Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober

5 hrs. 22 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author E.T.A. Hoffmann

Narrator Semyon Yarmolinets

Description

Out of pity, the kind fairy Rosabelverde enchants the ugly dwarf Tsakhes—so that most people, mainly philistines, stop noticing his ugliness. Now people draw close to him. Any praiseworthy deed done in his presence is credited to him, the one who changed his former name for a new one—Zinnober. And vice versa—if he starts to yowl мерзко or trips, someone else is definitely to blame. Thanks to the gift of the good fairy, the dwarf enchants Professor Mosch Terpin (obsessed with a peculiar vision of “the German spirit”) and his daughter Candide. Only the melancholy student Balthazar—who is in love with the beautiful girl—and his friend Fabian usually see the true face of the villain. However, with this same ability Hoffman also endows representatives of art (the violinist Sb’okka, the singer Bragazzi) and foreigners. Tsakhes-Zinnober wastes no time: using other people’s success, he quickly makes a career at the court of the local prince Pafnuty and plans to marry Candide. The poet-student Balthazar, who turns for help to the magician Prosper Alpanuś, learns from him the secret of Zinnober’s power: he pulls three fiery locks out of the dwarf’s head—the source of all his magical strength. People finally see what their minister really is. Tsakhes has nothing left to do but hide in his magnificent palace, where he ends up drowning in a night pot filled with filth.