Hechtbrunnen Teterow, Historic fountain in Teterow, Germany

Hechtbrunnen is a 1914 ornamental fountain set off-centre near Teterow's town hall, not in the middle of the market square. A basin nearly three metres across holds a smaller basin with a Low German inscription; inside it a column carries the bronze "Hechtjunge" balancing a large pike on his shoulders.

In March 1912 the magistrate launched an appeal for donations to build a market fountain; over 1,200 marks were raised, including 300 from Teterow-born captain Karl Kaempff and 2,000 promised by Auguste Lehmann of Chicago. Sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider received the commission, and the fountain was unveiled with a public festival on 17 May 1914. It was fully restored before the third Teterow Heimatfest in 1992.

The fountain illustrates the Schildbürger tale of the Hechtsage: the town councillors put a caught pike back into the lake with a bell around its neck so it could be found again before the Königsschuss, and the fisherman cut a notch in his boat where he released it. Paul Warncke wrote the Low German inscription around the upper basin, warning that some people are clever, some stupid and some arrogant.

The fountain is located in the town center and is easily accessible from most places in Teterow. The area around it is open and provides space for walking and exploring the immediate surroundings.

The boy holding the pike was modelled on no grandchild of Wandschneider: his first grandson was born only in 1924. The sculptor called the figure a "little Hercules" the size of a two-year-old. In 1981 the town allowed honorary citizen Horst Klinkmann to have a copy cast, on condition it was no direct mould; the authorised bronze, cast in Berlin in 1990, stands in Kampen in the Netherlands since 1991.