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Der kleine Wassermann, which has been translated as The Little-Water Sprite, is a German classic children's book by Otfried Preußler. It was published by Thienemann Verlag in 1956 and contains, just like many other books written by the author, several illustrations by the German illustrator Winnie Gebhardt-Gayler. To this day, The Little Water-Sprite has been translated into a total of 32 languages. In 1957, the book received a special prize for text and illustration at the award ceremony of the German literary award for young adults called "Deutscher Jugendbuchpreis", now known as "Jugendliteraturpreis".

Content

One day, two Water-sprites living at the ground of a mill-pond become parents of a little boy. He has green hair and eyes as well as webs between his toes, thus looking like a proper Water-sprite. Soon, the little Water-Sprite goes on a exploratory journey, accompanied by either his father or his friend the carp Cyprinus. He learns to find his way around in the pond, makes the acquaintance of humans and takes part in many adventures. When winter finally comes and the mill-pond is covered by ice, the Water-sprite family goes to sleep.

Origin

Like most of Otfried Preußer's books, the story of the little Water-sprite is based on tales he had heard as a child. In those days, people told one another stories by the light of a kerosene lamp when it was too uncomfortable to go outside. The stories were about witches, werewolves, a tinsmith, a wizard of a Bohemian myth ( Zauberer Kittel) and a Water-sprite who partially comes to the shore and plays the harp there on moonlit nights.

Preußler had told his children stories about such a Water-sprite when they were little. Really liking the story, the children often asked their father to tell a story of the Water-sprite. Preußler himself also enjoyed talking about the Water-sprite and one day, he got the idea to write down his stories. At this time, he had already written radio plays, short stories, amateur dramatics for children as well as a play. In order to make sure that writing down the story was the right decision, he also told the story of the Water-sprite to the children of his school class. They were excited and asked whether the little Water-sprite would get into trouble if he did not behave well. The figure of the little Water-sprite developed into a proper little boy who is curious, makes friends with other living beings and who has to deal with the consequences of his naughty actions. However, what sets him apart from other boys is the fact that he lives in a little cottage made of reed, which is placed on the ground of the mill-pond.

When Preußler looked for a publishing company for The Little Water-Sprite at the beginning of the 1950s, it was suggested to him that he should rather write environmental literature. The second publishing company disregarded the manuscript for nine months. This was the German publishing company Thienemann Verlag, which has published almost all of Preußler's novel to this day. The Little Water-Sprite was a great success right away. From then on, Preußler continued to write, finishing 32 books in total.

Adaptations

In 1972, the German record labels Philips and Fontana, which both belong to the brand Karussell, published a radio play version of the novel on records and cassettes. In this version, the Austrian actress Ulli Philipp embodies the voice of the little Water-sprite, the actor Harald Leipnitz is the narrator. In 2005, songwriter Robert Metcalf published two radio plays about the little Water-sprite which aimed to help in learning French and English as a German speaker. Their title reads English lernen mit dem kleinen Wassermann and Französisch lernen mit dem kleinen Wassermann (Learning English / French with the little water-sprite). In 2008, the same publishing company reproduced the radio play with Friedhelm Ptok as narrator.

In 2006, Der Audio Verlag, a publishing company specialised in audiobooks, published another radio play of The Little Water-Sprite. In this version, the narrator is portrayed by the German actress Laura Maire and the voice actor Wolfgang Hess is the voice of Cyprinus. In 2011, the same publishing company published the work with Florian Lukas as voice actor . In addition to that, the three stories Der kleine Wassermann - Frühling im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Spring at the mill pond), Der kleine Wassermann - Sommerfest im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Summer party at the mill- pond) as well as Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Autumn at the mill-pond), which were all written by Preußler and his daugther Regine Stigloher, were published as radioplays with Friedhelm Ptok by Der Audio Verlag in 2014.

In 2003, Wolgang Adenberg, a German lyricist and author of musicals, wrote a stage adaptation for The Little Water-Sprite. The premiere took place at the theatre E.T.A-Hoffmann-Theater in Bamberg.]].. Further productions of the play were staged by the Augsburger Puppenkiste and Gerhards Marionettentheater (a puppet show called Gerhard's puppet show in Baden-Württemberg), among others.

Follow-ups

In 2011, the publishing company Thienemann Verlag published the storybook Der kleine Wassermann - Frühling im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Spring at the mill-pond), a sequel to the story. The authors are Otfried Preußler and his daughter Regine Stigloher. The illustrations are made by Daniel Napp. Further stories were published under the titles Der kleine Wassermann - Sommerfest im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Summer party at the mill-pond)) and Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher (The Little Water-Sprite - Autumn at the mill-pond). in 2013 and 2014.