Retold from: Wilhelm Hauff

Wilhelm Hauff was a German writer of the Biedermeier era, the author of “Little Muck”, “Caliph Stork” and “The Cold Heart”.

He was born in Stuttgart in 1802, studied theology and philosophy in Tübingen and worked as a private tutor. The stories he made up for the children in his care became the basis of his first fairy tales. Hauff lived only 24 years and died in 1827 in his home town.

He published his tales in the “Fairy Tale Almanacs” for 1826, 1827 and 1828, where they are told by travellers, merchants and guests gathered around one table. His Eastern settings mix humour with a very German love of small details.

The site has “Little Muck”: the story of a dwarf in enormous slippers whom everyone teased, and who turned out to be cleverer than those who laughed at him.