Cologne Brownie Fountain

Heinzelmännchen are known to many children from fairy tales or stories: Little creatures that come out of hiding at night when everyone is asleep and do the work left undone and cause great amazement.

Stories and fairy tales are well known and popular throughout Germany. Of course, every city has its own special legend or fairy tale. We in Cologne have grown particularly fond of a legend: the story of the Cologne brownies! Since the Rhinelander prefers to enjoy life and sometimes leaves the broom in the corner, he is of course happy about every helping hand that can do the work for him. And so the man from Cologne liked this story best, about which we want to report briefly here.

Helping hands in the night!

It was perfect for the bon vivant in the cathedral city: you just put down work on time and enjoy the evening in a brewery or in a Cologne pub. It's wonderful when others do the work that was left behind! And that's exactly how it is supposed to have happened with the little house spirits who just then did the work in the night. Of course, you can get used to such a situation quickly and gladly and also use it shamelessly. And the brownies did an absolutely correct and reliable job!

Perfect! If it hadn't been for the curiosity of the people of Cologne, who just wanted to know who was doing the work so well for them.

A fatal mistake happened: the brownies were waylaid and surprised at work. Maybe there was still some alcohol left in the blood, because the Kölsch tasted too good again in the evening... Because when you saw the brownies, you just laughed at them and joked about the size of the nimble helpers. Of course, this really pissed off the brownies and that's why they haven't been seen in Cologne since that night.

The tailor's wife was to blame

Supposedly it was the tailor's wife who made this fatal mistake and that's why she's been cursed ever since. The elves no longer come to Cologne, but the work ethic of the people of Cologne is said not to have really changed.

Of course we have to add: the people of Cologne are not lazy! But he is also a pleasure-seeker and takes the time to enjoy life! After all, you can't just work! Try it out for yourself and book a week's holiday at Apartment cologne!

The Cologne Saga

Coming from a Cologne legend by Ernst Weyden, published in 1826. About ten years later, the Silesian poet August Kopisch (1799-1853) used this as the reason for his poem "Die Heinzelmännchen zu Cölln", which ultimately made the legend popular and known beyond the borders of Cologne. The "Coellner Beautification Association" donated the Heinzelmännchenbrunnen for August Kopisch's 100th birthday and thus created another Cologne landmark. The story is unique and so is the fountain!

The complete poem

The brownies in Cologne
How was it in Cologne before
so comfortable with brownies!
Because if you were lazy, you lay down
down on the bench and groomed:
There came at night,
before you think it,
the little men and swarmed
and banged and made noise
and plucked and plucked
and hopped and trotted
and cleaned and scraped,
and before a slacker wakes up,
was all his day's work - already done!
The carpenters stretched
down on the chips and stretched.
Meanwhile came the ghosts
and saw what there was to build,
took chisel and hatchet
and the saw in haste,
they sawed and stabbed
and cut and broke,
shelled and shelled,
sighted like hawks
and put the beams.
Before the carpenter knew it -
clap, the whole house stood -
ready there!
There was no need for the master baker,
the brownies baked bread.
The lazy fellows lay down,
the brownies stirred
and therefore groaned
with the sacks heavy
and kneaded vigorously
and weighed it right
and lifted and pushed
and swept and baked
and tapped and chopped.
The boys were still snoring in unison:
then the bread, the new one, advanced!
At the butcher's it was just like this:
Fellow and lad lay in peace;
meanwhile the little men came
and chopped the pig
the criss-cross.
It was so quick
like the mill in the wind.
They worked with axes,
they carved on games,
they rinsed, they burrowed
and mixed and mixed
and darned and mopped.
Did the journeyman open his eyes -
wow, the sausage was already hanging there
on sale!
When giving presents it was like this: It drank
the cooper until he sank down;
he fell asleep on the hollow barrel,
the little men took care of the wine
and finely sulphured
all barrels in
and rolled and lifted
with winches and cocks
and waved and scorched
and poured and splashed
and mixed and mixed.
And before the cooper wakes up,
the wine was already fine
and well done!
A tailor once had great pain:
the Staatsrock should be ready;
threw the stuff down and lay down
towards the ear and cared for.
Then they hatched fresh
into the tailoring table
and cut and moved
and sewed and embroidered
and grasped and fitted
and stroked and watched
and plucked and jerked.
And before my little tailor wakes up,
was Mayor's Rock -
already done!
The tailor's wife was curious
and does this pastime:
scatters peas the other night.
The brownies come gently:
one is going out now,
hits the house,
sliding down stairs,
the clumsy ones in skids,
they fall with a sound,
who make noise and scream
and damn it.
She jumps down on the sound
with light - shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo -
all disappear.
Oh dear, now they're all gone,
and no one is here anymore:
you can't rest like you used to,
now you have to do everything yourself.
Each one must be fine
be diligent yourself
and scratch and scrape
and run and trot
and snuggle and iron
and knock and chop
and cooking and baking.
Oh, that it was still like it was then!
But the good times are coming
not restore.
(Poem by August Kopisch)

Location of the fountain

Not far from Cologne Cathedral and right in front of the Brauhaus Früh you can find the fountain. The Heinzelmännchenbrunnen is surrounded by a thick wall in which several pictures of the elves have been incorporated. It's made of sandstone. The fountain bowl is made of granite. The back of the fountain is decorated with another sculpture (an owl), which is supposed to stand for the cleverness of the poem by August Kopisch.

Adress:
Am Hof 12
50667 Köln