The bachelor Peregrinus shopping for presents for his neighbour's children, especially the eldest daughter whom he loves without knowing it yet; Master Flea running away from Alina and about to hide in a box.
A few strokes of the brush would be sufficient to convert this picture into a Christmas card: The market stall is illuminated with warm golden light and casts a blue glow into part of the snow-covered town. In anticipation of the pleasures of giving presents, the gentleman attired as in the 19th century smiles when he sees the Punch and Judy puppet offered to him by the woman at the stall. Everything frightening is denied access: the crossbeam and the curtain seem to be saying: 'Off limits'. But a threatening element is lurking in the form of the grotesque figure of E.T.A. Hoffmann's flea-monster, which is searching for a way of creeping in, for a crack in the edifice.
The curtain is adorned with strange signs: a magic fence. Above this, in the top left-hand corner, the signature of the creator ot the picture "Digeer".