Cologne Heinzelmännchenbrunnen (#0549)

The Heinzelmännchen fountain of the ‘little people’ -- built in 1899 to honour the legend of the Heinzelmännchen. This cute story (from the web page) describes it best:


There once was a time when the Heinzelmännchen [the little people] did all the work for the people of Cologne during the night, so that they could be lazy during the day. They did all sorts of work like baking bread, washing and all kinds of housework. No one ever saw them – in return for the work, one of their demands was that they were never to be seen or disturbed.

During this time, there was a tailor to whom the gnomes took a liking to. When the tailor got married, the gnomes brought all kinds of beautiful vessels and utensils to the tailor’s house.

These they had stolen from other homes.

When the tailor’s family increased in size, the little ones gave the tailor’s wife much help in her household affairs. They washed, scoured and did everything in the house for her.

This went on for some time until one night the tailor’s wife became too curious and she was dying to see one of these Heinzelmännchen. She spilled some dried peas on the stairs to make them trip and fall so that she could see them during the day.

Needless to say, the Heinzelmännchen were not pleased and they left town and never came back again. From then on the citizens of Cologne had to do all the work themselves.

Source:
www.travelsignposts.com/Germany/sightseeing/heinzelmannchenbrunnen-cologne

(Part of a documentation of 2018 exploration/reflection on Brexit and populist movements in Europe, keyword Europe2018)