A special gem: Once, on the spur of the moment, Mörike told this story to a six-year-old girl, which still enchants today. Every year, the old Silvester brings the New Year child to Earth with his heavenly sled and takes the aged year up into God's garden. In Wimsheim near Leonberg lived Wilhelm Hartlaub, a friend of Eduard Mörike. One cold winter day, the poet took a walk with the youngest friend of the Hartlaub parsonage, the schoolmaster's daughter Amele. "Eduard," asked Amele, just as she had heard from the adults, "Eduard, who is Silvester?" Eduard Mörike smiled down at his little friend from the corners of his eyes. "Silvester? Yes, he only comes to us humans once a year, and what he does then, I want to tell you." Thus, Eduard Mörike begins his fairy tale about the old Silvester, who is present throughout the year.