My original fairy tale “Little Hans” can now be read on Ireland’s fantastic Short Kid Stories!!!

Illustration By Eliza Pratt

https://www.shortkidstories.com/story/little-hans/

I wrote this story for my Dad. When I was teaching English in Prague I realized I was only about 150 miles from where he grew up in the former East Germany. Like many of the older generation I was teaching, as a child he had experienced the Nazi buildup, WWII, and then the oppressive Soviet occupation. I thought a lot then about how difficult it must have been growing up at a time like this, and “Little Hans” was the result of all these feelings. The detail about cutting a small piece of sheet metal from the center of a big piece (instead of a corner) and so incurring a father’s wrath, is a story he told me from his own childhood. I hope you all enjoy this little fairy tale.