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The Little Water Sprite (original title: Der kleine Wassermann) is a classic  children's book by Otfried Preußler. The work was Preußler's first book publication. It was published in 1956 by Thienemann Verlag and includes numerous illustrations by  Winnie Gebhardt-Gayler,  like many of the author's other books. To this day, The Little Water Sprite has been translated into a total of 32 languages. In 1957, the book received a prize for text and illustration at the German Youth Book Award.

Plot summary
One day, a water sprite couple who lives at the bottom of the mill pond welcomes their little boy to the world. The boy has green hair, green eyes and webbed toes, all characteristics that every real water sprite should have. Soon the little water sprite goes on discovery journeys with his father and his friend, the carp Cyprinus. He learns to find his way around the pond, meets new people and has many adventures. When winter finally arrives and the ice covers the mill pond, the water sprite family goes to sleep.

Origin
Like most of Otfried Preußler's books, the story of the little water sprite is based on tales from his childhood. At that time, when it was uncomfortable at night, people told each other stories in the light of the kerosene lamp, about witches, werewolves, the wizard Kittel, as well as the story of the  water sprite, who on moonlit nights sometimes came right up to the shore and played the harp there.

Preußler had also told his children about the water sprite when they were still little. The children liked the story so much that they kept asking their father to tell them about him. Even Preußler himself enjoyed the story so much that one day he had the idea to write it down.

He had already written radio plays, short stories, amateur dramas for children and a play. To make sure he made the right decision, he told the story to the children in his class. They were thrilled and wondered whether or not the little water sprite would get into trouble if he was naughty. The little water sprite became a real, curious, little boy who has to face the consequences of his actions. He also makes new friends, the one difference being that he lives in water, more precisely in a little house made of reeds at the bottom of the mill pond. In the early 1950s, when Preußler was looking for a publisher for The Little Water Sprite, he was told that he should rather write environmental books. The second publisher that he went to didn’t do anything with the manuscript for nine months. This publisher was the German Thienemann Verlag, which has published almost all of Preußler's books to this day. When The Little Water Sprite was finally published, it was an immediate success. Since then, Preußler has kept writing, a total of 32 books as of today.

Sequels
In 2011, Thienemann Verlag published a sequel in the form of a picture book with the title “The Little Water Sprite- Spring in the mill pond" (Original German title: Der kleine Wassermann - Frühling im Mühlenweiher). The authors are Otfried Preußler and his daughter Regine Stigloher. The illustrations are by Daniel Napp. Further sequels were published with the titles “The Little Water Sprite- Summer celebration in the mill pond" (2013) (Original German title: Der kleine Wassermann - Sommerfest im Mühlenweiher) and “The Little Water Sprite- Autumn in the mill pond" (2014) (Original German title: Der kleine Wassermann - Herbst im Mühlenweiher).

Weblinks

 * More information on "Der kleine Wassermann" on the | author's German homepage