Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm - Little Zaches, Called Cinnabar

Little Zaches, Called Cinnabar is one of the most significant fairy-tale creations of the German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann. With the irony characteristic of the author, the work reflects real features of his era: the ugliness of absolutism, the dull loyalty of the petty bourgeoisie, triumphant lawlessness, and the servile role of official science.

The title character of the tale is grotesquely absurd and ridiculous, ugly and foolish. Nevertheless, thanks to the fairy Rosabelverde, he is endowed with an extraordinary ability: all that is good and noble accomplished in his presence is attributed to him. Almost everyone bows before this nonentity, and only through the magician Prosper Alpanus does the young Balthazar prevail over him and dispel the enchantment.