Hermann Hesse's Kinderseele, a short work published soon after Demian also under the name Emil Sinclair, is in many respects a prequel, taking the reader back to an event during Sinclair's (Hesse's) childhood that seems referenced in Demian during his first true theft: "Bis dahin hatte ich nur genascht, ZuckerstŸcke und Obst." - "Until then I had only filched lumps of sugar and fruit".
Kinderseele is an interlinear translation, showing the original German text with the English translation directly below. In order to keep the reader focused on the original text the translation attempts to be as literal as possible, while still retaining readability.