Excerpt from Der Zwerg Nase Wilhelm Hauff, ever popular poet and novelist, was born at Stuttgart, November 29, 1802. His father, who held an important government position, died when Wilhelm was but seven years of age, leaving the care and training of his chil dren to their mother. Under her careful guidance Wilhelm first began to develop his wonderful gift as a story-teller. In 1809 the family removed to Tiibingen. Here Wilhelm was sent to school, but his delicate health greatly interfered with a systematic or rigorous course of study. He was not a promising pupil, and in his classes displayed little evidence of unusual ability, little decided capacity for anything; but to members of his family he early manifested marked literary talent. Reading was his passion. In the large library of his grandfather, where his happiest hours were spent, he devoured with avidity everything that suited his fancy, acquiring a special interest for the historical works treating of the late medieval period. Goethe and Schiller, too, were favorite authors. Much of their writings he knew by heart; and, with his mother and sisters for an audience, it was his delight to declaim long passages from their plays. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.