Little Mook And Dwarf Longnose

By Wilhelm Hauff

1986

First Published

3.95

Average Rating

Number of Pages

2H22M

Audio Length

WILHELM HAUFF was a story-teller in the great European mythic tradition. His short stories, peopled with a vivid assortment of dwarves, evil witches, enchanted swans, and devious princes, owe a clear debt to the Brothers Grimm. But rather than rehashing old tales, Hauff created a realm far more exotic than the Grimm's Black Forest, a place where the morals are less than clear-cut and where characters must rely on wits as much as magic spells to solve their predicaments. One collection (probably his best known volume), Little Mook, provides the two tales for our new Pocket Paragon: "The History of Little Mook" and "Longnose the Dwarf." "Little Mook" features a gnomish, innocent orphan whose parents never thought he would amount to much and refused him even the most basic education. Friendless and alone, the naive Little Mook is stripped of his inheritance, cast out into a hostile world. Blessed with an enterprising nature and outfitted with a pair of magic slippers, he still manages to outwit a cabal of treacherous courtiers and make his fortune. "Longnose the Dwarf" stars a clever little boy enslaved by a cruel witch's curse. Freed from servitude but transformed into a hideous dwarf with a huge proboscis, he returns to parents who no longer recognize him. Luckily his culinary skills put him in good standing with the local Duke, and his good nature and generous heart restore him (with a little help from some magic herbs and an enchanted goose) to his family. Both stories are decorated with the glowing, gemlike tempera paintings of Boris Pak, a Russian artist whose ornate, whimsical style perfectly captures the romance and humor of these two extraordinary fables. His paintings, smuggledout of Communist Russia, are the first of his works to be published in the U.S. and they're reproduced here in glorious color.

Avg Rating

3.95

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

32%

4 STARS

37%

3 STARS

26%

2 STARS

1 STARS

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Author

Wilhelm Hauff

Author · 14 books

Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist best known for his fairy tales. Educated at the University of Tübingen, Hauff worked as a tutor and in 1827 became editor of J.F. Cotta’s newspaper Morgenblatt. Hauff had a narrative and inventive gift and sense of form; he wrote with ease, combining narrative themes of others with his own. His work shows a pleasant, often spirited, wit. There is a strong influence of E.T.A. Hoffmann in his fantasy Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satans (1826–27; “Pronouncements from the Memoirs of Satan”). Hauff’s Lichtenstein (1826), a historical novel of 16th-century Württemberg, was one of the first imitations of Sir Walter Scott. He is also known for a number of fairy tales that were published in his Märchenalmanach auf das Jahr 1826 and had lasting popularity. Similar volumes followed in 1827 and 1828. His novellas, which were collected posthumously in Novellen, 3 vol. (1828), include Jud Süss (The Jew Suss; serialized 1827).