Once upon a time, the city of Cologne was home to a curious species of house gnomes, or some say goblins, called the Heinzelmännchen. That’s how the story goes anyway. Rather than pestering the citizens of Cologne, these creatures were a helpful bunch who would assist the locals with everyday tasks. Think Santa’s little helpers but in Cologne rather than Lapland. The legend was written by scholar and university faculty member Ernst Weyden (1805-1869) in 1826 and was incorporated in the Thomas Keightley book “The Fairy Mythology” 2 years later. However, the story didn’t become popular until German poet and writer August Kopisch (1799-1853) wrote a poem about it , simply called " Heinzelmännchen Zu Köln" in 1836.