Gustav, a retired locomotive driver, recounts his journeys around the world. He claims to have bought a locomotive and explored both the world and outer space with it. "The sea is the true destiny of the locomotive driver," he notes on occasion. His stories are whimsical, cheeky, and consistently amusing. Irmtraud Morgner honored storytellers with this novel, first published in 1972. "Grandfather Gustav was a liar by culture, not by nature. Within him worked the creative power of the powerless. Too impatient to wait, he appropriated the world before it was won for him." An enthusiastic Fritz J. Raddatz said of the book that it is "full of lies, fanciful tales, and delights: It cannot be recommended enough.".