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A table of contents does more than list page numbers; it maps an intellectual landscape. Bürgel organizes his scientific fables by balancing physics, biology, and astronomy across distinct narratives. Reading through the list reveals a deliberate progression from earthly observations to cosmic scales. The structure prepares young minds to connect everyday natural events with universal principles.
Inhalt
Twentieth-century youth exposed to machinery and urban life lose interest in traditional folklore about wolves and red cloaks. Bürgel argues that science must supply the new mythology, replacing magic with verifiable facts about nature and engineering. Educating children requires engaging their modern sense of reality without stripping away wonder. The core of a meaningful story lies in blending real physical laws with captivating fantasy.
Ein Vorwort für die Großen
In the narrow streets of Goslar, an old scholar lives surrounded by telescopes, fossils, and overflowing books. Dr. Ulebuhle calms noisy neighborhood children by converting their disruptive energy into structured listening sessions. His strange hair, round spectacles, and vast collection of specimens make him an approachable symbol of scientific inquiry. Wisdom becomes magnetic when shared with patience and visual wonder.
Vom Doktor Ulebuhle
A southern farmer tilling near Mount Vesuvius strikes solid objects buried under centuries of volcanic debris. Unearthing an ornate bronze pitcher and heavy candelabra leads scholars to dig deeper into the soil. Below the ashes lie the intact foundations of an ancient Roman settlement preserved by catastrophe. Earth slowly yields its buried civilizations when human curiosity notices subtle clues.
Die versunkene Stadt
A single tear falling from a grieving girl evaporates in the summer heat, vanishing from human sight. The lost liquid transforms into invisible moisture, rises on warm air currents, and gathers into high-altitude clouds. Dropping as rain over distant seas, the water drop illustrates that nothing in the universe is truly destroyed. Physical elements simply shift shape as they move through continuous environmental cycles.
Der Wassertropfen
Nighttime shadows and thick fog near a quiet cemetery easily convince an anxious servant that monsters stalk the woods. Heinrich flees from a towering phantom on the mountain, only to discover it was his own magnified shadow cast upon the mist by a lantern. Dr. Ulebuhle uses this blunder to demonstrate how superstitious dread vanishes under objective scrutiny. Ignorance constructs phantoms where nature merely presents light and atmosphere.
Gespenster-Heinrich
A sparkling diamond ring boasts of its African heritage and immense financial worth to an ordinary lead pencil lying nearby. The modest pencil notes that while the gem spends its existence sitting idle in velvet cases, humble tools draft plans that build ships and employ thousands. Character and contribution outweigh decorative status in any honest measure of worth. Ulebuhle teaches children to respect productive labor over ostentatious wealth.
Der Diamant und seine Brüder
A stately forest fir tree provides shelter for woodland wildlife before woodcutters mark its trunk for harvesting. Reduced to timber at a buzzing sawmill, its fibers are boiled into pulp and pressed into smooth white paper. A city poet eventually fills those blank pages with verse celebrating the very woods where the tree once stood. Destruction of raw materials becomes meaningful when repurposed for culture and knowledge.
Der alte Baum
A master clockmaker in Basel abandons his family's welfare to construct a life-sized mechanical man out of iron and brass. Consumed by dreams of world fame, he ignores his starving children and bankrupts his household. The intricate automaton represents technical mastery bought at the tragic cost of human connection. Supreme skill becomes a destructive obsession when personal pride replaces responsibility to loved ones.
Johann der Wunderbare
A proud white candle looks down on a friction match, bragging about its long life and elegant candlestick base. The short-lived match responds that duration matters less than the immediate spark required to ignite illumination. Both objects eventually burn out, proving that high status and modest utility share the same inevitable end. Purpose is defined by how brightly one serves, not by how long one lasts.
Das Zündholz und die Kerze
A drop of pond water examined beneath a microscope reveals thousands of tiny organisms hunting, building, and swimming. As room warmth slowly evaporates the moisture, the tiny creatures crowd onto shrinking aquatic islands in a desperate struggle for survival. Observing this miniature catastrophe highlights how human existence on Earth mirrors life in a fading water droplet. Scale is relative in a universe governed by universal natural forces.
Der Weltuntergang
An old sea captain visits Goslar and displays a rusty iron latch recovered from a wrecked vessel off Madeira. Working under crushing water pressure in heavy brass helmet gear, divers risk their lives to rescue cargo from sunken hulls. The iron artifact stands as silent testimony to human fortitude amidst violent ocean currents. Braving lethal underwater depths requires disciplined nerves and technical endurance.
John Dolland, der Taucher
A gold pocket watch resting on a sleeping man's chest listens to the steady thumping of his internal circulatory pump. The watch brags about its complex gears and artificial precision, yet it requires constant winding and delicate repair shop maintenance. The biological heart quietly completes billions of uninterrupted beats, repairing its own tissues without human intervention. Nature constructs self-sustaining organic miracles that outlast mechanical craft.
Das Herz und die Taschenuhr
Peering through an observatory telescope reveals stark lunar crater rims casting long black shadows across grey plains. Ulebuhle describes a hypothetical day on the moon, where intense solar heat alternates with freezing darkness due to the total absence of atmosphere. No rivers flow, no winds rustle, and no sound breaks the airless silence of the cratered terrain. Astronomy replaces romantic myths with clear physical facts about distant celestial bodies.
Ein Tag auf dem Monde
A migratory swallow perching on a wooden telegraph pole chats about her long flight from sunny Mediterranean coastlines. The humming wooden pole replies that invisible electrical pulses carrying human thoughts travel along wires at the speed of light. While birds rely on muscle power to cross continents, human ingenuity harnesses invisible energy to bridge global distances instantaneously. Technology expands communication beyond physical geographical limits.
Die Schwalbe und der Telegraphenpfahl
Deep in Greenland, immense weight pushes a two-thousand-meter sheet of ice toward the ocean edge until massive blocks fracture into the sea. Floating south on Atlantic currents, the glittering iceberg appears as a majestic floating castle bathed in golden sunlight. Beneath the surface lies nine-tenths of its hidden mass, posing a lethal collision risk to passing passenger steamships. Nature's quiet beauty often conceals destructive physical power.
Der Eisberg
An ugly black stone mounted in Dr. Ulebuhle's necktie pin turns out to be a meteorite harvested from a fallen space rock. Centuries earlier, superstitious villagers panicked when a brilliant tailed comet filled the winter sky, fearing divine punishment. Scientific observation proves that comets and shooting stars are physical travelers cast from deep space rather than supernatural warnings. Knowledge replaces ancient anxiety with rational wonder.
Die Busennadel
Dr. Ulebuhle keeps a sealed glass flask marked with a skull symbol inside a padded iron safe. The container holds preserved samples of deadly bacteria studied by a brave medical doctor during a cholera outbreak in India. By isolating microscopic pathogens under high-powered lenses, scientists learn how epidemics spread and how to protect communities. Human intellect conquers invisible plagues through meticulous laboratory isolation.
Der Tod in der Flasche
Annoyed by human laziness, the sun decides to go on strike and refuses to rise, plunging the world into total darkness. People attempt to replace daylight using coal gas, steam generators, and electric lamps, but fuel reserves quickly run dry. When waterfalls stop flowing and coal supplies vanish, humanity realizes that all technology depends on solar energy. Human independence is an illusion without the constant powering forces of nature.
Als die Sonne feierte
Long before human history, a drop of sticky pine resin fell onto a small fly and spider resting on tree bark. Submerged under ocean waves as ancient forests sank beneath rising Baltic seas, the hardened sap transformed into golden amber. A young boy walking along the coastline thousands of years later discovers the clear gem holding its prehistoric contents intact. Nature crafts timeless capsules that lock fleeting moments in permanent glass.
Der gläserne Sarg
On a quiet mountain peak in Persia, the world's winds gather for their annual meeting to compare their destructive work. From hot Sahara sandstorms to freezing arctic gales, these atmospheric brothers arise whenever uneven solar heating shifts air masses across continents. Violent gales and gentle breezes alike stem from thermodynamics balancing thermal energy across the globe. Weather is the planetary atmosphere constantly seeking equilibrium.
Gebrüder Sturm
An elderly astronomy professor and his loyal servant pass away and travel through the cosmos toward the distant planet Uranus. Looking back at Earth, they observe how small human conflicts appear when viewed from the frozen periphery of the solar system. The vast distances between planets underline how rare and specialized living conditions are across space. Scientific inquiry expands human perspective beyond localized worldly concerns.
Die sonderbare Welt
Explanatory notes clarify specialized vocabulary like nocturnal bird calls, ship caulking techniques, and astronomical terminology. Bürgel provides clear definitions to ensure young readers absorb accurate scientific concepts while enjoying narrative fables. Grounding imaginative tales in verified facts transforms entertainment into lasting educational value. Clear footnotes build confidence when navigating complex scientific literature.
Fußnoten
Discover how Bruno Hans Bürgel combines engaging science with storytelling to explain natural laws governing our universe.