandered around the fairs, but she was fed up with it, and if he was still thinking the way she used to, she would be happy to marry him. To which he replied very seriously that he regretted her from the bottom of his heart, but was far too sensible to marry a tin princess. He certainly hopes to have a much better wife like her again. With that he went out to the booth and left the tin princess standing there, who nearly burst with rage. For a while he continued his old wandering life; then it happened that the king heard of his game and had him called. He had to play for him one song after the other, and at last the king stepped down from his throne, embraced him, and asked if he wanted to be his best friend. When he answered in the affirmative, the king let him drive through the city in his golden chariot and gave him a house and so much money that he had enough of it for his entire life. And he got a wife too. Not a princess, but a woman with a golden heart. With that he lived happily and highly honored until his late end.

Of heaven and hell

Once upon a time, two wanderers traveled along the sky road, a poor man and a rich man. They had lived on the same street on earth, the rich man in a splendid house and the poor man in a little hut. But because death makes no difference, it happened that they both died at the same hour. They reached the gate of heaven and Peter said, “Just step both of you into the hall; the rest will be found! Take a rest and wait for me to come back; but use your time well, because you should meanwhile think about how you want it up here. Each of you should have it exactly as he wishes it for himself! ”With that he left. When he returned after a while and asked how they wanted it in eternity, the rich man jumped up and said he wanted a great golden castle as beautiful as the emperor had none, and the best food every day. Chocolate early in the morning and roast veal with applesauce and rice pudding with sausages at lunchtime, followed by red groats . That would be his favorite dishes. And something different every day in the evening. He also wanted a very nice grandfather's chair and a green silk dressing gown; And Peter shouldn't forget the daily paper either, so that he would know what was happening. Then Peter looked at him pityingly, was silent for a long time and finally asked: “And you don't want anything else?” “Oh yes!” The rich man said quickly, “Money, a lot of money, all cellars full!” “You should have everything ", Replied Peter," come, follow me! "And he opened one of the many doors and led the rich man into a magnificent golden castle, in it everything was as he had wished it. After showing him everything, he went away and pushed a large iron bolt in front of the gate of the castle.

But the rich man had a good time, and when he was full he read the daily paper. And once every day he went down to the cellar and looked at his money. And twenty and fifty years passed and fifty again, so that there were a hundred - and that is only a span of eternity - when the rich man was so tired of his magnificent golden lock that he could hardly bear it any longer. However, when a thousand years had passed, the great iron bolt on the gate rattled and Peter entered. “Well,” he asked, “how do you like it?” Then the rich man became bitterly angry: “How do I like it? I like it badly; very bad! How can you imagine that you can stand it here for a thousand years! You don't hear anything, you don't see anything; nobody cares about you. There are nothing like lies in your much-praised heaven and with your eternal happiness. "Then Peter looked at him in astonishment and said:" You don't even know where you are? You think you are in heaven You are in hell. The castle belongs to hell. ”“ This is hell? ”Asked the rich man, startled. "Where are the devil and the fire and the cauldrons?" "You mean," replied Peter, "that sinners are roasted." Then the rich man fell backwards, horrified, into his grandfather's chair and sobbed: "In hell, in the hell! I poor, unhappy person, what shall become of me! ”And again a hundred years and then a hundred, and the time became so terribly long for the rich man. And when the second thousand came to an end, Peter entered again. “Oh!” Shouted the rich man towards him, “I have longed so much for you! I am very sad! And how should it stay now? All eternity? ”The rich man dropped his head on his chest and began to weep bitterly. But Peter secretly counted his tears, and when he saw that there were so many that God would certainly forgive him, he said: “Come on, I want to show you something really beautiful! Up on the floor I know a knothole in the wall so you can see a little into the sky. ”They climbed up, and in the attic the rich man looked through the knothole in the wall. There sat the good Lord on his golden throne between the clouds and the stars in all his splendor and glory, and around him all the angels and saints. “Oh,” exclaimed the rich man, “that is beautiful, as one cannot even imagine on earth. But say, who is the one who is sitting at the feet of God and turning his back on me? ”“ That is the poor man who lived next to you on earth and with whom you came up together. All he wanted was a footstool so that he could sit down at God's feet. And that's what he got, just like you got your castle. ”And after another thousand years, Peter came for the last time. The rich man was still standing on tiptoe in the attic room by the wall and gazing steadily into the sky and was so absorbed in seeing that he didn't even notice when Peter entered. Finally Peter said: “Come with me, you have stood long enough! Your sins are forgiven you; I'm supposed to take you to heaven. You could have had it much more comfortably if you had only wanted to? "

The old suitcase

An old, single man owned a suitcase. But this one was old and ugly with a shaggy seal skin and rusty fittings . But the old man was very careful, and after his many journeys the suitcase had to come back to his room under the golden mirror, so that people thought the suitcase was full of gold. But that wasn't true. Nobody except the old man had looked inside the suitcase before, because whenever someone came close the lid slammed shut. Once, however, a clever maid in stockings crept into the room when the suitcase was just open. And when it saw that the inside of the suitcase was covered with red velvet and covered with golden cords, it gave a puzzled cry, so that the suitcase snapped shut quickly and almost pinched the maid's fingers. Startled, the girl didn't tell anyone what was in the suitcase. Sometimes the old man did open his suitcase, but only secretly and behind closed doors. He pressed a secret spring and a little princess with long braids jumped out of a red velvet box and told the man the most beautiful fairy tales.

See also

Book editions

  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale . With pictures by Olga von Fialka . Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1871. (40th edition 1910)
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale . With illustrations and Book decoration v. Hans Richard v. Volkmann. 62nd edition. Breitkopf u. Härtel, Leipzig 1915.
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale . With colorful pictures by Hans Bombach. Selected and introduced by Wilhelm Müller-Rüdersdorf. Axia-Verlag, Berlin 1931.
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: From the invisible kingdom. Fairy tale. With drawings by Ernst Cincera. Stocker-Schmid. Dietikon / Zurich 1958.
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tales (= Hamburg reading books. Volume 16). Hamburger Reading Books Verlag, Hamburg around 1955, DNB 1024094537 .
  • Richard Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Albert Langen and Georg Müller - Verlag, Munich a. a. 1973, ISBN 3-7844-1530-X .
  • Richard Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. (= Reclams Universal Library ). Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-15-006091-5 .
  • Richard Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale collection. Artemis & Winkler, 2003, ISBN 3-538-06860-7 .
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale. (= Literary tradition in the WFB publishing group ). Bad Schwartau 2006, ISBN 3-86672-055-6 .
  • Richard von Volkmann-Leander: Daydreams at French chimneys. Fairy tale collection. Albatros-Verlag Patmos, Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-491-96242-2 .

literature

  • Fedor Krause : In memory of Richard von Volkmann (Richard Leander). Hirschwald, Berlin 1890.
  • Ute Söll: Life and work of the Halle surgeon Richard von Volkmann. Univ. Dissertation, Halle 1996.
  • Simone Trieder : Richard von Volkmann - surgeon and man of letters. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2006, ISBN 3-89812-353-7 .

Web links

Wikisource: Richard von Volkmann  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ = looking to the bride
  2. ↑ = absolutely; completely
  3. ↑ Richard Volkmann writes about this fairy tale: “The motive for this fairy tale does not come from me. I've known it since I was a child, but I don't know where it came from. "
  4. ↑ Mohr is the outdated term that is now perceived as discriminatory for a man with dark skin. In the summary of the fairy tale, the term Mohr is therefore dispensed with and the word is circumscribed.
  5. ↑ see also: The poor and the rich (fairy tale) and rich man and poor Lazarus