Michael Ende

Andi has gambled all his money away. Not just for fun, but because he wants to marry Evchen. Her parents, however, want to give her to a very rich man only. But salvation is near: An old man offers to sell a bottle to Andi. The ghost who lives in it will make him rich – but if Andi still has the bottle when he dies, he must go to hell. And there is another catch: Although one can re-sell the bottle, one has to ask for less money than one has paid oneself for it. Then Evchen gets hold of the bottle’s ghost – and he is only allowed to change owners four more times …

Michael Ende takes an old fairytale and turns it into a drama about love and the temptation of big money. The fragment was published in: Das große Michael Ende Lesebuch (The Big Michael Ende Reader), pages 194–208.