Note: This allegory is the general introduction to Wilhelm Hauff's fairy-tale annuals, or Märchen-Almanache. Three were published, 1825 to 1827, as annuals for the years 1826 to 1828. (The first one alone spells "Mä[h]rchen" with the "h".) Few English-language translations of Hauff's tales include this preliminary story. Some of those can be viewed online as images or transcripts; for instance, see ISFDB publication records as 1841, 1855, and Project Gutenberg. Some of the Translation records contain Synopses.