By Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, from The Turnip Princess, published last month by Penguin Classics. In the 1850s, Schönwerth traveled through Bavaria, his homeland, to record its tales. Much of his work, including this story, was lost until 2009, when it was discovered in a municipal archive. Translated from the German by Maria Tatar.

A couple living in the country longed to have a child. One day, they cried out in desperation: “We want a child, even if it’s no bigger than a thumb!” And a son was born to them. He was exactly the size of a thumb,…