Ostrau is a small town near the Oder, celebrated even as far as Poland for its gymnasium and its gingerbread.

In this patriarchal spot had dwelt for many years the accountant-royal, Wohlfart, an enthusiastically loyal subject, and a hearty lover of his fellow-men--with one or two exceptions.

He married late in life, and his wife and he lived in a small house, the garden of which he himself kept in order.

For a long time the happy pair were childless; but at length came a day when the good woman, having smartened up her white bed-curtains with a broad fringe and heavy tassels, disappeared behind them amid the approbation of all her female friends.

It was under the shade of those white bed-curtains that the hero of our tale was born.
Anton was a good child, who, according to his mother, displayed remarkable peculiarities from the very day of his birth.