Pumuckl

Pumuckl
Genre	Animation
Created by	Ellis Kaut
Starring	Hans Clarin (Pumuckl), Gustl Bayrhammer (Master Eder), Erni Singerl (Mrs. Eichinger, the maid), Toni Berger (Anton "Toni" Schmitt), Willy Harlander (Georg "Schorsch" Bernbacher), Carlamaria Heim (Mrs. Bernbacher), Werner Zeussel (Mr. Stürzlinger, watchman), Ilse Neubauer (Mrs. Stürzlinger), Helmut Fischer (Dr. Schredlbach), Karl Obermayr (the landlord)
Country of origin	Germany
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	24 min. approx.
Release
Original network	BR 3/ARD
Original release	1979 – 1988
External links
Website

Pumuckl is a Kobold from a German radio play series for children. He is a descendant of the Klabautermänner. He is invisible to people around him except for the master carpenter Eder with whom Pumuckl lives.

Pumuckl was invented by Ellis Kaut for a radio play series of the Bavarian Radio in 1961. Later on it was turned into a very successful TV series. Three movies and a musical also deal with the adventures of the little kobold.

Pumuckl is one of the most popular characters in children's entertainment in Germany and several generations have now grown up with the cheeky but funny little Kobold.

Being a descendant of the Klabautermann people, who were sailors, Pumuckl loves everything that has to do with the ocean, especially sailboats. For reasons unknown, he gets lost in Bavaria, where no ships are to be found. He doesn't like neat and clean places, so he takes refuge in a carpenter's untidy workshop. The workshop belongs to elderly Meister Eder. It is precisely the fact that the workshop is untidy which seals Pumuckl's fate. He gets stuck on an overflowing pot of glue. It is a rule among Kobolds that whenever one of his kind gets stuck to something manmade, they become visible, and according to the rules of their ancestors, must stay with the human who sees them, in this case Meister Eder. On the show and in the books, Pumuckl is always visible if nobody other than Meister Eder is present. However, he turns invisible when other people come into view. At first, Meister Eder is reluctant to take in the kobold, since he is quite content on his own, but Pumuckl makes it clear that he has no other choice. A deep friendship soon blossoms between the elderly man and the cheeky kobold.

Note: Meister Eder's profession is given as "Schreinermeister" in the original German, which means that he makes and repairs furniture, which is also shown on the show (and mentioned in the stories / radio plays). The term "Meister" means that Eder has the qualification to take in apprentices. In Germany at the time, it was common to refer to handymen by their professional title and their last name, the way it is still done with doctors.

There are several ways for a Pumuckl story to begin. These include:

At the end of each episode of the 1980s TV show, Pumuckl and Meister Eder usually reconcile. However, some episodes end with Pumuckl being punished. At the end of one episode, in which Pumuckl tries to make chocolate pudding without Meister Eder's permission, Eder confines Pumuckl to the balcony and eats the pudding alone. Other episodes end with Eder‘s withdrawal of something he gave to the little kobold. The two-part story "Der große Krach" ("The big dispute") has the first part ending with Eder throwing Pumuckl and his bed out of the workshop. But by the end of the second part, the two have reconciled.

...
Wikipedia