Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland

But he knows his son and heir to be a scrooge; so when von Ribbeck feels his end near, he asks that a pear be put into his grave.

The legend of kind-hearted Hans-Georg von Ribbeck (1689–1759) and his pear-tree first appeared in a collection of fairy tales published in 1887.

[2] The legendary pear-tree on the grave of the von Ribbeck family, near the village church of Ribbeck, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of Berlin, did in fact exist at Fontane's time; it was destroyed in a storm in 1911.

It is available as a picture book in several editions,[3][4] and has been featured on children's TV series Die Sendung mit der Maus.

[6] In 2007, Fontane's original manuscript of the poem was sold for 130,000 Euros at an auction in Berlin.