Note: First of Hauff's three annual Märchen cycles. Series numbering is from the unnumbered sequence of listings at German Wikipedia, as contents of Märchen-Almanach auf das Jahr 1826 für Söhne und Töchter gebildeter Stände (1825), in the Wilhelm Hauff list of works (not the first "Märchen-Almanach" article, linked above). The first two listings are: • Märchen als Almanach (Einleitung) • Die Karawane (Rahmenerzählung) The former is a general introduction and the latter is the Caravan frame story, number 0 in the ISFDB series. From the Encyclopedia of Fantasy biographical entry by John Clute (brackets original, emphasis added): Hauff "wrote three cycles of literary Fairytales – "Die Karavane" ["The Caravan"], "Der Scheik von Allesandria und seine Sklaven" ["The Sheikh of Alexandria and his Slaves"] and "Das Wirthshaus im Spessart" ["The Inn in the Spessart"] – published in three Märchenalmanache (anth 1826; anth 1827; anth 1828), selections from which have been variously translated as ...". (Clute lists 7 UK and US collections, 1840s to 1905.) "Many of the tales are in an Arabian Nights mode (see Arabian Fantasy); Transformations proliferate, sometimes very frighteningly."