The Golden Pot - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

Lange (1982, ix) has written that a "simple summary becomes entirely inadequate when we attempt to interpret the intricate texture of ambivalence and illusion that spreads lavishly before the reader." The following synopsis is presented with this limitation in mind.

The novella, which comprises twelve "vigils" (chapters), begins with the clumsy student Anselmus running through the Black Gate in Dresden, where he knocks over the basket of wares of a hideous old applemonger, scattering them in all directions. She reviles him prophetically with the words "Yes, run! Run, you child of Satan! Run into the crystal which will soon be your downfall." He flees and stops only when he has reached the banks of the River Elbe. There, coming from an elder tree, he hears melodious voices and the sounds of crystal bells. He looks up and beholds three green-gold snakes. One of them, who has marvelous blue eyes, stretches herself (snakes are grammatically feminine in German) out towards him, and he instantly falls in love with her. When she suddenly disappears, he is beside himself.

Anselmus later chances to meet his friend, Assistant Headmaster Paulmann, who invites him to his home. There, he meets Paulmann's blue-eyed daughter, Veronika, who falls in love with him. He also meets Registrar Heerbrand, who procures for him a job copying old manuscripts for Archivist Lindhorst, an eccentric alchemist and magician. On what is to be his first day of work, however, the old applemonger appears before him at the Archivist's door, and, consumed with terror, Anselmus falls unconscious and fails to assume his new position.

A few days later, Anselmus accidentally encounters Lindhorst, who impresses him in extravagant ways with his magic and reveals to him that the green-gold snakes he saw in the elder tree are his three daughters and that the blue-eyed one he fell in love with is his youngest, Serpentina. Full of love for Serpentina, he begins his new job the next day. His work consists of making exact copies of Arabic and Coptic texts that he cannot decipher. The Archivist warns him explicitly that he must not spot any of the originals with ink from his pen. Fortunately, Anselmus obtains help from Serpentina and is able to perform his duties impeccably.

The more he works with the manuscripts the more familiar he becomes with them, until one day he copies a document that he can understand. It turns out to be the story of Archivist Lindhorst, who in reality is a salamander, the Elemental Spirit of Fire, who has been banished from the Land of Atlantis by Phosphorus, the Prince of Spirits, and must enter mankind's prosaic existence on earth. To compensate for his offences and to be allowed to return to Atlantis, the Salamander must find loving "childlike and poetic" mates for his three daughters. The Salamander owns three radiant golden pots, given to him by the Elemental Spirit of the Earth, which are to be his daughters' dowries. Serpentina assures Anselmus that her dowry will ensure their happiness together.

Veronika, who fears that she will lose Anselmus, turns for help to the old applemonger (in the guise of a friendly old woman), who casts a magic metal mirror during the night of the autumnal equinox. Later, as Anselmus gazes into it, its magic powers cause him to think that Serpentina and the story of the Salamander are merely products of his imagination, and he falls in love with Veronika. He promises to marry her as soon as he becomes a Court Councilor.

As he subsequently attempts to copy another of Lindhorst's manuscripts, it appears alien to him, and he accidentally splashes it with ink. As punishment, the enraged Archivist imprisons him in a crystal bottle on a shelf in his library.

A short time later, a witch (the applemonger) appears and attempts to steal the golden pot that is Serpentina's dowry. Archivist Lindhorst enters with his parrot, and they fiercely battle the witch and her black cat. Lindhorst and the parrot are victorious, and the vanquished witch is transformed into a beet. The Archivist realizes that Anselmus had been under the influence of a "hostile principle," forgives him, and frees him from the bottle.

In the penultimate vigil of the novella, Veronika accepts a marriage proposal from Heerbrand, who meanwhile has become a Court Councilor. In the final vigil, Hoffmann employs an unusual narrative device. The narrator, who previously has told the story in the usual manner, inserts himself into the tale and reports to the gentle reader on the difficulty he is having in bringing his account to an end. He receives and shares with the reader a letter from Archivist Lindhorst. From the letter, the reader learns that Anselmus has married Serpentina and now lives happily with her on the country estate of the Salamander in Atlantis. The Salamander himself, however, must wait until his other two daughters are "off his hands" before he can return to this Kingdom of Marvels.

Lindhorst invites the narrator to his study, where the narrator has a vision of Serpentina leaving a temple with the golden pot in her hands. From the pot has sprung a bright lily that represents the love, happiness, and fulfillment of the young couple. Anselmus, in his rapture, exclaims that the lily represents "knowledge of the sacred harmony of all things." The story ends with the Archivist comforting the narrator with the words "Is the bliss of Anselmus anything else but life in poetry,1 poetry where the sacred harmony of all things is revealed . . . ?" and asking the narrator rhetorically whether he himself does not have a "nice little farm in Atlantis that is a poetic possession of his inner mind."

1"Poetry" is Hoffmann's term for any form of creative writing.