The whimsical fairy tale The life of High Countess Gritta von Rattenathomewithus was written by the 16-year-old Gisela von Arnim. It is about the young heroine Gritta, who is brought up by caring rats at her father's castle. At the age of seven, she is sent to an eerie convent. She escapes, ends up on a ship and hears many fantastic stories from the boatswain Thoms. For example, he tells of the discovery of a mysterious island. The shadows of everything that had ever existed in the world gathered here. When a shadow in ancient garb fell in love with Thoms, things became dangerous:

Think of my terror, the robed shadow wanted to keep me here because his soul felt irresistibly drawn to me; he had [...] already spoken to some strong shadows [...] that they would slay me and my shadow [...] would stay with him forever.

With the shadow motif, Gisela von Arnim ties in with Romanticism. For the shadow stands for the dark side of man and the dark side of reality, which Romanticism was particularly interested in. But the young author does not stop there. Accordingly, the fairy tale also leaves the island of shadows. Gritta finally arrives on the island of Sumbonia, where all her friends are reunited. Sumbonia is ruled by children, who were considered the ideal type of person in the Romantic period. This perfect happy ending contrasts with the numerous grievances denounced earlier in the fairy tale: the neglect of Gritta, the oppression by church and state, the exploitation of the weak. The island utopia is shown to be unrealistic through its exaggeratedly kitschy depiction. The fairy tale thus presents itself as a socially critical narrative. Our tour thus ends with a committed author who takes up romantic motifs but then abandons them.