In the fairy tale The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (Hyrdinden og Chimneysfejeren), published in 1845, Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a porcelain girl who is promised to a wooden faun against her will by her supposed porcelain grandfather (a Nick figure) and therefore flees down the chimney with her lover, a porcelain chimney sweep. Once outside, she is so frightened by the view of the world that she wants to return despite the fate that awaits her. Her lover fulfills her wish. On their return, the two find the porcelain grandfather lying smashed on the floor. He allows himself to be glued back together, but now he can no longer nod his head and promise the porcelain girl to the wooden faun. „So the porcelain people stayed together, and they blessed their grandfather’s clasp and loved each other until they broke.“
Vojtěch Kubašta has adapted four of the poet’s fairy tales for the stage in magnificent colors and motifs (for the German editions in the Hans Christian Andersen series, see the Katzenheim / Friedrich 2025 bibliography). They were first published by the Czech publisher Artia and then in several editions in other languages.
Here is a cinematic representation of the Polish edition of The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep, the German edition was published in 1974.