Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827) was a German poet and novelist. Considering his brief life, he was an extraordinarily prolific writer. The freshness and originality of his talent, his inventiveness, and his genial humour have won him a high place among the southern German prose writers of the early nineteenth century. In 1820, he began to study at the University of Túbingen. On leaving the university, he became tutor to the children of the famous Wúrttemberg minister of war, General Baron Ernst Eugen von Hugel (1774-1849) and for them wrote his Marchen (fairy tales), which he published in his Marchen Almanach auf das Jahr 1826 (Fairytale Almanac of 1826). Inspired by Sir Walter Scott's novels, Hauff wrote the historical romance Lichtenstein: Romantische Sage aus der wuerttembergischen Geschichte (Lichtenstein: Romantic Saga from the History of Wúrttemberg) (1826), which acquired great popularity in Germany and especially in Swabia. Other works include: Der Mann im Mond (The Man in the Moon) (1825), Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satan (Memoirs of Beelzebub) (1826) and Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller (The Wine-Ghosts of Bremen) (1827).