Wilhelm Gauf is a famous German novelist and writer. He is familiar to us thanks to his wonderful tales. The story of their creation is interesting: he wrote them when he worked as a tutor in the family of the Minister of Defense. The tale āLittle Muckā, a summary of which is given here, was included in his collection āMƤrchenā, which he wrote for the children of the minister. The works of the author quickly became popular in many countries.
Wilhelm Gauf. "Little Muck". Summary. Introduction
The story of little Muk is told by a man who met him as a child. At that time, the main character was already an old man. He looked funny: a huge head sticks out on a thin neck, very small stature. The children laughed at him, shouting insulting rhymes afterwards, and stepped on his long shoes. The dwarf lived alone and rarely left the house. Once the narrator offended little Muk. He complained to his father, who, having punished his son, revealed to him the story of a poor dwarf.
Wilhelm Gauf. "Little Muck". Summary. Development of events
Mook was once a child and lived with his father, a poor man who was very revered in the city. The dwarf rarely left the house. The father did not love him for his ugliness and did not teach his son anything. When Mook was 16 years old, he was left completely alone. His father died, leaving his son nothing after himself. The dwarf took only the clothes of the parent, shortened it to his height and went around the world to seek happiness. He had nothing to eat, and he would certainly have died of hunger and thirst, if he had not met an old woman who fed all the cats and dogs in the district. After hearing his sad story, she invited him to stay with her to work. Mook looked after her pets, which soon became very spoiled: as soon as the hostess left the house, the animals began to smash the dwelling. Once, when one of the pets broke an expensive vase in the old womanās room, Mook went in there and found magic shoes and a wand. Since the hostess offended him and did not pay a salary, the dwarf decided to run away, taking with him miraculous things.
In a dream, he saw that shoes can carry him anywhere in the world, he only needs to turn on his heel three times, and his wand will help him find the treasure. Where gold is hidden, it will hit the ground three times, and where silver is two times. Soon, little Muck reached one big city and hired there to serve as a speed-walker to the king. He carried out all the orders quickly and well, but in the city they did not like the dwarf and laughed at him. To earn the respect and sympathy of people, Mook began to distribute to everyone the gold coins that he found with a wand. Soon he was convicted of theft of the royal treasury and thrown into prison. Little Muck admitted that magic shoes and a wand help him. He was released into the wild, but these things were taken away.
Wilhelm Gauf. "Little Muck". Summary. Ending
The dwarf again went on a long journey and found two trees with dates. Having eaten the fruits of one of them, he found donkey ears and a
large nose. When he tried dates from another tree, his ears and nose again became the same. Having collected the fruits from which ears and nose grew, he goes to the city to the market. The tsarist chef takes all the goods from him and is pleased to return to the palace. Soon, all subjects and the king grow ugly ears and a large nose. Having dressed as a scientist and taking with him the fruits from the second tree, Muk goes to the palace. There he spares the ugliness of one of the kingās close associates. Everyone gasps and begs the dwarf to cure everyone. The king opens his treasury in front of him, offering to choose any treasures, but Mook takes only his shoes and wand. Having done this, he takes off the clothes of the scientist, and everyone will recognize him as the former royal walker. Despite the kingās prayers, Muck does not give him dates and leaves, and the king remains a freak. This ends the tale "Little Muck."
The summary of the work is unlikely to convey all the extraordinary adventures of the protagonist. The shortcomings of his appearance were more than compensated by his sharpness and quick wits. We advise you to read the work in the original. Gauf wrote surprisingly good tales: āLittle Mukā, a summary of which is given here, is a work about the triumph of justice, that evil is always punished.