Frau Warner reads aloud: "der Kobold in der Mühle" from the Brothers Grimm

Nicole reads aloud der Kobold in der Mühle cover21

It's a 'scary' time of year and to go along with it, here is your Brothers Grimm fairy tale in a video.

You might not know Der Kobold in der Mühle, however it's every bit as eery as the other fairy tales.

What does Kobold mean?

A Kobold is a "house spirit," a German folk being who takes care of household tasks and sometimes causes mischief.

Britannica.com has a fantastic description of a Kobold that includes this important information:

"...mischievous household spirit who usually helps with chores...He is temperamental and becomes outraged when he is not properly fed. He sometimes sings to children."

Can you imagine that kind of Hausgeist being your Gute Nacht Geschichte?

Creepy!

There are different interpretations of what a Kobold would look like and a lot of them are pretty disturbing.

Not all Kobolds are creepy and disturbing. This one was actually pretty cute.

Kobold-with-fur

A Kobold with Fur

One of my clients had a German Doberman named Kobold (yes, he was from Germany) and it was this story which inspired his name. In fact, it was Kobold's human who introduced me to this story. Kobold is pictured here to the right.

Braver Hund!

Kobold was an outstanding dog.

Kobold has sadly taken his walk over the rainbow bridge and it just about broke everyone's heart. He was attentive, the right amount of protective, and was even trained as a search and rescue dog because he was so keen to help others.

Kobold and his human have had a big impact on my teaching, as now so many of my clients and students read "der Kobold in der Mühle" when they learn the Präteritum. Kobold's human also made a very creative project using pictures of Kobold as inspiration.

This post is dedicated to Kobold, a true furever friend.