When Franz Kafka began to publish, among the first reviews were the following: “A young author has appeared, he writes in the manner of Robert Walser.” Later, F. Kafka himself, T. Mann, and G. Hesse spoke enthusiastically about the famous Swiss writer, one of the innovators of literature of the first half of the 20th century, Robert Walser (1878–1956). “If Walser,” wrote G. Hesse, “had a hundred thousand readers, the world would be a better place.” A parable or a fairy tale, a strange dialogue or an essay - the book includes works of different genres. Walser himself called them “little dancers dancing until exhaustion.” They are being published in Russian for the first time.