In a letter to her husband Johannes Hesse, Hermann’s mother Marie wrote: “The little fellow has a life in him, an unbelievable strength, a powerful will, and, for his four years of age, a truly astonishing mind. How can he express all that? It truly gnaws at my life, this internal fighting against his tyrannical temperament, his passionate turbulence […] God must shape this proud spirit, then it will become something noble and magnificent — but I shudder to think what this young and passionate person might become should his upbringing be false or weak.”