The most beautiful German ballads – with fairy-tale illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann. Let us tell of beckoning mermaids and of men up to their necks in water, of friends who will never be separated, of mourning husbands and fathers, of human anger and divine revenge, but also of fools who appease the gods and dogs who still know the meaning of good manners. As varied as the ballad’s themes, so diverse are its forms: broadside ballads and folk songs alongside lyrical ballads, farces and parodies. The ballad can do anything, but there is one thing it always has to be: ›dramatic‹ – according to Goethe, at least. And so this collection brings together a selection of the most exciting, the saddest and funniest German ballads, starting with the unhappy prince and princess, moving on to the lyrical ballads of Burger, Goethe, Schiller and Meyer, up to the humorous work of Morgenstern – delightfully illustrated by Tatjana Hauptmann.