Because Google said today is Garden Gnome Appreciation Day (10th June), and it has German roots, and I have a German character, and it has mythology air around it which fits the context of this book and simply because I love it, I will invite you all to an adventure of education about garden gnomes.

Typically, they are males with red pointy hats. They became popular thanks to Disney's seven dwarves Doc, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy and Dopey (or originally Jumpy, Deafy,Puffy, Burpy, Stuffy, Lazy and Wheezy). The original Snow White has dwarves, but I'm sure they're not named after feelings. But we'll touch fairytales some other time (I'll come to you soon, Grimm).

Okay, so in Ancient Rome, the Romans placed stone statues of the Graeco-Roman god of fertility, (vegetables, nature, livestock, fruit, beekeeping, sex, genitals, masculinity, and gardens) and protector of floors, Priapus in gardens. I don't understand why they would do that as Priapus is a bit uncomfortable to look at (for me) because of his big dick, and because he tried to rape my favourite Greek goddess, Hestia.

So anyway, the Reinassance period got inspiration from it and made their own statues. Paracelsus (who is the first person that introduced gnomes), an alchemist, decribed them as "diminutive figures two spans in height who did not like to mix with humans". Understandable, as the statues are grey and a metre tall and common in wealthy houses.

 By the 1700s, in Germany, these garden figurines became conflated with their traditional stories and superstitions about the "little folk" or dwarfs that they believed helped around the mines and on the farm. 

So that's how these garden gnomes exist, to this very day!

 Ancient Gnomes, who lived underground, were often associated with mines and wealth. They were thought to be the guardians of golden treasure, and they had great wisdom, not only about mining the earth, but also about managing money in general. Advice from a Gnome could make any man rich.  

Gnomes have a special connection to the earth. In fact, they were once considered "earth elementals," meaning that they could travel through earth as easily as humans travel through air. To this day, they are believed to enrich garden soil, making vegetables and flowers flourish.

Some Gnomes are capable of speech, while others are not. The Gnomes who do speak are known to be clever with jokes and riddles.

My favourite gnomes, of course, were those potatoes in Harry Potter.

[source: partly Wikipedia (burned my eyes seeing Priapus pictures) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_gnome]

[source: partly mythology.net, one of my favourite place for mythology. https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/gnome/ (this website has Norse, Greek, Roman, Japanese, Hindu and Egyptian mythology things, too)]

If you want more on about garden gnomes, simply make use of Google. Also, you gotta admit Johny Depp was an amazing Sherlock Gnomes.

Ahaha, this game is fun..