The skilful and extremely philanthropic inventor Hans Röckle returns to his home town after a long journey, where he immediately appears as a puppeteer at the fair to entertain the children.
Tere, he is also welcomed by two close friends, the young seamstress Louisa, who lives with her blind grandmother, and the farmer's son Jacob, who is learning the cobbler's trade in the town.
Jacob returns to his home village where, thanks to the flute, he helps to reforest the communal forest that was cut down as a Frondienst [de] service and to restore waters that have dried up after excessive use by the manorialist.
However, due to the many offers to use the instrument commercially and not for general benefit, which also influences Jacob's brother Martin, he too returns his magic tool to the master.
When Flammfuß learns that the master has created magical footwear for himself, he casts a paralysis spell on Louisa, thereby forcing Jacob to call Röckle back to the present.
[1] Ilse and Vilmos Korn learned about the artificial figure through Eleanor's memoirs and initially worked it into their novel Mohr und die Raben von London,[2] in which Marx tells his children about the Master and his contract with the Devil.
[3] The stand-alone book Meister Hans Röckle und Mister Flammfuß first appeared in 1968 in commemoration of the 150th birthday of Karl Marx at that time.