Commentators refer to the verse, "Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten," as a bit of fiction, adding that it is not a title of olden times, but one invented by Brentano about 1800.

At about the same time he read Gulliver's Travels, the tales of noble robbers written by Goethe's brother-in-law, Vulpius, the wildly fantastic stories of E.T.A. Hoffmann, Schiller's Robbers; but also Uhland's ballads, and the songs collected by Arnim and Brentano in The Boy's Magic Horn.

Why is BRENTANO like a hardware man? Because he keeps Tomahawks for sale.