Summary of “Little Tsahes” by Hoffmann
In a small state where Prince Demetrius reigned, every citizen was given complete freedom in his endeavor. And fairies and magicians above all put warmth and freedom, so with Demetrius, many fairies from the magical land of Ginistan moved to the blessed little principality. However, after the death of Demetrius, his successor, Pafnuti, conceived the idea of introducing enlightenment in his fatherland. He had the most radical ideas about enlightenment: any magic should be abolished, fairies engaged in dangerous witchcraft, and the prime concern of the ruler is to plant potatoes, plant acacias, cut down forests and vaccinate smallpox. Such education in a few days dried the blossoming edge, the fairies were deported to Ginistan (they did not resist too much), and only the fairy Rosabelverde managed to stay in the principality, which persuaded Paphnutia to give her the place of the canoness in the orphanage for noble maidens.
This kind fairy fairy, the flower-master, saw once,
In the meantime, the young poet Baltazar, a melancholic student, in love with the daughter of his professor Mosh Terpin, is cheerful and charming Candida. Mosh Turpin is obsessed with the ancient German spirit, as he understands it: heavyweight combined with vulgarity, which is even more unbearable than Balthazar’s mystical romanticism. Balthazar strikes at all the romantic eccentricities so characteristic
Meanwhile, a touching university reserve, where typical burshes, typical enlighteners, typical romantics and typical patriots personify the diseases of the German spirit, is invaded by a new face: the little Tsaches, endowed with the magic gift of attracting people to himself. Catching himself in the house of Mosh Terpin, he completely fascinates him and Candida. Now his name is Zinnober. It is worthwhile for someone in his presence to read poetry or witty words – all present are convinced that this is the merit of Zinnober; It is worth it to vilely jumble or stumble – one of the other guests is guilty. Everyone admires the grace and dexterity of Zinnober, and only two students – Balthasar and his friend Fabian – see all the ugliness and malice of the dwarf. Meanwhile, he manages to take the place of the freight forwarder in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
It so happened that in his crystal carriage with a pheasant on the goats and a gold beetle on the heels of Kerpes, Dr. Prosper Alpanus, a wandering incognito, visited. Balthazar immediately recognized him as a magician, Fabian, spoiled by enlightenment, at first doubted; Alpanus proved his power by showing Zinnober’s friends in a magic mirror. It turned out that the dwarf – not a magician and not a dwarf, but a common ugly creature, helped by some secret power. This secret power Alpanes found without difficulty, and the fairy Rosabelverde hastened to pay him a visit. The magician informed the fairy that he had compiled a horoscope for the dwarf and that Tsahes-Zinnober could sooner destroy not only Balthazar and Candida, but the entire principality, where he became his man at court. The fairy is forced to agree and deny Tsachesu in her patronage – especially since the magic comb,
That’s just the point, that after these combings in my head, the dwarf had three flinty hairs. They endowed him with witchcraft: all the other’s merits were attributed to him, all his vices – to others, and only a few saw the truth. Hairs had to be pulled out and immediately burned – and Balthasar and his friends managed to do this when Moshin Terpin was already engaging Zinnober’s engagement with Candida. The thunder struck; everyone saw the dwarf as he was. They played him like a ball, he was kicked, he was kicked out of the house. In wild anger and horror he fled to his magnificent palace, which the prince gave him, but the confusion among the people grew unstoppable. Everybody heard about the transformation of the minister. The unfortunate dwarf died, stuck in a jar, where he tried to hide, and in the form of the last good deed the fairy returned to him after death the face of a handsome boy. She did not forget the mother of the unfortunate,
And Balthasar and Candida have healed happily, as a poet with a beautiful woman, who at the very beginning of his life was blessed by the mage Prosper Alpanus, should live.
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