»König wer?« Zur (De‑)Popularisierung der Harzer Sagenfigur König Hübich

This article reconstructs the popularisation of the folktale figure King Hübich from the Harz mountains. Based on the writings of Jakob Grimm, Hübich experienced a far-reaching popularisation in 19^th century, which was initially based on widespread collections of folktales and a great interest of the Germanic antiquity studies. As long as Hübich was considered to be a figure related to or even identical with the Norse/Germanic god Odin/Wotan, scholarly debates and literary representations balanced each other out. When the Germanic discourse rejected this assumption, Hübich underwent a comprehensive transformation and was turned into a cute dwarf in children’s books and on postcards. Although a few high-circulation books with references to Hübich continued to appear after 1900, they were unable to prevent his gradual decline in popularity and relegation to a mere local figure.