Paul the Puppeteer

Abstract

Theodor Storm’s novella, Paul the Puppeteer (1874), is a touching children’s story. Little Paul experiences a puppet show in his village. He is enthralled by the puppets. He makes friends with Lisei, the daughter of the travelling puppeteers, who is about his age. Through Lisei he can clandestinely visit the puppets. Although Lisei beseeches him not to touch them, Paul cannot help himself and pulls on the strings of the Kasperle-puppet. While he is engrossed in his play, something breaks inside Kasperl. Paul is now haunted by a guilty conscience, and is very anxious when he goes to the staging of “Faust” the next day, since Kasperle plays an important part in the story. Paul is not the only one who is anxious and tense, but also Lisei’s parents, because the success of the evening depends on their ability to limit the damage by artful improvisation.