Book excerpt: An Old Story of My Farming Days is a novel by Fritz Reuter, originally published in three volumes between 1862 and 1864, that portrays life in rural Mecklenburg in the 1840s in the context of the Revolutions of 1848. The novel was autobiographically-inspired as Reuter had himself worked as an apprentice farmer during the era. The story was one of Reuter's most successful works and has been adapted into other media a number of times. Although not the main character, the genial land inspector "Onkel" Zacharias Bräsig became the most well-known and his role was often emphasized in adaptations of the story.