Public-domain ebook
Language: en12,321 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Children & Young Adult Reading·Science-Fiction & Fantasy·Adventure
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #57426.
This work is a Victorian‑era fantasy adventure that follows the diminutive “Little Baron” von Troomp and his loyal dog Bulger as they set out from a Pomeranian estate into a series of extraordinary underground realms. The opening passage establishes the Baron's lineage, his reputation as a collector of exotic curios, and the mythic aura surrounding his travels, before moving quickly into the first chapter where Bulger’s restlessness prompts the pair to resume their journeys. The narrative proceeds through a succession of numbered chapters that chart their progress across strange lands, Mikkamenkies, the City of the Mikkamenkies, the Silver Gateway, and beyond, each promising new societies, inventions, and encounters that blend adventure with whimsical speculation.
Lockwood’s prose reflects the ornate, didactic style of late‑nineteenth‑century juvenile literature, mixing elaborate description with a steady undercurrent of humor. The voice is that of a well‑educated narrator who addresses the reader as “dear friends,” offering moral reflections alongside fantastical episodes. Readers who enjoy richly imagined worlds, period‑specific wit, and stories where a brave child and his clever dog confront bizarre societies will find this book engaging, especially those with a taste for classic adventure tales that combine imagination with a gentle moral purpose.
The opening · free to read
The “Little Baron,” so called from his diminutive stature, was born some time in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was the last of his race in the direct line, although cousins of his are to-day well-known Pomeranian gentry. He began his travels at an incredibly early age, and filled his castle with such strange objects picked up here and there in the far away corners of the world, that the simple-minded peasantry came to look upon him as half bigwig and half magician—hence the growth of the many myths and fanciful stories concerning this indefatigable globe-trotter. The date of his death cannot be fixed with any certainty; but this much may be said: Among the portraits of Pomeranian notables hanging in the Rathhaus at Stettin, there is one picturing a man of low stature, and with a head much too large for his body. He is dressed in some outlandish costume, and holds in his left hand a grotesque image in ivory, most elaborately carved. The broad face is full of intelligence, and the large gray eyes are lighted up with a good-natured but quizzical look that invariably attracts attention. The man’s right hand rests upon the back of a dog sitting on a table and looking straight out with an air of dignity that shows that he knew he was sitting for his portrait.
If a visitor asks the guide who this man is, he always gets for answer:—
“Oh, that’s the Little Baron!”
But little Baron who, that’s the question?
Why may it not be the famous Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian von Troomp, commonly called “Little Baron Trump,” and his wonderful dog Bulger?
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