Fairy Tales & Ghost Stories by Theodor Storm Read online

Little Häwelmann

  Once there was a little boy named Häwelmann. At night he slept in a crib on wheels, and also in the afternoon when he was tired; but when he was not tired, his mother had to move him in it around the room, and he could never get enough of it.

  Now the little Häwelmann one night lay in his crib and could not fall asleep; beside him, his mother had long been sleeping in her big four-poster bed. "Mother," cried the little Häwelmann, "I want to move!" And the mother in her sleep reached with her arm out of the bed and rolled the little bedstead here and there, and if her arm became tired, little Häwelmann would cry, “More, more,” and the rolling would begin again! But at last she fell completely asleep, and as much as Häwelmann was able to scream, she couldn’t hear it; she was completely gone. That didn’t last long, because before long the moon looked through the windowpane, the good, old moon, and what he saw there was so funny that he first ran his coat sleeve over his face to wipe his eyes, it was something the old moon has not seen his whole life. There laid the small Häwelmann with open eyes in his bedroll and with one leg held like a mast in the air. He had taken his little shirt off and hung it like a sail on his little toe, and then he took a tiny corner of the shirt in each hand and with both cheeks began to blow. And gradually, gently, gently, it began to roll across the floor, then up the wall, then headed over along the ceiling and then back down the other wall. "More, more!" cried Häwelmann, as he was back on the floor; and then he blew out his cheeks again, and it went upside up and upside down. It was great luck for the little Häwelmann that it was just night and the earth was turned upside down; otherwise he could have too easily broken his neck.

  When he had made the trip three times, the moon suddenly looked in his face. "Boy," he said, "have you still not enough?" – “No,” Häwelmann cried, "more, more! Open the door! I want to travel through the city. All men should see me drive." – “That I can not," said the good moon, but he let a long beam fall through the keyhole, and on this the small Häwelmann travelled out of the house.

  It was quite still and deserted on the street. The tall houses stood in the bright light of the moon and stared with their black windows quite silently out into the city; but mankind was nowhere to be seen. It truly rattled as the little Häwelmann travelled in his wheeled crib on the cobblestones, the good moon always beside him to light the way. So they drove out of one street, into another, but the people were nowhere to be seen. As they passed near the church the golden cock on the steeple crowed. They kept quiet. "What are you doing?" cried up little Häwelmann. - "I crow for the first time!" called down the golden cock. - "Where are the people?" called up little Häwelmann. - "They sleep," called down the golden cock. "When I crow for the third time, the first man wakes up." - "It will take me too long," said Häwelmann. "I want to go into the forest, all the animals will see me go! "-" Boy," said the good old moon," have you not had enough?" - " No," cried Häwelmann, "more, more! Light, old Moon, shine!" And he blew out his cheeks, and the good old moon shone, and they went out through the city gate and across the field and into the dark forest. The good moon had great difficulty getting through between the many trees, sometimes he was quite a bit back, but he caught up to little Häwelmann again and again.

  In the forest it was quiet and deserted, and the animals were not visible, neither the deer nor the hare, nor the little mice. So they went on and on, through pine and beech forests, uphill and downhill. The good moon went alongside and shone in all the bushes, but the animals were not visible, only a small cat was sitting up in an oak tree, glaring with his eyes. There it kept quiet. "It's the little Hinze! "Häwelmann said, "I know it well. it wants to imitate the stars." And as they drove on, the little cat leaped from tree to tree. "What are you doing?" cried little Häwelmann up. - "I illuminate!" cried the little cat down. - "Where are the other animals?" cried the little Häwelmann up. - "They sleep," the little cat shouted down and leaped to a farther tree. "Listen to how they snore." - "Boy," said the good old moon, “have you still not enough?" - " No," cried Häwelmann, "more, more! Light, old moon, shine," and then he blew out his cheeks and the good old moon glowed! And they rode out of the woods and then into the meadow to the end of the world, and then straight into the sky.

  It was merry, all the stars were awake and their eyes flashed, and that the whole sky sparkled. "Make way!" Häwelmann screamed and ran into the crowd, that the stars fell from fear to the left and right of the sky. - "Boy,” said the good old moon, “have you still not enough?" - "No,” screamed the little Häwelmann, "more, more!" And – have you not seen! he drove across the nose of the good old moon, so that he became very dark brown in the face. "Ugh," said the moon and sneezed three times, “everything in moderation!" And he turned snuffing out his lantern, and all the stars closed their eyes. At once the whole sky was suddenly so dark that one could truly grasp it with his hands. "Light, old moon, shine," cried Häwelmann, but the moon was nowhere to be seen, as well as the stars! They had all gone to bed. There the little Häwelmann was very afraid, because he was so alone in the sky. He took the little shirt corners in his hands and blew out his cheeks, but he knew not whether to go out or in, and so he drove back and forth, this way and that, and nobody saw him go, neither the people nor animals, nor the lovely stars.

  There from below, under the bottom edge of the sky, a read round face peeped up at him, and the small Häwelmann thought that the moon had risen again. "Light, old moon, shine," he said. And then he blew out his cheeks and drove back across the sky and quite wildly. But it was the sun that had just came up from the sea. "Boy," she cried, and then looked him in the face with her glowing eyes, "what are you doing here in my sky?" And - one, two, three! she took the little Häwelmann and threw him in the middle of the great water. There he could learn to swim.

  And then?

  Yes and then? Do you not remember? If you and I had not come and taken the little Häwelmann into our boat, he could have easily drowned!

  Hinzelmeier

  A Thoughtful Story