On the border of sleep and reality, the events of Hoffmann’s novella “The Lord of the Flies” unfold. It begins on a wonderful Christmas evening when Mr. Peregrinus Tyss is, without realizing it, drawn into astonishing, supernatural adventures. The plot develops so swiftly that the fairy-tale hero does not always have time to understand what is really happening, and what is only a vague memory or a play of imagination.