Der kleine Wechselbalg. - Dringende Gefahr einer Pfarrersnase. - Wie Furst Paphnutius in seinem Lande die Aufklarung einfuhrte und die Fee Rosabelverde in ein Frauleinstift kam."

My life, from my fourth to my sixteenth year, was spent at a lonely farm-house, on the banks of the river Saale, near the Cistertian Monastery of Kreuzberg. The house, though not large, had once been the residence of a baronial family, that was now extinct, and of whose representatives strange stories were narrated. Of course, therefore, their castle was gloomy; of course, also, said to be haunted, and its immediate environs were in keeping with the character of the principal mansion.

Who is there, over the wide world, who has not, at one period or another, in a more or less degree, felt the mysterious influences of love?-Whoever thou art, then, courteous reader, who shalt, after the lapse of years, turn over these papers, recall, I beseech you, to recollection that noontide interval of dazzling brightness-contemplate once more that beautiful image, which came, like an impersonization of the abstract spirit of love, from divine regions, to meet you.

The ever-fluctuating vicissitudes of human life had once more scattered our little group of friends asunder. Sylvester had gone back to his country home; Ottmar had travelled away on business, and so had Cyprian; Vincent was still in the town, but (after his accustomed fashion) he had disappeared in the turmoil, and was nowhere to be seen; Lothair was nursing Theodore, who had been laid on a bed of sickness by a malady long struggled against, which was destined to keep him there for a considerable time.

Councillor Krespel was one of the strangest, oddest men I ever met with in my life. When I went to live in H-- for a time the whole town was full of talk about him, as he happened to be just then in the midst of one of the very craziest of his schemes. Krespel had the reputation of being both a clever, learn lawyer and a skilful diplomatist.

"Quelques regards craintifs se dirigerent sur les carreaux lumineux que la lumiere commencait a dessiner sur le parquet; mais bientot le petit cercle se retrecit et chacun se tut... " Ce livre rassemble des recits fantastiques de grands auteurs: Tolstoi, Hoffmann, Polidori."

El Cascanueces es un cuento de mucha fantasia e imaginacion del escritor E.T.A. Hoffmann, escrito en 1816, convirtiendose en uno de los cuentos de Navidad mas grandes de todos los tiempos. En la nochebuena Clara y sus hermanos esperan impacientemente la llegada de la navidad para recibir los regalos acostumbrados. Su padrino le trae un juguete de madera llamado Cascanueces utilizado para romper nueces. A Clara la encanta el Cascanueces y juega con el durante toda la fiesta, aunque Fritz y sus primos no paran de molestarla e incluso intentan romperselo, pero Drosselmeyer interviene, lo...

Retire depuis quelques annees dans un couvent, le frere Medard devient responsable des reliques du couvent. Parmi ces reliques, figure une particuliere que Cyrille, predecesseur de Medard a ce poste, ne peut manipuler lui-meme sans effroi. Selon la legende, il s'agit d'un des flacons abandonnes dans le desert par le demon et ramasses par Saint Antoine pour en proteger les humains. Medard cede a la tentation et boit le mysterieux elixir."

Ausgewahlte schriften by E. T. A. Hoffmann. This book is a reproduction of the original book published in 1827 and may have some imperfections such as marks or hand-written notes."