Hermetic Children’s Stories. Pt. 1.
[Hermetische Kindergeschichten.][1]
Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl
The Elephant and the Fly.
A little stable fly led a very funny life. Especially on hot days, she took the greatest pleasure in flying around people’s ears, humming and growling, and perching on everyone’s noses as soon as she found the opportunity, which of course was very annoying. This little fly possessed a big elephant, and the elephant had to do what the fly wanted.
Now you will probably say that this is an exaggerated claim; for how could a small fly cope with a large elephant? Still, the story is true; for if the fly wanted the elephant to thrash about with its trunk, all it had to do was sit on its back and tickle it. Sometimes she even forced the elephant to throw himself into a swamp and roll in the mud, and the elephant could do nothing else, for in this way he was trying to get rid of the fly, because the tickling displeased him. But then, when the elephant came out of the puddle, the story started all over again, and so it came about that this big animal had to dance and hop just as the little fly wanted; because despite its thick skin, the elephant was very sensitive. Had he been wise enough not to concern himself with the matter, none of this would have happened; because basically a fly cannot upset an elephant, but the elephant gets upset about the fly itself. As for the lesson to be learned from this story, I will say nothing about it, for that would deprive the children of the pleasure of finding that lesson for themselves.
The Fool.
In a distant country (I think it was inland Africa) there lived a philosopher of ancient times, but he was also a great fool by the way. For, one day a magician came to the village where this philosopher lived and brought a so-called magic lantern with him, by means of which he made representations, and all the people, young and old, ran together to see the thing. He set up his lantern in a large hall, and after it had grown dark he lit a candle in it, and immediately afterwards the most remarkable pictures appeared on the opposite wall. There, one could see all kinds of landscapes with high mountains and deep valleys, seas and rivers on which there were even ships; there were trees and animals and people of various kinds moving just as if they were really alive. All those present were amazed and delighted at this idea and asked the magician how he did all this. He explained it to them and showed them the sliders and proved that these were all just shadow images and that nothing of the kind could be produced without the light in the magic lantern. Everyone present was very satisfied, only the fool didn’t want to believe the explanation, but insisted stiffly and firmly that he knew that all the beautiful things had come about by themselves on the empty wall and that consequently the wall was the magician’s. Then the whole assembly laughed at this fool; but we can be proud of the fact that something like this cannot happen with us, because today, as a result of the progress of our culture, everyone is so enlightened that one will hardly find anyone who cannot distinguish between truth and appearance?
The Alchemist.
A young and inexperienced person who had inherited a small fortune wanted to become very rich and hit upon the idea of studying alchemy and making real gold artificially. He acquired and studied various books dealing with the art of gold-making. He bought sulfur and mercury and various salts in the pharmacy, provided himself with retorts and crucibles, glasses and bottles, pots and cans and began to experiment, distilling, inhibiting, sublimating, precipitating, but in spite of all his efforts he managed nothing. After many years of doing this, wasting all his fortune and growing old and gray, he finally began to see that in his alchemical books it was not about chemicals that you can buy in the pharmacy, but about mental powers which was meant, and consequently all the work to which he had devoted his life was in vain. Now he would have liked to start the work again, but in a different way, from scratch, but now his fortune was gone and he was able to do what he needed by no longer purchasing material. His last words before he died were: “It is a pity that one only begins to understand how to live when life comes to an end.”
The Gardener and the Billy Goat.
A gardener owned a little vegetable garden in the country, in which he grew cabbages and turnips and other vegetables, which he brought to the town to market; but he was so poor that he could not afford a donkey, and therefore had to pull the heavy cart to town himself every morning, which was very arduous work, and made him pant and sweat. The king saw him once and felt very sorry for the poor man. He therefore sent him a large billy goat strong enough to pull the cart.
The gardener was very pleased; He tied the billy-goat’s legs together, put it on his cart, and drove it home, and as he had no stall he let the billy-goat run into his garden. But when he went into the garden at daybreak next morning to gather vegetables again, he found that the billy goat had eaten everything during the night and there was nothing left to sell. Then the gardener got angry and killed the billy-goat and scolded the king, who he said had done him such harm by his gift.
A True Story.
In a region not far from Germany, there was once a great lack of food due to lack of growth, so that many fathers no longer knew where to get their daily bread, and women and children had to suffer from hunger. One day a wise man came from a distant country and brought a large sack full of potatoes, which he gave to the king. After the king was convinced of the goodness of these potatoes, he gave them to his ministers to distribute among the people. Now all trouble would have been relieved if the ministers had known that the potatoes must first be boiled in order to make them edible before they can be eaten. But the ministers did not know this, and the people also had no taste for raw potatoes, and many who tried to eat the raw potatoes fell ill from it. There were many who believed that the king wished to mock his people by giving them such indigestible food, and so the famine continued until at last a learned cook invented the boiling of potatoes. But even today it is said to happen more often than not that a truth that one does not understand is not only of no use, but even causes damage and is taken for a lie.
The Capitalist.
A capitalist who had gambled away all his money on the stock market was destitute and paralyzed by his anger. He had nothing left in the world and could no longer work. No one wanted to borrow him anything, he had to live on alms and many days had nothing to eat.
One day a rich merchant came who felt sorry for the beggar and said to him: “Dear friend! I see that you are in a very sad situation and I want to show you the way to get rich again quickly. I intend to sell my large department store, and if you can only pay half a million down payment, you shall have it and make two million in a short time. Besides, the shares of the Automobile Airship Company are now very low and an investment of a few hundred thousand marks will no doubt bring you a large return in a few years’ time.”
Then the beggar got angry and began to scold the merchant and yelled: “Go to hell with your good advice, which is of no use to me because I have no money and nobody lends me anything. If I had the means, I would know what I could do, but without them your science is useless to me.
The Scholar.
A scholar had made it his business to study the wealth of the world. He read the stock market report every day and knew exactly the value of gold and silver, of dollars and marks, rupees and franks, lires, napoleons d’or and guineas. He knew the value of various government securities, banknotes, railroad stocks, bonds, mortgages, bonds, lottery tickets, etc., and he calculated the fortunes of millionaires in different countries. He knew all this fairly well and no one could doubt his knowledge. But while poring over his bills, he neglected to acquire anything for himself. He died poor and left nothing but a great deal of debt, for all his science had served nothing but the satisfaction of his curiosity.
The Betrayed Suitor.
Once upon a time there was a glorious queen. She was beautiful and she owned the whole world. Her throne shone like the sun and the starry sky was her diadem. Despite all this, few of her subjects had ever seen her face to face, and there were many who even denied her existence, or would not acknowledge her dominion, for she hid from the eyes of the profane crowd, and when on special occasions she posed openly she was always veiled in a thick veil, for she knew that most people could not endure the sight of her, and that if she had shown herself unveiled, she would have been misjudged, mocked and mistreated.
Not far from her castle lived a work-shy beggar in a half-ruined hut. He was a hunchbacked dwarf, misshapen and ugly of face, his clothes in rags, and to arouse the pity of the people he feigned lameness and hobbled about on crutches, though he might well have stood on his own two feet if he could would have wanted.
One day the queen saw this beggar from the window of her palace, and, unbelievable as it may sound, it so happened that she fell in love with him and resolved to marry him. Before marrying him, however, she wanted to make sure whether the beggar would decide to marry her out of love for her beauty or just because of her wealth. For this purpose she chose from among her servants a stable maid who was particularly ugly, old, and wrinkled. She had watery eyes and a long copper-red nose, and no one who had once looked closely at her liked her. This stable maid furnished the queen with a dress cut in the latest fashion, and had her draped with all sorts of spangles and false jewels, and seated on the throne, while she herself stood on the steps of the throne in unassuming dress.
When the ugly dwarf was brought into the castle to choose his bride, he took the stable-maid for the queen and paid no attention to the real queen, for the apparent riches with which the stable-maid was draped attracted him more than the beauty of the queen, and he said to himself, “What good is beauty if I have no profit from it?” Thus the dwarf chose the stable maid and bonded with her; but after bringing her into his hut as his wife, he found that all he had expected of her was appearance and deception, and being bound by this deception he could not get rid of her.
The Souvenirs.
A little boy had lots of toys and other things given to him as keepsakes by his friends and relatives, and more were always added when it was Christmas or when he was celebrating his birthday. There was a beautiful hobby horse and a plumed hat, there were embroidered slippers, song books, photographs and many other things, which I cannot name all.
When the little boy grew up, his father wanted to send him traveling to see the world, and the boy would have liked to see the world, but he couldn’t take all his toys with him and didn’t want to part with them. He looked through the whole collection to see if there was anything to leave behind; but every thing was dear to him. In truth, none of these things were of any use to him anymore, he no longer liked riding his hobby horse, he no longer wanted to put on his feathered hat, the acquaintances whose pictures he looked at had changed completely in the meantime, the slippers were now too small for him; but pleasant memories were attached to all these things, and he would not let them go; He even found whole sections of old newspapers indispensable because, as he said, they contained a lot of interesting things. So it came about that this young man could see nothing of the world and had to sit at home all his life until the house collapsed on his head.
The Traveler.
When little Peter, whom we all know well, had grown up, he received permission from his father to go to Rome to see the Pope and the other curiosities of the holy city; but there were so many different roads that led to Rome that he did not know which of them to choose. He joined a company which made the voyage by ship, but after having traveled a little distance, he was afraid and thought the ship might sink, and begged the captain to put him back on shore. Then he tried to get on with the stagecoach, but it was much too slow for him, and he got on the train. But then it happened so terribly quickly that he lost sight and hearing. He did not like this and got out again and decided to make the journey on foot. There were all sorts of ways in different directions, and since he didn’t know which was the shortest, he tried this one, then that one. But he got no further that way, and so it happened that all the other people with whom he had made the journey came to Rome and were allowed to see the Pope; But Peter did not come to Rome and saw nothing of the Pope and the beautiful toys.
The Horseman.
In a little village there were a multitude of children, each with his hobby-horse; they all took great pleasure in it and harped on about it. Some horses were of wood, others of paper, and the finest of these had a whistle behind them. Each of the boys thought that his hobby horse was the finest and best, and each wanted the others to admire his own. There was a big argument about this and the teacher came and wanted to take the boys’ hobbyhorses away to create peace. But the boys wept and begged so much that they had to be allowed to keep their horses; because what should a child do if it doesn’t have a hobby horse.
But one day a horseman came to the village on leave, and when the children saw him, they asked him where he got his hobby horse. But the rider was very astonished and answered: “What on earth should I do with a hobby horse since I have a real horse?” The children were amazed at this, and because they had not yet seen a real riding horse, they thought the horseman was a fool.
The Peddler.
Once upon a time there was a man who, dressed in a monk’s habit, went to all the fairs and traded in holy images. He also went from house to house selling the images of Saint Aloysius and Nepomuk and many other saints, and the people were greatly edified by them; but the trader himself was no saint, and there was no edification to be had from him.
The Swimmer.
A certain professor had become a doctor of the science of swimming. He had read all the books that were written on swimming and knew how to name the muscles that are set in motion when swimming. He knew the chemical composition of the water and there was not a fish in the water whose name he did not know. When his knowledge was at its peak, he thought of putting his theories to practical use. He had his tailor make a tailcoat for him and trim it with fish scales from top to bottom, and finally he sewed a fishtail onto his back. Thus equipped, he jumped into deep water and dived vertically, like a whetstone, into the depths. Since he did not appear again, one cannot know what became of him.
The Dissatisfied Servant.
A great king who owned many lands had a valet and a gardener. The gardener was always in a good mood, he worked from morning to night, singing or whistling like a merry bird. Whenever the king came into the garden, the gardener was very happy and brought him a beautiful bunch of flowers and the best fruit, and when the king once asked him if he was satisfied with his position, the gardener answered that he was not at all have with any other desire than to be constantly in the king’s service.
The valet, on the other hand, never sang or whistled, but always made a cross face, he was not satisfied with anything and there was nothing he could do right. When he came to the king he always looked sullen and made such a sour face as if the hens had taken his bread. The king took pity on him and one day asked him what was wrong and whether he was not satisfied with his wages. To this the valet replied: “Oh, dear sir! I have nothing to complain about my wages, because I already get more than I need, and I can’t complain about the food and the treatment either. But what really offends me and worries me day and night, so that even the best roast on your table doesn’t taste good to me, is that I’m not your son, but only your servant. Such a subordinate position does not suit me, I would like to be accepted into your family and be crown prince and heir to the throne, then I would also put on a golden dress and put a crown on my head instead of leading a miserable ascetic life. All the privations that I impose on myself are only intended to arouse your pity, so that you may have pity on me and accept me as your son.”
To this speech the king made no answer; but when the king’s son died soon afterwards, he made the gardener his heir and drove away the valet, for he preferred to see a cheerful face rather than a grumpy one.
The Evil Mother-in-law.
A man, whose name we are not allowed to name for certain reasons, married a widow’s daughter named Zweifel, and thinking he needed some support, he took his mother-in-law into the house. In the beginning everything went well, but it didn’t take long for the mother-in-law to exert her influence in the household. She got involved in everything and wanted to be in charge of everything in the house, and the more the mother-in-law’s influence grew, the more capricious and dissatisfied the husband’s wife became, so that from now on she was called “Mrs. Unrest”; She also became uglier from day to day, so that in the end the man couldn’t stand her any more and would gladly have separated from her if he hadn’t been afraid of his mother-in-law. He didn’t want to stay at home any longer and therefore often went for walks in the woods. One day, as he was resting under a tree, he found a beautiful plant which he liked very much. He dug them up by the roots, took them home and planted them in a flower pot, which he put in his mother-in-law’s room. The plant grew, but the mother-in-law could not stand the smell of this plant, and since the husband did not want to take the plant away, the mother-in-law left the house. After the mother-in-law was gone, the wife became just as beautiful and even more beautiful than she had been before, and husband and wife lived gloriously and peacefully together. Now the man would have liked to know the name of this precious plant, but of all the learned botanists he asked, none knew it, and I believe it is still little known in scholarly circles today.
Note:
[1] Hermetic Children’s Stories. Pt. 1. [Hermetische Kindergeschichten. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 2, no. 1-2 (January-February 1909), 29-49] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 2] [1]
(Continuation.)
The Mysterious Key.
A king had a treasury in which he kept all his treasures. There was in it a quantity of gold and silver, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topazes and many other precious stones, as well as precious pearls and other things of great value, but which nobody knew because they were locked in the treasury and nobody but the king denied it had the golden key to it. But the king never parted from this golden key; he carried it with him constantly, and even kept it hidden under his pillow at night while he slept.
The same king also had a servant and he was very curious to see the treasures hidden in the treasury. He tried in all sorts of ways to get the key to it; but he did not succeed, and when he saw that he could not obtained the key by cunning, he resolved to ask the king for it. The king was gracious to the servant; he immediately gave him the golden key and appointed him steward of the treasures.
Now that the servant had the key to the treasury, he was happy to be in possession of the treasure. He went to the treasury and waited for the key to open the door for him; but he didn’t know that it had to be turned, and the golden key wouldn’t open the door by itself, and the servant couldn’t do anything with the key. Consequently, despite having the key, the secrets of the treasury remained hidden from him and he could not manage them.
The Disobedient Saw.
A carpenter had a saw which worked very well. When he picked it up and sawed, it moved exactly as the carpenter wanted it to and cut the wood to the prescribed direction. This didn’t bother it at all, but it bothered the carpenter. Then one day the carpenter said to himself: “It’s a pity that this stupid saw isn’t alive and can’t want and think for itself; because then you could leave half the work to it and not have to try so hard to always guide it properly.”
Hearing this, the saw suddenly came to life and began to think; but now the master really had a hard time with the saw, because as soon as he took the saw in his hand and wanted to saw, it wobbled back and forth and cut into the boards now in this direction, now in that, as it pleased and spoiled the whole work so that it was useless. Then the carpenter thought: “Oh, if only the saw had my mind so that it could do the work exactly as I want it and not fantasize about it at my own discretion!” But the carpenter of the saw couldn’t use his own mind; because the saw didn’t have the right stuff to absorb it and it required a long training and great patience to make it usable again.
The Wise Doctor.
In a large hospital there were a lot of sick people and especially many feeble-minded, insane and fools. Among them lived a famous doctor, who was not a fool himself, but had the task of curing the sick and teaching the fools. In the beginning everything went well and some patients could be dismissed as cured; but the more the reputation of these healings spread, the more sick people streamed in, so that there was almost no room left in the house and the doctor had his hands full. There were many who could not digest the pills the doctor prescribed, and the great majority of the insane would not be taught by him, but stuck to their own opinions. They contradicted the doctor and made his life miserable. Day and night he had no rest, so that he would have liked to run away or join another club.
But since this would have damaged his reputation, he had his pharmacist prepare a strong medicine, which he prescribed for his patients, and after they were all dead, the doctor was left in peace, for now he no longer had to think at all and was able to do so often doing a somersault at will. But the director of the hospital was very angry about this, because he thought that the doctor was there for the sick and not the sick for the doctor.
Good Henry.
Little Heinrich was the best kid in school; but only while he slept; for when he was awake, he made more noise and raged than the others and caused the teacher a great deal of anxiety. When his parents heard that he was so naughty when he was awake, they said: “Oh, if only our Heinrich would always sleep, so that he would always be good!” and slept until the school year was over. Well, Heinrich had probably been good the whole time; but he had learned nothing at all, and while the naughty children knew the whole multiplication table by heart, good Heinrich was just as stupid as before.
The Two Travelers.
Two travelers were walking through a forest together. There was a big stone in the middle of the path, but because it was dark in the forest they couldn’t see it, so they both tripped over it and fell to the ground. Luckily, neither of them broke a leg in the process; but one of them didn’t think at all that he could get up again; he lay in the path and bemoaned his fate. But the other got up and went on his way without stopping, and so it happened that he reached the goal of his journey, while the other went no further. Now I would like to know which of the two travelers was the wiser?
The Strange Church.
In one village there was a church which had a large round tower at one end and two smaller pointed towers at the other. The people who lived on one side couldn’t see the small towers because of the big tower, and those who lived on the other side couldn’t see the big tower because the smaller ones got in the way. Now people were arguing about how many towers the church had. Some claimed it had only one tower; others said it had two; still others, who lived further away and could see all three towers, knew that it had three towers, and finally there were those who were short-sighted and believed that the church had no tower at all, although they looked at the wall very close. But the blind swore that there was no church there. These people are still arguing about such differences of opinion, and to this day have not agreed on who is right.
The Expert.
Once upon a time there was a great scholar who knew a lot about mathematics and astronomy and many other sciences, yes, he could even say how the creation of the world came about; he was therefore always consulted as an expert in all court hearings; because he knew how to give information about everything.
Now there was a court hearing about a mouse catch and the expert was summoned to give information on how to catch mice; but he could give no precise explanation of it; because he didn’t know how to catch mice, he had no experience about it.
On the other hand, in the same place lived a wise cat who knew better than any scholar how to catch mice. This was now consulted; but the matter remained undecided, for the judges did not understand the cat’s language, and were as wise as before.
The Wise Advice.
A congress of scholars was held in a western city to inquire as to the color of the nightcap of the Emperor of China. Many doctors from all parts of Europe came together and made their investigations. The astronomers peered through their telescopes, the mathematicians made their calculations, and the philosophers drew their logical conclusions; but the astronomers could discover nothing, the mathematicians came to no conclusions, and the philosophers lacked the basis for their logical conclusions. Two parties formed, one of which maintained that the Emperor of China’s nightcap was yellow, and the other decided that it was red. After much argument over the matter, the reds prevailed and announced their decision to the world. Now anyone who wanted to be considered educated had to believe that the nightcap of the Emperor of China was red; but no one knew whether it was really so. Then a wise man came up with the idea that one should go to the Emperor of China to see for oneself; but as the journey seemed difficult, no one heeded his advice.
The Described Paper.
In a village school came a teacher from a big city, who was a famous scholar and knew the most amazing things about which he wanted to teach the children, and in order that the children should remember his wise teachings and not immediately forget them, each one received a piece of nice white paper to write down exactly what the teacher said. But now there were a few boys and girls who liked writing so much that they could not wait for the teacher to come, but even before his arrival they filled the beautiful piece of paper from top to bottom until there was no more empty space was on it, and what they wrote was nothing but worthless stuff. When the wise teacher came and delivered his lecture, these careless children only had soiled sheets on which they could no longer write legibly; but the others, who had kept their paper clean, could write down everything the teacher said neatly and take it home.
The Wrong Gems.
A naturalist, keen to look for gems and other valuable treasures, heard that on a certain mountain a great quantity of gold and real stones lay out in the open, and were easy to find by climbing the summit. After a long search he also managed to find the mysterious mountain; he bought a backpack and started to climb the mountain. The path was very difficult and the sun was already setting when he was halfway up the mountain. There, he found a large number of stones glittering in the sun. The naturalist was very pleased and collected as many of the stones as he could until his sack was full. When he wanted to climb higher, the load was too heavy for him and he couldn’t go any further. It was also getting dark and the stones stopped glittering and he realized that they weren’t real stones, just pebbles and fool’s gold. Now he regretted it much the lost time, but that didn’t help him, because now he could no longer reach the top of the mountain where the real gems were and had to stay where he was all night.
The Nutcracker.
Little Fritz received a beautiful Christmas tree with Christmas presents, and a gilded nut hung from it. This nut pleased him exceedingly, all the more as he believed that it was made entirely of gold. For several years he toyed with the nut and had as much reverence for it as if it were the Bible; but as he grew, it seemed to him that the nut was much too light to be pure gold, and he was about to throw it away; but then his grandfather told him that there was a beautiful kernel in the nut that you could not only play with but even eat. But Grandfather couldn’t crack the nut for him because he was old and had no teeth. For many years Fritz was looking for someone to crack his nut and found no one who could do it for him. Some didn’t want to do it because they didn’t believe that the nut contained a kernel and others claimed the nut shell was too hard. As little Fritz grew up, he came up with the idea that everyone should be their own nutcracker. He took nut-cracking lessons from a sage, and in a short time he succeeded in cracking the nut and finding the kernel, which was far more beautiful and better than he had ever imagined, exceeding all his expectations.
The Lantern.
Peter always had to go to school early in the morning and often came home late in the evening, when it was already dark. Then his grandfather gave him a nice lantern as a gift so that he could find the right way and said to him: “Always keep this lantern clean so that it gives a good light and you don’t bump into anything on the street and trip. But he forgot to say that there was a light in the lantern, because he thought Peter was sensible enough to see it himself. The lantern was of a noble metal and shone like silver, and had a glass in the front. Peter took the advice his grandfather had given him very much to heart and polished his lantern daily; but it didn’t want to shine because of that. But he was very proud of his lantern and tried to dress it up and make it even more beautiful and shiny. He had them gilded and hung with ribbons and all kinds of tinsel, and had a beautiful picture painted on the glass. But nothing helped; the lantern looked very pretty, but gave no light of its own accord. Then he complained to his grandfather, who told him to take away all the superfluous plaster and lit the light in the lantern for him. The lantern gave a beautiful light that shone through the glass and Peter could see his way and was very happy.
The Shooter.
Fritz had the greatest pleasure in shooting at the target with his crossbow, but he couldn’t stop squinting to the side and therefore didn’t hit anything. Whenever he took aim at the target, it always happened that something else occupied his attention. Sometimes it was a pretty girl who passed, sometimes a soap bubble that another boy let rise; in short, he had to look here and there, and when he pulled the trigger, the shot always missed. But as Fritz grew older, he began to see that no one can serve two masters at the same time.
The Curious Princess.
Princess Pirlipat lived all alone in a beautiful castle which was her property, and in which she kept all her treasures. The castle was situated in a large city and had a high tower overlooking the market square. Now Pirlipat should have taken care of her lock and kept the doors locked; but instead she amused herself all day by looking out of the tower window and observing the passers-by, and if she saw a lady whose dress was not in the latest fashion, she took delight in making fun of her. But there were also many bad people living in the city, and while the princess was looking out of the window, thieves and robbers came in through the front door and stole her treasures. When she came down from the tower again, she saw that she had lost everything and had nothing left to wear. She cried a lot, but that didn’t change anything.
The Horseman.
A rider rode through a forest. There was a snake lying on the path, and because the horse was very timid, it was afraid when it saw the snake and shied away. When the rider saw that the horse was afraid, he too began to be afraid, and because he was afraid he lost control of himself and consequently control of the horse too. The result was that the horse jumped sideways and the rider fell off and was bitten by the snake. If the rider had not doubted himself, this would not have happened.
The Little Do-gooder.
Anton had a little menagerie that gave him a lot of pleasure: Namely, a fat piglet, a clever dog, a purring tomcat and a clever mouse. Each of these animals had their hobby. The piglet liked to roll in a puddle, the dog liked to eat smelly carrion, the tomcat liked to catch birds and the mouse liked to steal bacon. But Anton was well brought up and had heard in religion class that one should be clean and moderate and not murder and steal. He therefore wanted to convert his protégés; he called them together and gave them a sermon. He accused the pig of being unclean, the hound of gluttony, the tomcat of murder, and the mouse of thieving. The animals listened attentively, and since the sermon was very beautiful, they all cried out of sheer emotion, and the dog even vomited. Anton was very proud of his good work and thought they were all converted; but when the sermon was over, the pig ran straight into the puddle and rolled in the dung; the dog ate what he had broken out; the cat climbed a tree to lurk for a bird and the mouse crept into the kitchen cupboard to get bacon; so each followed the impulses of his nature, for they did not know that one can control them.
The Foolish Savage.
On an island in the Pacific Ocean inhabited by cannibals, the missionaries caught the young son of a savage and brought him to the school they had set up. There, the little savage saw all sorts of strange things, and what amazed him most was that the older pupils could read and write. He couldn’t understand this at first; he only saw that some took a piece of white paper and then made certain magical signs on the paper with a pen which they dipped in a black liquid, whereupon the others, looking at the paper, pretended to know what the former had thought. Of course, the little savage didn’t believe in such magic and was very upset because he thought he was being made fun of. But when he grew up and learned to read and write himself, he saw that he had been wrong, and he became very humble in his judgments, even more humble than some of the white men who scoff at things of which they understand nothing and imagine that nothing at all can exist beyond the limited horizon of their comprehension, believing that they themselves have already attained the pinnacle of all wisdom.
The Rewarded Zeal of Faith.
Good Anton was a very pious boy. When he once read in the Bible that faith can move mountains, he thought: “If I now firmly believe that I can fly, then I will certainly be able to fly too.” He now wanted to test the strength of his faith and put it to the test and imagined that he could fly from his window onto the church tower in the neighborhood. Believing this, he jumped out of the window, fell down onto the street, and broke his leg. The doctor had to come and cure him. Anton was in great pain; but he now also knew that an imagined opinion is not yet the right belief and his reward consisted in this knowledge.
Note:
[1] Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 2] [Hermetische Kindergeschichten. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 2, no. 3-4 (March-April 1909), 81-97] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 3]
Little Fritz had a very distinguished father; he was so rich that he owned the whole world, so to speak, and because he was so rich he had a big house built with three floors, in which he kept all his treasures, and little Fritz was allowed to go around in it and see the beautiful things.
But this house had very strange properties and differed from other houses in that there were no stairs, and if someone wanted to go up from one floor to a higher one, he had to climb up a long ladder, which was very difficult and maybe also was dangerous. All sorts of things were housed on the lowest floor; they were all material things that anyone who wasn’t blind could see with eyes and anyone with hands could touch. There were always a lot of disciples of science in this place, who looked at the pretty things from all sides and thought that there was nothing more beautiful.
The philosophers and theologians had their assemblies on the second floor. It contained a lot of all sorts of scholarly stuff, ideas, views, opinions, theories, hypotheses, dogmas, articles of faith and the like. But it was dark on this floor and anyone who wanted to see something had to bring a so-called “proof lantern” with them. However, these lanterns did not always give the right light, and so it happened that one philosopher often believed something to be true that the other denied, and then the philosophers argued about it and got in each other’s hair, so that it often got bloody heads and ruffled beards. They had no idea of things so glorious that they surpass all human imagination, and that there were such things on the top floor they did not know; for no matter how much they stretched, no one could reach up there with their head and they knew nothing about the ladder.
The most beautiful things were housed on this third and highest floor. They were nothing but so-called matters of faith, the existence of which one must not take for true and which one did not need to examine; for every object shone in its own light like a diamond, and every thing also had the peculiar quality that if someone touched it or understood it, it belonged to him as his own, whereas to the philosophers everything they had laboriously conquered finally melted in their hands again.
When little Fritz was very small, he romped around in the downstairs rooms for a long time, where he liked it very much, and when he grew up he climbed up to the philosophers; but since it was dark there and he would have liked to find the light, he waited until he grew even bigger, and then one day when he climbed the highest ladder, his wish was granted; he now possessed all the glories of his father, and found that what the philosophers believed to be true was but a shadow of the real. Then he also understood that one can recognize sensual things with the external sense tools, intellectual things with the organs of the intellect, but spiritual truths only spiritually. But not everyone can understand that.
The Two Brothers in the Basement.
Hans and Peter lived in a deep basement; they were both born there and had never seen the light of day; they were content too; because things were not going well for them there and they knew nothing better. One day, however, the man who brought them their food told them that there was a sun outside the cellar hole and that it was so beautiful that one could not even describe it. But he also said that it is very difficult to get to this sun to enjoy the sight of it; because the way out of the cellar hole leads through an old mine, whose half-ruined corridors are inhabited by bats, toads, night owls and other rabble and whose walls are in danger of collapsing.
Both of them were now very curious to get to know the sun. Wise Peter sent for a book in which the sun was scientifically described as a luminous sphere; that it was 90 million miles from Earth, 820,000 miles in diameter, and had spots here and there. He was satisfied with that and didn’t even think of going out of the dark cellar hole; for he said he was quite comfortable here and had no desire to venture through the dark corridors and end up being eaten by the bats; he now knows everything about the sun and doesn’t ask to see it since it has spots anyway.
The simple Hans, on the other hand, read nothing, but imagined that the sun was a beautiful woman who was accustomed to do great favors to everyone who came to her. Then a powerful love for this woman seized him and he did not shy away from the dangers of the dark corridors. So he came out of the cellar hole into the light and he now clearly saw that the sun was not the woman he had imagined, but something much greater and more glorious, which spread blessings everywhere with its light and caused magnificent flowers and precious fruits to grow out of the dark earth as if by magic. Then his love for the sun became even greater than before, and he rejoiced in his life in the sunshine; but clever Peter stayed in his dark cellar hole; he prided himself much on his astronomical knowledge and yet got nothing from it.
Note:
[1] Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 3] [Hermetische Kindergeschichten. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 2, no. 5-6 (May-June 1909), 178-182] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 4]
The Captive Parrot.
A young parrot had grown up in a cage in which its parents had lived and died in it. The door of the cage was always open, but the old parrots loved the cage so much that they didn’t even want to walk out. So it was that the young parrot didn’t even know that it was possible to get out of the cage and when he inquired about it once he was told that there was no way out of the cage. The scholars maintain that the parrots cannot think for themselves, but only a parrot does thoughtlessly whatever they are told, whether it is true or false; and so it was that when the parrot was invited to come out of the cage, it always claimed that the cage was locked. So he remained imprisoned in the cage all his life, although it depended only on himself to escape the captivity in which he was held by his narrow views and to attain liberty.
The Eagle and the Geese.
A female eagle laid her egg in a goose’s nest and the mother goose incubated the eagles’s egg with the remaining eggs. Young geese emerged from the goose eggs, but an eagle hatched from the eagle egg. They all grew up together, but as the eagle grew larger it spread its wings and soared high in the air where the geese could not follow it. Then the geese quacked a lot and flogged the eagle; for they maintained that it was not proper to fly so high. They did not consider that what is suitable for an eagle is not always suitable for a goose.
Wise Jacob.
Jacob was afflicted with various passions and was tormented by them. Soon he was plagued by envy, then by stinginess; when he was possessed by greed and his desires were not immediately fulfilled, anger rose up in him. Vanity often tickled him and arrogance puffed him up; in short, he had many passions, and while he was struggling to quell one, another overcame him so that he could not get rid of it.
One day he got into a fence in which a lot of dogs were imprisoned. They barked terribly and charged at him. Jacob had a stick with what he defended himself; he struck right and left at the dogs; but while he was holding this or that away, another bit his leg. This kept repeating itself; nothing helped him and he got terribly tired. Then Jacob had a good idea. He climbed the fence, which was so high that the dogs couldn’t touch him. He was now in peace and could watch from his high seat how the dogs fought. He enjoyed this very much, and because he was clever, he learned a wise lesson from it.
The Curious Itzig.
Itzig was a very curious boy with a long nose with which he always wanted to stick into everything. Now in the same city lived a sage who was a great chemist, jack of all trades and magician. He knew the properties of the metals and earth, the substances and their powers and spirits with which he had to deal, and because he knew them, he could manipulate and rule with these things as much as he wanted and they could do him no harm.
Now Itzig would have liked to become such a magician and would have liked to do experiments with the spirits. So one day he crept into the sage’s laboratory, took at random various powders that fell into his hands but whose properties he did not know, and mixed them together. Suddenly there was a tremendous bang; there was an explosion and Itzig was nowhere to be seen; a grease stain on the laboratory ceiling was all that remained of him.
The Truth Seeker.
Once upon a time there was a scholar who made it his business to search for the truth. He thought he could find it most easily in books. Therefore he read many books and studied all possible descriptions of things in this visible and in the invisible world all day long. Now, having studied in his room for many years, he knew exactly what was in his books; but whether what was printed or written in it was really true he did not know; for, never leaving his study, he saw but little of this world, however, as to the things of the other world which he was, after all, just as ignorant, as before.
The Careless Anna.
A great spirit dwelt in heaven. A little soul, who was very ignorant, was entrusted to him for his education, and in order that she might learn something, he banished her into a human body and sent her to earth. So she was born a little girl, who was given the name Anna, and when she grew up she was sent to school. But she was very careless and didn’t want to learn the ABCs; therefore she did not get on, and when the school year was over she was not fit to advance to a higher class, but had to remain in the first grade for the next year, although she found it very unpleasant. So it went year after year; little Anna grew old and remained as ignorant as before. But she didn’t care much about it, because she wasn’t thinking about studying, she just kept waiting for school to be over. Eventually her life came to an end and the Great Spirit took her back to heaven. But she felt the same way as at school; for because she had learned nothing of spiritual things and experienced nothing, she found no useful employment in heaven either, but was very bored. They could not be used there and the Great Spirit sent her back to earth with a new body.
The King’s Festival.
As the school days drew to a close, it was announced to the students that there would be a great festival and that the king of the country himself would come to distribute the prizes; but the hour of his arrival was not yet precisely determined. So the children went home, and the wiser ones put on their best clothes and awaited the king’s arrival; others thought that the king would announce his arrival beforehand, and that it would then be time to adorn himself, and still others did not believe that he was coming, or that clothing did not matter. But when the king suddenly appeared, only those were admitted to the festival who had appeared in shining festival clothes. Each of these received a prize; but the negligent were turned away.
Good Heinrich and Bad Franz.
Heinrich was always called “the good one” by his acquaintances because he was very good and always went to church on Sundays; But Franz was very naughty; for he disobeyed his parents and would rather go for a walk than go to church; although the pastor proved to him from the Bible that God punishes the bad guys and that it was only surprising that he had not yet been struck by lightning on his erring ways during church hours; the fate that befell the bad guys who mocked the Prophet would surely come to him.
But bad Franz ignored these warnings, and so it happened that one Sunday, when good Heinrich was sitting in church and listening intently to the sermon, while bad Franz was climbing around on the rocks in the mountains, an earthquake happened and nothing happened to Franz because he had solid ground under his feet and nothing but the clear sky above him, while the roof of the church in which good Heinrich sat, and which was already dilapidated and rickety, fell down and Franz got a stone on his head who shook him so much that he was no longer able to think independently for the rest of his life.
The Repentant Moriz.
Moriz was the well-behaved son of pious, Christian parents, and when he reached the legal age he had to go to church to confess. But when he got to the empire chair, he didn’t know what to say. Then the pastor came to his aid and said: “Well, my son! don’t you have anything to confess? Haven’t you ever done anything that you later regretted?” Moriz didn’t want to say it at first because he was ashamed; but after further persuasion he came to the right decision and said: “Yes, I was walking through the kitchen today and saw a sandwich that belonged to my brother Michel, lying on a plate. I would have liked to have taken this sandwich, but I didn’t dare because I thought I might be caught. I left it there and I regret it whenever I think of it, because I will probably not find such a nice opportunity again any time soon.” I have not been able to find out whether the pastor gave little Moriz absolution; but everyone can see that this kind of remorse was not the right one.
The Triumph of Science.
Not far from a children’s school, a pharmacist had a beautiful orchard. In this was a magnificent apple tree, on which the most magnificent apples hung, and the boys could see them every time they went to school; but no one thought of stealing them, although they did not know that this was forbidden. One day, however, the teacher gave a lecture to the children in which he told them that one must not steal apples. They immediately thought of the apothecary’s apple tree, and since they now knew that one could not only buy apples but also steal them, they longed to try it. They climbed over the fence into the apothecary’s garden and were now stealing apples to their heart’s content. Some even claimed that the stolen ones tasted much better than the bought ones. But the pharmacist didn’t like that. So he poisoned the apples that were left, and when the boys ate them, they became ill. The doctor had to come and write prescriptions, and the pharmacist who prepared them made a profit.
The Cautious Jacob.
Little Jakob had already reached the age at which children usually learn to walk; but he was a little weak on his feet, so his father had a pair of crutches made for him to lean on. But one day there came a traveler who was a great orator and gave lectures through which he hoped to improve the whole world. He saw Jacob walking on crutches, was angry about it and said: “Man must be able to stand on his own two feet and need no support.” With that he took away Jacob’s crutches; but he was still weak on his feet, and when the supports were taken away from him, he fell down and hurt himself, and they had to give him back the crutches, for he could not yet walk without them.
From then on Jacob was constantly afraid that someone might take his crutches away from him and he never let go of them. So it was that he grew and became a great man and yet throughout his life he never learned to stand on his own two feet. But the do-gooder was very ashamed because he had taken away Jacob’s supports too early, before he was mature enough to stand on his own.
Doubting Thomas.
Thomas was sent to school to learn the ABCs. But when the teacher drew the A on the blackboard and said it was an A, Thomas didn’t want to believe it at all, but thought it had to be proven to him first. He even argued and claimed it was a B, and because he always thought he knew everything better than the teacher, they couldn’t teach him the ABCs and had to send him home without having accomplished anything.
The Lost Pearls.
A noble lady was walking in the street. Then the string of pearls she wore around her neck came loose and the pearls fell into a large heap of rubbish lying on the road in front of the school. When the teacher heard this, he sent the children out to look for the pearls; but since they had never seen pearls and therefore did not know them, they paid no attention to them and only brought home whole sacks full of rubbish.
Note:
[1] Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 4] [Hermetische Kindergeschichten. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 2, no. 7-8 (July-August 1909), 219-230] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}
Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 6]
In a children’s school, some students got together and formed an “esoteric circle” for the purpose of studying the highest wisdom and learning its secrets in a scientific way, because they were not satisfied with what was going on in the school of life taught, but curious to know what was the kingdom of God, which they had heard existed anywhere; They also wanted to know where God dwells, what he looks like, why he created the world, how it was created, how it is in the spirit world, what people do there, and many other such things that even in are not taught at all or only superficially in the academies of science. They therefore turned to a wise man, who lived in a distant town, with a request for instruction, and he sent them a precious book, in which the deepest mysteries were described clearly, as much as was possible and were elucidated.
But since possession of wisdom is necessary in order to recognize wisdom, and the children were not wise, possession of the book could not help them either. Some were not wise enough to understand that in order to read one must open one’s eyes, and so they could see nothing in the book; others took the book upside down and therefore everything seemed wrong to them; but some, after growing up and going through the school of life, began to understand the contents of the book and came to see that in order to attain spiritual knowledge one must have spirit oneself.
Note:
[1] Hermetic Children’s Stories. [Pt. 6] [Hermetische Kindergeschichten. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Neue Lotusblüten 4, no. 1-2 (January-February 1911), 57-58] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hutwohl, ©2025}