Hesse was an inveterate story writer and this collection is an excellent introduction to his work. Most of these tales are only a few pages long and even the longest can be completed in one sitting. They also span his entire career and give the reader a great overview of the author's style.

I recommend especially the title story, "Pictor's Metamorphoses": here a youth named Pictor wanders into a garden and finds a magic carbuncle which transforms him into a tree. But he realizes that his life his incomplete, and remains unhappy until a girl wanders into the same garden...

this book has followed me throughout my life, and has never been topped by another. He was, and is, the author closest to my heart.

This is a really good book. From the dreams he has as a young boy to the times after the war. A good book to read in between books. Most of the stories are short but there are some long ones too.

Este libro trata de una niña (Nora) a la que se le mueren los padres y se va a vivir con la tia de su papa que es la mas joven, ella tiene un hijo que se llama Dag con el que vive varias aventuras mientras que el la ayuda a descubrir quién y por que se estan comunicando con ella desde el pasado. Este es un libro buenísimo yo lo lei por primera vez a los 11 años, ahora tengo 14 y sigue siendo mi libro favorito.

This is a wonderful book about a pattern of abandonment that goes throurgh the family. Beautifuly written and well described. This is a must read!

Written in the form of a boy's diary, this book lets you live with it's characters for a while. It describes life in the ancient Arab city of Damascus in a very beautiful and emotional way. The main message of this book is a call for Freedom of Speech, but it is not political. I read the book for the first time in German in the late 1980's and now during the war on Iraq (2003) I came back to it and it helped me a lot to make up my own mind about the conflict. This book is not only suited for teenagers, it is also quite exciting to read for adults!

A wonderfully complex world of characters & cultures! The exotic setting feels familiar as we explore modern Damascus with a spirited teenage boy. Political chaos & poverty push him into adult responsibilities, as we see him becoming a fine, brave young man.

The book consists of six narrative poems describing beautiful scenes of nature.
Hesse takes you with him for his morning walk through his garden drawing a lively picture of his flowers, vegetables and trees. He describes the hard work and the time he, his wife, Natalina and Lorenzo put to make this garden one entity of beauty and care. You take every step with him up the hill... see every tree and feel the warm sun ...and even smell the burning leaves. Of course Hesse never forgets to comment on human nature and life!
Whether he was planting his tree, describing the broken bough, the pavilion or the fall wind blowing at the old man's face... each poem has its message of contentment, serenity and natural beauty.

"The Lame Boy" is a recollection of his childhood and his relationship with a crippled boy, a "comrade" who taught him patience and understanding nature but could never call a friend!! He remembers his summers with this boy, going fishing together, showing his weak body but revealing his true qualities as a person. He talks about how we judge people and comments on the way he looked at his friend and what he thinks of him now after all those years.

I enjoyed reading the poems and I read the book more than once. The description is sublime... and I couldn't believe the sense of calmness it had on me!!

Hansel and Gretel is a classic story about a family that lives in the woods. The father is a woodcutter and the family is very poor. The mother convinces the father that they should go out into the woods and leave their children there. She says that it is the only way they will survive. Hansel heard his parents talking about this one night and he told Gretel. The next day, their parents told them that they were going into the forest to chop wood. Hansel took a handful of pebbles and dropped them a little bit at a time on their way. This was so they could find their way back home. The idea worked. The mother and father decided to try again. This time Hansel dropped breadcrumbs, but the birds of the forest ate the breadcrumbs and the children were lost. They started walking and came upon a house made of candy. Little did they know, a witch lived inside. The witch tried cooking Hansel, but Gretel managed to shove the witch into the oven. Hansel and Gretel found lots of pearls and diamonds in boxes in the witches house. They shoved them into their pockets and left. They finally found their way home and when they got there, they found out that the mother had died.
This book has always been one of my favorites. When you add Zelinsky illustration's it is a literary success. Rika Lesser did an incredible job of retelling this classic. The umbrella theme of children's literature of, "if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything" is hidden in the fairy tale book.

Hansel and Gretel is a book about a family of a wife and a husband who have two children. The father is a woodcutter and at the moment they are very poor. The stepmother convinces the father that they should go out into the woods and leave their children there. She says that that is the only way they will survive. Hansel heard their parents talking about this one night and he told Gretel. The next day, their parents told them that they were going into the forest to chop wood. Hansel took a handful of pebbles and dropped them a little bit at a time on their way. This was so they could find their way back home. The idea worked. The stepmother and father decided to try again though. This time, Hansel dropped bread crumbs, but they fell asleep and when they awoke, the bread crumbs were gone. They started walking, at last they found a house that was made of candy. Little did they know, a witch lived inside. The witch tried cooking Hansel, but Gretel managed to shove the witch into the oven. Hansel and Gretel found lots of pearls and diamonds in boxes in the witches house. They shoved them into their pockets and left. They finally found their way home and when they got there, they found out that the stepmother had died. The children and their father lived happily ever after though, and they had plenty to eat!
I think that it was a very good children's book. the detail was understandable for children. There were pictures on every page, so that also helps the children to be able to understand the story better. I liked how creative the author was. I liked how the story ended happily, but there was one thing I did not like about the book. I did not like that the stepmother was so mean to the children. I think that will make children think that adults (especially stepmothers) are always mean. I am glad though that the stepmother was the one who died at the end, and not the father.

By, Tasha (...)

As a 5 and 6 year old, I recall reading this stark version of the fairy-tale. The illustrations here are simply beautiful! I remember talking to my mom about the issues in this tale -- famine and starvation, abandonment, cannibalism, supporting, being supported by your sibling, and returning/reunited to your family after being through everything.
My mom helped me understand the mom's behaviour in this story, and I hope I can do that for my son some day. Like all fairy tales, this simply looks at some of the worst that could happen, and lets you see a way out. I read it without these gorgeous illustrations too. You can't disney all of life, though I admit, I'm a sentimental soft-hearted person who cries when the cats get rained on when I'm watching the Aristocats :-) Enjoy, and think too ...

A unique novel (as far as I know), concerning the "life" of Epsilon, a brain saved from a dead person sustained in an experimental tank - all written in the first "person".

It goes on bit, but if you like books which make you a bit uneasy and make you think, read this one.

Although the book may be useful for those who like to crossreference different translations, I would strongly discourage anyone from using this book as an introduction to Rilke. Though I cannot attest to how well the poems were translated from the German, I can say that these poems did not flow as well in English as other translations I have read. Text is English only, and the translator did not list which of Rilke's works the poems were selected from, making crossreferencing more difficult.