The Little Glass Man, and Other StoriesHauff, Wilhelm
Science
The Little Glass Man, and Other Stories
Hauff, Wilhelm
Children's stories
'"I am glad you will see the old inn standing where the stories were
told," he said, "and you will be quite comfortable at the forest-house
Diana. If I were you I should tell the lady-forester at once that you
are an English girl, and no Nihilist; that is what she is sure to think
if she sees a girl travelling about by herself. Tell her I sent you
there, and give my love to her niece Malchen, a wild little girl but a
good one, I feel sure, whatever they say to the contrary."'
At this point of her narrative the Blue Fairy stopped. There was a
pause.
'Well?' said Gogul Mogul. 'Go on, please go on,' the fairies called in
the audience.
'There is nothing more to tell,' said the Blue Fairy; 'the story of
the Little Glass Man was found. I read it through the next afternoon,
sitting in the garden of the inn where the student had originally told
it. Then I went back into the forest-house Diana, and sat chatting in
the kitchen with the lady-forester while the apples and potatoes for
the pigs were stewing, and Malchen sat by eating sour milk from a great
earthenware bowl. But of course that has nothing to do with the finding
of the stories. Only it was so enjoyable up there, it was so delightful
walking with that splendid map, and reading those stories, and making
friends with a charcoal-burner who was quite like Peter Munk, and
looking on while huge bits of timber were felled, that I stayed on and
on. Only of course there was the work of translating the stories into
English.'
Again the Blue Fairy stopped; there was prolonged cheering and clapping
of hands. It was Fairy Queen who spoke next:
'All this is very interesting,' she said, 'and so, I feel sure, is a
great deal more which the Blue Fairy could tell us about Germany. But
she has been travelling all day, she must be tired, we must not ask for
more to-night; only I am sure you must all be wanting to hear the story
about this Little Glass Man. As for myself, I am most anxious to hear
what he was like and what he did. As the fairy has translated the story
into English, and Gogul Mogul is sure to have the manuscript about him,
I propose calling on him to read it to us.'
There was long and loud cheering at this among the fairies. Gogul Mogul
fumbled first in one pocket, then in another; at last he brought out a
roll of manuscript and began as follows:
[Illustration]
THE LITTLE GLASS MAN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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