They are assumed to be his equals in faith, intelligence and common sense if not in knowledge, and he can establish a relationship of intimacy with them. The Hausfreund puts us at our ease, much as a BBC radio programme for young listeners used to with its opening words, ‘Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin!’ His good humoured and reassuring presence is felt even in those narrative items where he keeps his distance.

Sales of the almanac increased dramatically as soon as Hebel had taken over. Clearly he knew how to speak to the common reader. His persona as Family Friend was part of a successful formula. Other almanacs posed as the work of one ‘Calendar Man’ – it was not a new trick, but in this case it worked better. For Hebel could become the Family Friend with no difficulty at all; he was to a large extent being himself, talking to his fellow countrymen who did not all have the advantage of his education and access to books. But Hebel’s secret to success was that he knew what the readers wanted. Many of them had difficulty reading, many would have to be read to, so the items had to be short. They must also be varied.

Hebel aimed to satisfy different tastes by including comic anecdotes, stories of executions and murders, reports of sensations, disasters and mysteries. He included jokes too, and childish or silly some of them may seem, but they serve to establish that the Hausfreund is no snobbishly superior being, he can enjoy simple jokes like anyone else. A young woman of whom Hebel was fond, mother to some of his several godchildren, was astounded and embarrassed that he did not stand on his dignity with her. She was, she said later, too naïve herself to appreciate naturalness. She would have preferred to find a hero in him. But Hebel himself liked to put inhibitions aside when with friends, and it was as a friend that he spoke to his readers.

Of all the comic pieces, those involving a trio of likeable rogues have proved enduringly popular. Here the author makes no pretence at improving the reader and shares the peasant’s (and not only the peasant’s) typical delight in the triumph of cunning and ingenuity. With him we can admire the pranks of ‘der Zundelfrieder’ (Freddy Tinder) and his companions in eight stories, sympathize with these characters’ pride in their skill and quickwittedness, and share their love of adventure, almost forgetting that they are petty criminals. Individuals who use their heads are sure of Hebel’s approbation. Other, equally entertaining pieces tell of how minor rogues are defeated by quick thinking and a sense of fun. Among the quite different items which cater for a taste for the sensational, reports of natural disasters could be used to suggest the need to be prepared for death or to be thankful if one was spared. Gruesome executions, often related with grim humour, lent themselves to illustrating the wages of sin. But not all such pieces have a moral. The appeal of ‘A Secret Beheading’ (p. 85) is in large part, as Hebel indicates at the end, that it combines sensation and mystery. When it comes to ghosts, on the other hand, he supposes rational explanations for their appearance – while still assuring us that in any case anyone with an easy conscience, like the hero of ‘Settling Accounts with a Ghost’ (p. 18), has no cause to fear spooks! But the rational explanation is given only after the thrill of fear has been exploited, just as elsewhere the reader is likely to experience a shudder of revulsion at cruelty and murder before the story shows that murder does not pay.

Hebel does not play down the harshness of existence, least of all the horrors of war. He condemns cruelty and senseless destruction, but more often he likes to tell how humanity can relieve suffering and how kindness or Christian virtue can be shown by anyone, by emperors and peasants alike. The great who exercise clemency or gratitude and are fair and just are not presented as faultless heroes, they are simply behaving as good men; their acts are all the more exemplary because they are done by individuals with common human failings. Very ordinary men and women too can perform what are almost miracles of kindness and justice. They do not need to be Lutheran or even Christian. That God operates through the most unlikely of men and women is cause for marvel and heartfelt gratitude.