The basic idea of this extensive fairy tale by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) dates back to 1911: The Empress of the Land of Dreams is half animal, half human, and as an imperfect human being, she casts no shadow. If she fails to regain her shadow, her husband, the Emperor, faces the threat of petrification. Initially, however, the author developed the material into the libretto for the opera "Die Frau ohne Schatten," composed by Richard Strauss and premiered in 1919. In the same year, Hofmannsthal published this prose version, which expands and psychologically deepens the plot of the opera.