The stories in the fourth volume of our edition were written by Hesse between the ages of 31 and 33. Six of them, the popular Gerbersau stories "The Engagement," "The Homecoming," "Ladidel," and "Emil Kolb," as well as the short stories "A Man Named Ziegler" and "The City," were included by Hesse in his own books, while the others were published only in magazines and newspapers. The greatest success among these lesser-known works was the story "Friends." "Farewell" and the humorous accounts "The Wonders of Technology," "From the Correspondence of a Poet," and "Wärisbühel" have an autobiographical character, as do reports like "Taedium vitae" and "House of Peace," a precursor to Hesse's famous "Kurgast" notes from 1924. The short story "The City" is perhaps Hesse's most contemporary work, depicting a complicated narrative at a rapid pace.