thumb|Heinzelmännchen

thumb|Heinzelmännchen-[[diorama]]

The Heinzelmännchen () are helpful household spirits or kobolds associated with the city of Cologne in Germany, akin to brownies of Scotland. first from the form "Heinzelmännlein" as a colloquial name for mandrake dolls, which evolved into lore about them acting as animated house spirits. Secondly, other than being a personal name, "" or "" was the name for a water-draining contraption in the Erzgebirge mining region of Saxony. By extrapolation, its operators could have also been called Heinz, according to Rumpf.

Weyden (1826)

This legend of the Heinzelmännchen was first written down by the Cologne teacher Ernst Weyden (1805–1869) in 1826. It was translated into English by Thomas Keightley and published 1828 in his book The Fairy Mythology. Weyden seems to have begun his "restoration" effort around 1821.

Kopisch's ballad (1836)

In 1836 the painter and poet August Kopisch published a poem beginning with the words:

See also

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:* Brownie – Scotland and England

:* House-Elves

:* Domovoi/Domowoj – Slavic

:* Dwarf

:* Elf

:*

:* Gütel – Germany

:* Heimchen – Germany

:* Household deity

:* Jack o' the bowl

:* Kobold – Germany

:* Koro-pok-guru – Japan

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::::* Lares – Roman

::::* Niß Puk – Schleswig, Denmark/Germany

::::* Perkeo of Heidelberg

::::* Petermännchen – Mecklenburg

::::* Sprite

::::*The Tailor of Gloucester

::::* Tomte or Nisse (folklore) – Scandinavia

::::* Tonttu or Haltija – Finland

::::* Vættir – Old Scandinavia

::::* Wirry-cow

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References

;Bibliography

  • Hans Hotter sings Löwe's setting