Peter Schlemihl
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Peter Schlemihl, the name of a man who in Chamisso's tale sold his shadow to the devil. It is also a synonym of one who makes a desperate or silly bargain. (The word Schlemiel in Yiddish -- and its Hebrew cognate Shlumi'el --- mean a hopelessly incompetent person, a bungler.)
A remarkably similarly-named character in the Antonia act of the Jacques Offenbach opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann is named Schlemil, and has also given up his shadow. Compare the character to that of the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten.
A modern translation of Chamisso's "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte" can be found at [1].
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
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Peter Schlemihl wants to be rich like Mr Thomas John and pays a price to the man in grey in order to fulfil his desires. Later, he redeems himself by throwing away the "lucky purse" and is rewarded with seven league boots...a fairytale for all. Strongly recommended reading.
