Little Zaches

Little Zaches Called Cinnabar ( ) is an 1819 satirical fairytale fantasy novella by E. T. A. Hoffmann.

The events of the book occur in a small, unnamed German principality. Once, under the Fürst Demetrius, it used to be an idyllic spot, which attracted numerous fairies to live there. However, Demetrius's son, Paphnutius, at the urging of his First Minister, had, in the name of Enlightenment, banished most of the fairies and confiscated their property. The book takes place during the reign of Barsanuph, an unspecified time after Paphnutius's death.

One day, Rosabelverde, one of the few fairies left in the principality, encounters a poor, unlucky peasant woman named Liese, suffering after having given birth to a disfigured, developmentally challenged boy named Zaches (often compared in appearance to an alraun). Thoughtlessly, the fairy casts a charm on the boy so that most people, mostly philistines, stop seeing him as unsightly. Now people are drawn to him and any praiseworthy deed performed in his presence is attributed to him. And vice versa, as soon as he does something disgusting or shameful (and he does nothing else) - in the eyes of those present, someone else seems to have done an abomination; most often the one who suffered the most from the boy's antics. A local priest, impressed by the boy's supposed charm, takes Zaches in to raise.

The novel then switches to a time over a decade later. Zaches, now having taken the name Zinnober, comes to a university. Thanks to the gift of the good fairy, the dwarf enchants Professor Mosh Terpin (possessed by a peculiar vision of the "German Spirit") and his daughter Candida. Only the melancholic poet-student Balthazar, who is in love with the beautiful girl, sees the true appearance of the villain. Artists also have this ability (violinist Sbiocca, singer Bragazzi), as well as foreigners. Later they are joined by Balthazar's friends: Fabian and Pulcher. Zaches-Zinnober does not waste time, and, taking advantage of other people's successes, quickly makes a career at the court of Barsanuph and prepares to marry Candida.