The cold heart

In "The Cold Heart," the poet Wilhelm Hauff distinguishes the Baden and Württemberg parts of the northern Black Forest. While the people of Baden were primarily engaged in the manufacture of glass and clocks, the people of Württemberg lived primarily from rafting. The fairy tale tells the story of a charcoal burner named Peter Munk.

Peter Munk is dissatisfied with his life as a charcoal burner. The prosperity of others painfully reminds him of his own miserable existence. In this situation, he remembers the stories of the Little Glass Man and the Dutchman Michel, which have already helped several other people achieve considerable fame and fortune. If only he could remember the complete verse about the treasure-houser in the pine forest, then the Little Glass Man would bring him prosperity.

One day he sets out for the dark Tannenbühl, where people believe the little glass man lives. But because he can't find the right words, the apparition doesn't appear. Instead, it starts to haunt properly, and Peter takes refuge in a remote raftsman's hut. There, the family's grandfather tells him the legend of Dutchman Michel, a both capable and ambitious giant who had brought the raft timber all the way to Holland and had made a lot of money from the additional profit. But along with the money, bad words, drinking, gambling, and other bad habits had also entered the Black Forest. Since then, Michel has been haunting the forest, the old man tells Peter Munk. in the hut.

By chance, Peter Munk overhears the complete version of the Schatzhauser song from passing boys the next morning. He immediately rushes back into the dense forest to find the little glass man – and on the way there encounters the terrifying figure of Dutch Michel, who lures him with riches. But Peter eludes him and then asks the little glass man to grant him three wishes. First, Peter wishes for the ability to dance better than the best dancer for miles around. Second, he asks for the most beautiful and richest glassworks for his own. The little glass man is saddened by Peter's choice and therefore initially refuses his third wish.

Peter Munk enjoys his new life to the fullest. But he neglects the glassworks because of his pub visits, so that one day it goes bankrupt. He therefore heaps reproaches on the little glass man and confides in the Dutchman Michel. The man promises to help him out of his predicament. However, this help comes at a high price: Peter's humanity. Dutchman Michel's condition is that Peter Munk give him his heart. In exchange, he receives a heart of stone that immunizes him against all human compassion.

Once again, Peter takes full advantage of his wealth and social standing. But his heart remains cold and devoid of any emotion. Peter Munk may be wealthy, but he has a heart of stone. He gradually begins to feel the negative consequences of his inhuman and meaningless existence. At the height of his crisis, in a fit of rage, he kills his own wife Lisbeth, simply because she had helped an old beggar with alms. A shred of human emotion still beats in Peter's chest. Desperate, he decides to confide in the Glass Man once more. After all, he has only one wish left. Instead of granting Peter Munk's third wish, the Glass Man reveals to him how, through a ruse, he can win back his lost human heart from the Dutchman Michel. The ruse works, and in the end, Peter Munk ends up back at the beginning: as a charcoal burner deep in the forest. When his beloved Lisbeth also comes back to life, he is happy and lives contentedly until his end.