here is a beautiful set of tin flat figures from Germany.  These civilians may be intended to represent a "holiday" melieux, or maybe a fairytale, or Hoffman tale...hard to be sure, they are also very likely to have been included or used with early Karl Bub type O gauge windup train sets.  It was a popular way to populate tabletop railroads in the era after our Civil War and before the 1st world war.

Of course, this grouping is lovely in it's own right, with the winter sleigh, the castle, and the stylish tourists...