The Little Glass Man, and Other StoriesHauff, Wilhelm
Science
The Little Glass Man, and Other Stories
Hauff, Wilhelm
Children's stories
Peter Munk had now reached the highest point of the Tannenbühl, and
stood before a pine of enormous girth, for which a Dutch shipbuilder
would have given many hundred florins on the spot. 'Here,' said he,
'the treasure-keeper (Schatzhauser) no doubt lives;' and pulling off
his large hat, he made a low bow before the tree, cleared his throat,
and said with a trembling voice, 'I wish you a good evening, Mr.
Glass Man.' But receiving no answer, and all around remaining silent
as before, he thought it would probably be better to say the verse,
and therefore murmured it forth. On repeating the words he saw, to
his great astonishment, a singular and very small figure peep forth
from behind the tree. It seemed to him as if he had beheld the Little
Glass Man, just as he was described; the little black jacket, red
stockings, hat, all even to the pale, but fine shrewd countenance of
which the people talked so much, he thought he had seen. But alas, as
quickly as it had peeped forth, as quickly it had disappeared again.
'Mr. Glass Man,' cried Peter Munk, after a short hesitation, 'pray
don't make a fool of me; if you fancy that I have not seen you, you
are vastly mistaken; I saw you very well peeping forth from behind the
tree.' Still no answer; only at times he fancied he heard a low, hoarse
tittering behind the tree. At length his impatience conquered this
fear, which had still restrained him, and he cried, 'Wait, you little
rascal, I will have you yet.' At the same time he jumped behind the
tree, but there was no Schatzhauser, and only a pretty little squirrel
was running up the tree.
Peter Munk shook his head; he saw he had succeeded to a certain degree
in the incantation, and that he perhaps only wanted one more rhyme to
the verse to evoke the Little Glass Man; he tried over and over again,
but could not think of anything. The squirrel showed itself on the
lowest branches of the tree, and seemed to encourage or perhaps to mock
him. It trimmed itself, it rolled its pretty tail, and looked at him
with its cunning eyes. At length he was almost afraid of being alone
with this animal; for sometimes it seemed to have a man's head and to
wear a three-cornered hat, sometimes to be quite like another squirrel,
with the exception only of having red stockings and black shoes on its
hind feet. In short, it was a merry little creature, but still Peter
felt an awe, fancying that all was not right.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account