This book is a collection of traditional German fairy tales and fables, deliberately transformed into utopian narratives and social commentary by political activists in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Against a backdrop of financial and political instability, widespread homelessness, and the reformation of public institutions, numerous gifted writers such as Berta Lask, Kurt Schwitters, Hermynia zur Mühlen, Oskar Maria Graf, Bruno Schönlank, and Joachim Ringelnatz responded to the need for hope among the common people by creating fairy tales and fables that offered a new and critical vision of social conditions. Though many of their tales deal with the grim situation of common people and their apparent helplessness, they are founded on the principle of hope. This revised edition includes over 50 illustrations by contemporary international artists who reveal how similar the Weimar conditions were to the conditions in which we presently live. In this respect, the Weimar fairy talesand fables have not lost their spirit and significance.

Jack Zipes is Professor Emeritus of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, USA. Some of his recent publications include:Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre (2006),The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films (2010), andGrimm Legacies: The Magic Power of Fairy Tales (2014).

Recovering the Utopian Spirit of Fairy Tales and Fables from the Weimar Republic; Jack Zipes.- Happiness; Kurt Schwitters.- A Fairy Tale about God and Kings; Carl Ewald.- The Giant and his Suit of Armour; Edwin Hoernle.- The Boy who Wanted to Fight with a Dragon; Berta Lask.- Kuttel Daddeldu Tells his Children the Fairy Tale about Little Red Cap; Joachim Ringelnatz.- The Little King and the Sun; Edwin Hoernle.- The Honest Seamen / Learn to Grasp the World from Others; Joachim Ringelnatz.- The Fence / The Servant; Hermynia Zur Mühlen.- The Victor; Béla Balázs.- The Patched Trousers; Bruno Schönlank.- The Fairy Tale of the Wise Man; Eugen Lewin-Dorsch.- The Holy Wetness; Maria Szucsich.- The Enchanted King / Burufu the Magician; Robert Grötzsch.- Baberlababb / The Fairy Tale of the King; Oskar Maria Graf.- The Castle with the Three Windows; Heinrich Schulz.- The Giant Spider; Anna Mosegaard.- Felix the Fish; Robert Grötzsch.- The Poodle and the Schnauzer / The Chameleon; Edwin Hoernle.- The Triumph of the Wolves / The Chameleon / The Revolution in the Zoo; Felix Fechenbach.- The Fairy Tale of the Bear, the Wolf and the Sly Fox; Béla Illés.- The Glasses; Hermynia Zur Mühlen.- Once upon a Time There was a Tiny Mouse; Kurt Schwitters.- The Silent Engine Room; Heinrich Schulz.- Notes on the Authors& Illustrators.