Chapter I: Part 1

THE

MARVELLOUS ADVENTURES

AND RARE CONCEITS OF

MASTER OWLGLASS.

THE
MARVELLOUS ADVENTURES
AND
RARE CONCEITS
OF
Master Tyll Owlglass.

_Newly collected, chronicled and set forth, in our English tongue_,

BY KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE,

FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

_And Adorned with many most Diverting and Cunning Devices_,

BY ALFRED CROWQUILL.

LONDON:
TRÜBNER & CO. 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1860.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY WERTHEIMER AND CO.
CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS.

AM GANZEN RHEINE AUF UND AB
DER MENSCHEN GEDÄCHTNISS IST SEIN GRAB.

WHERE’ER THE WAVE OF RHINE DOTH LAVE.
MAN’S MEMORY IS STILL HIS GRAVE.

_Fischart_, p. 179.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PREFACE.

“Wit, an’t be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits
that think they have thee do very oft prove fools; and I that
am sure I lack thee, may pass for a wise man: For what says
Quinapalus? Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.”

_Clown in “Twelfth Night,”_ Act I., Scene 5.

Among the folkbooks of the German nation, not one has obtained so general a circulation as that now presented in an English form. It has been deemed worthy, as by the Appendix may be perceived, of being translated into French, Dutch, Danish, Polish, nay, even Hebrew, and honoured by being reprinted on every kind of paper, good and bad. A favourite among the young for its amusing and quaint adventures, and a study among those who strive, by the diligent comparison of different eras of national literature, to arrive at a due appreciation of national character, Eulenspiegel, or Owlglass the boor (peasant), possesses a peculiar value for the old. I well remember how, as a very little child, I first made the friendship of the lithe though clumsy hero; and to the present time do not feel that I can say I have lost my interest in the humourous quips and quiddities of the strolling vagabond. I little thought, when I then read the German book, that it would be my privilege to introduce him to other readers in my own language.

The Gil Blas of German mediæval story, there is deep instruction in the pungent jests and literal ways of the man who held up his mirror for owls to look in, and each of whose tricks might form the groundwork of a moral reflection. And for the early times in which it appeared, there was not a little courage in the author of it. Strange to say, this person appears to have been a Franciscan friar, Thomas Murner, who, in other matters, made not a little stir in his own day. He visited this country, and wrote a book in defence of our good King Hal the Bluff against that famous monk, Luther; and he received some assistance in a substantial gift from that monarch. An account of him will be found in the Appendix; we have here only to deal with the significance of the book itself.

Like the deep searching work of Rabelais, the book is a satire, not upon human life only, but upon special and dangerous topics. Very early editions contain the story of how Eulenspiegel procured an old skull from a churchyard, and turned the passion for worshipping relics to profitable account;[1] and the priests and would-be learned men of his time continually appear in ludicrous, undignified, or humiliating positions. Rank was not respected, nor was vice in high places passed by with (so-called) discreet silence. Yet with all the graver objects in the book, the immediate aim of amusement was never forgotten; and, letting us into the secrets of peasant life in Germany at an era when peasants had little to rejoice over, we almost imagine that we can hear the shouts of laughter with which the blunt outspoken jokes of this sly clown were received. But Mr. Hallam does justice to a higher appreciation of this kind of literature among the better classes of the time.

“They had a literary public, as we may call it,” says this distinguished writer,[2] “not merely in their courts and universities, but in their respectable middle class, the burghers of the free cities, and perhaps in the artizans whom they employed. Their reading was almost always with a serious end: but no people so successfully cultivated the art of moral and satirical fable. These in many instances spread with great favour through Cisalpine Europe. Among the works of this kind, in the fifteenth century, two deserve mention; the Eulenspiegel, popular afterwards in England by the name of Howleglass, and a superior and better known production,[3] the _Narrenschiff_, or Ship of Fools, by Sebastian Brandt of Strasburg.... It is a metrical satire on the follies of every class, and may possibly have suggested to Erasmus his _Encomium Moriæ_. But the idea was not absolutely new; the theatrical company established at Paris under the name of _Enfans de Sans Souci_, as well as the ancient office of jester or fool in our courts and castles, implied the same principle of satirising mankind with ridicule so general, that every man should feel more pleasure from the humiliation of his neighbours than pain from his own.... The influence such books of simple fiction and plain moral would possess over a people, may be judged by the delight they once gave to children, before we had learnt to vitiate the healthy appetite of ignorance by premature refinements and stimulating variety.”[4]

Yet with all the repute which the book must have had among the boors and country louts of what people choose, with doubtful taste or insight, to call the “dark ages,” Owlglass, if it had not contained within itself great vitality, might have lain in the obscurity which surrounds many a contemporary work. Of the three great philosophers then extant, I have somewhere read a kind of parallel, that Rabelais in his work satirised fantastically, and with peculiar reference to the more educated and scholarly readers of his time. Erasmus, on the other part, struck at the monks with vigorous hand in other fashion; while both Brandt and Murner took a more popular form in their compositions: yet, while Brandt is now scarce remembered, Eulenspiegel remains, a striking and applicable book, setting forth, indeed, in a good light, the truth everywhere, that “the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” In this may be found the reason of its wonderful popularity in Germany—in this is the secret of its constant reproduction in so many languages.

The fool in idle hour claims our attentive ear, charms, instructs, enchains the mind, when the sonorous voice and weighty arguments of the preacher would have no greater effect than the production of a yawn, or, at most, a fugitive repentance. The fact of the subjection of the letter to the spirit must be borne in mind throughout. Mighty times were those when, by sturdy hands and wise pates, the world was ridding itself of the rule of monks and literal interpreters of the universe and of the duties of society. Yet Murner, as has been mentioned, fought against Luther; nor, indeed, could Rabelais or Erasmus perceive, save somewhat dimly, whither their words tended. Perhaps, in secret, they saw, in fitful glimpses, the truth that history proceeds according to progressive laws of development; and when the monks, who at one time had done good service, were no longer useful to mankind, they decayed from inherent fitlessness, and so vanished, overcome by the light of such lamps as these.

A remarkable feature in the adventures of Owlglass must not be passed over without notice, viz., the very few allusions anywhere made to the occult sciences, or to similar subjects. In the story of the invisible picture there is one slight reference to alchymy; and in that where he is led forth to the gallows, the multitude regard Owlglass as a magician, who will rescue himself by the aid of demons. But so real is the character everywhere, that not even by the many editors has any tale been introduced connecting the hero with such matters. Yet the absence of such a colouring displays a greater skill and a deeper purpose in the author; from the tendency of the age in which it was written, any mention of occult science would have been excusable, nay, almost natural. If we remember that the era of its publication was rife with magicians, astrologers, and alchymists; that Cornelius Agrippa very shortly afterwards found it necessary to protest against the abuse of such subjects in his treatise “Of the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences and Arts,” that Trithemius was then Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Spanheim: all these considerations would have caused no surprise at the introduction of scenes of enchantment, or, at least, an employment of them allusively or by implication. But no; true to its mission of a folk-book, filled with the manners and customs of its time, Owlglass is thoroughly worldly, and for us, therefore, possesses greater interest and value.

It may be interesting for a moment to set side by side the jester exhibited in the pages of Shakspere and the good Master Owlglass. Historical Owlglass there certainly was at some time of the fourteenth century, his tomb yet standing at Möllen, as will be seen; but the pranks of many excellent jesters were all centred in the book telling of Owlglass; so that he has been overlaid with jokes, not in his own power to perform. Indeed, in the present edition, from a respect I have for chronology, I have been obliged to extrude two or three which would have involved anachronisms. However, they were somewhat dull, and therefore need not be regretted.

The first English version of Owlglass (as to which see the Appendix, p. 220) having been published early in the sixteenth century, in a “little dumpy quarto,” by Master William Copland, its fame might, without much difficulty, have infiltrated the country parts of England; and, if we regard the clowns of Shakspere, Touchstone, in “As You Like It,” for example, it might appear that Shakspere had seen this Black Letter of William Copland: yet, while the humour of Owlglass consists in his stolid performance of the exact words commanded him, there is clearly a quite other appreciation of wit in the English writer. It is, in fact, the polished foil beside the homely cudgel—both effective weapons, but one of them far more glittering, swift, and murderous. The cudgel may be warded off by a less skilful hand, the glancing steel hath made a wound, and been withdrawn in the very flash of its own rapidity. Dogberry and Verges, Costard perhaps, nay, even Sir Toby Belch, have points of character more resembling Owlglass than do the clowns of our great poet. The Fool in King Lear, has some kin to him, but is infinitely wiser. Indeed, we might perhaps rather class Bardolph, Pistol, and Nym, humourists in their way, with Master Owlglass than the subtle wits Shakspere brings upon the stage. Yet has Owlglass an existence beyond and outside all question of contrast, all opinion of similarity. Gervinus, in his comprehensive History of German Fiction[5] has well defined Owlglass to be “the personified quip and crank” (_der personificirte Schwank_). In fact, he is a Gothic Diogenes set in a Teutonic frame, living, moving, and having his being in an atmosphere as peculiarly distinct in its grotesque and massive proportions, as was the earlier Hellenic age, in its union of elegance and power. No previous time could have produced such an out-birth, and, with all our modern tendencies towards humour, fostered by the constant study of our quainter dramatists, another Owlglass would be a distortion, if not an impossibility.

That, even in grave England, and with quaint Ben Jonson, Master Owlglass was a favourite, we may see from two allusions which he makes to him; one in the “Poetaster,” Act the Third, Scene the Fourth, where Tucca exclaims: “What, do you laugh, Owlglass?” And again in the “Masque of the Fortunate Isles,” produced in 1626, Ben Jonson introduces Howleglass; and Johphiel says to Merefool:—

Or what do you think
Of Howleglass instead of him?

_Merefool._—No him
I have a mind to.

_Johphiel._—O, but Ulen-spiegle,
Were such a name—but you shall have your longing.

And later on, the remark is made:—

Whether you would present him with an Hermes
Or with an Howleglass?

_Skelton._—An Howleglass
To come to pass
On his father’s ass;
There never was,
By day, nor night,
A finer sight,
With feathers upright
In his horned cap,
And crooked shape,
Much like an ape,
With owl on fist.
And glass at his wrist.[6]

A most unjustifiable libel, by the way, is committed here, for Owlglass was always a “proper” gentleman, having no crook-back or ape-like appearance.[7]

One of the most thoughtful and philosophic writers of our day, Mr. Carlyle, has a few noteworthy sentences regarding this strange book, which we shall do well to transfer to these pages:—

“Lastly, in a third class, we find in full play that spirit of broad drollery, of rough saturnine humour, which the Germans claim as a special characteristic; among these, we must not omit to mention the _Schiltbürger_ correspondent to our own _Wise Men of Gotham_; still less the far-famed _Tyll Eulenspiegel_ (Tyll Owlglass), whose rogueries and waggeries belong in the fullest sense to this era.

“This last is a true German work; for both the man, Tyll Eulenspiegel, and the book which is his history, were produced there. Nevertheless, Tyll’s fame has gone abroad into all lands; thus, the narrative of his exploits has been published in innumerable editions, even with all manner of learned glosses, and translated into Latin, English, French, Dutch, Polish; nay, in several languages, as in his own, an _Eulenspiegelerei_ and _Espiéglerie_, or dog’s trick, so named after him, still by consent of lexicographers, keeps his memory alive. We may say, that to few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal history as Tyll; for now, after five centuries, when Wallace’s birth-place is unknown even to the Scots; and the admirable Crichton still more rapidly is grown a shadow; and Edward Longshanks sleeps unregarded save by a few antiquarian English, Tyll’s native village is pointed out with pride to the traveller, and his tombstone, with a sculptured pun on his name,—namely, an Owl and a Glass,—still stands, or pretends to stand, at Möllen, near Lübeck, where, since 1350, his once nimble bones have been at rest. Tyll, in the calling he had chosen, naturally led a wandering life, as place after place became too hot for him; by which means he saw into many things with his own eyes; having been not only over all Westphalia and Saxony, but even in Poland, and as far as Rome. That in his old days, like other great men, he became an autobiographer, and in trustful winter evenings, not on paper, but on air, and to the laughter-lovers of Möllen, composed this work himself, is purely a hypothesis; certain only that it came forth originally in the dialect of this region, namely, the _Platt-Deutsch_; and was therefrom translated, probably about a century afterwards, into its present High German, as Lessing conjectures, by one Thomas Murner, who, on other grounds, is not unknown to antiquaries. For the rest, write it who might, the book is here, ‘abounding,’ as a wise critic remarks, ‘in inventive humour, in rough merriment, and broad drollery, not without a keen rugged shrewdness of insight; which properties must have made it irresistibly captivating to the popular sense; and with all its fantastic extravagancies, and roguish crotchets, in many points instructive.’”[8]

Mr. Carlyle then cites one adventure, that of the Easter Play, which has not been included in the present version; for although it illustrates well enough the interior of a parson’s household of the fourteenth century, there is a smack of profanity about it which it is well to avoid. And, indeed, it is due to the reader of this volume, to inform him, that our present chronicle differs in one material point from all former editions. While it has been my object everywhere to tell the story of Owlglass in a quaint and simple manner, modern good taste required a special duty at the chronicler’s hands: viz., that of purification and modification, for it may readily be believed that a book written _of_ the fourteenth century, _for_ the sixteenth century, would abound with homely wit, not quite consonant with the ideas of the nineteenth. Therefore several stories of a somewhat indelicate, and generally pointless, character have been omitted, and their place supplied with matter obtained by a collation of several editions in the German, French, and Flemish languages.

And another aim which I have had in view has been, where good taste and opportunity admitted, to apply, in a veiled manner, the axioms and quips of our knight-errant of roguery, to subjects and follies not banished from our own more polite age. The reader will thus be able to judge in how far this modern Owlglass differs from its predecessors. In no instance, however, have I permitted myself to lose sight of the object in view, which was to give as good a picture of the original as might be, and that in spirit rather than in letter. This spirit has been so justly estimated by M. Robin, a clever and dashing French critic, whose sad death may still be remembered by a few, that, at the risk of adding too much to this preface, I subjoin an epitome of his remarks:—

“It is quite true,” says he, “that glory is nothing but vanity. I have seen in the sepulchral silence of libraries, names quite unknown, on the backs of gigantic volumes, the librarians could tell me nothing of these, except that they were the authors of these books. I have seen, on the pavement of ancient churches, pompous epitaphs, and heraldic arms, and the nails of the peasant’s shoe tread them under foot. Be then in life a man of learning, knowing every language, be a noble of Spain, a Knight of the Golden Fleece, Viceroy of Mexico or Peru, say you have the right of keeping your hat on in the presence of the King, yet it will scarcely be known that you have lived, while a _vaurien_, a man who had neither hearth nor home, a practical joker, a drunkard, having the devil in his purse, living from hand to mouth, sleeping to-day in the streets, and to-morrow in the bed of his host, whom he never pays, and understanding too well the buffoonery of life ever to have thought of glory; as soon as this man is dead, and ignobly buried, he enters at once into immortality, bequeathing to the people a name which they will never forget, and, to the Attic language of the moderns, a word of which they stood much in need. Who can boast of having invented a word? Very few of the greatest writers can arrogate to themselves this most rare glory. But to leave one’s name to the most grave and self-sufficient language in Europe, to force it to say _espiègle_, because one’s name was Ulenspiegel; and to pass fifty years in practical joking and laughter; to be able to call oneself the father of the great family of Mystificators, surely this is no common fate, and doubtless the contemplator of it will cry out: ‘Where doth Immortality dwell? Poor author, it was well worth thy pains to wear out thy brain in writing folios! Unfortunate hidalgo, it was well worth the trouble of being puffed up with pride at a long name unpronounceable in a breath, that this name should be forgotten, and that the name of a boorish jester should be transmitted almost intact to the most distant posterity.”

The best test of the worth of a book, whether it be several centuries old, or, as it were, a production of our own day, is the proportion of times that it has been reproduced or imitated. Singularly enough, while, in most continental languages, such translations and imitations have been frequent, in two instances only has this celebrated folk-book appeared in an English dress; first, as has been already stated, in Black Letter, in 1528–1530, and again in a modified form in 1720. With a description of these two editions I will not trouble the reader here, as in the Appendix at the end an accurate account of them will be found; and I will merely add, in this place, that of the Black Letter translation only two copies are known to exist, both in the British Museum; and that of the second, a copy of which is now in my own possession, I have only been able to find one other, which is in the Douce Collection in the Bodleian.

It was originally in contemplation to reprint the scarce Black Letter edition; but, on a careful examination, I found this an impossibility, as the contents, for reasons already hinted at, would have shocked good taste; nor, in point of fact, would that edition have offered so great a variety as in this volume has been presented; which may be understood when it is explained, that of all kinds of stories, good and bad, the Black Letter gives but forty-eight; while in the present chronicle there are—such questionable adventures being omitted—no less than one hundred and eleven. Although the idea of such reprint was thus abandoned, there appeared no reason, however, why the old-fashioned form should not be adopted in the telling of the tale. For this and any other faults which the reader may detect I hold myself responsible; and I may mention, that so careful have I been to imitate the style of the time in which it is supposed to be written, that I have even followed the confusion between the use of the “thee” and “thou” and “you” and “ye” common in early books, especially at the transition era of the Stuarts.

The edition which I have adopted as a guide or clue-line, is the Low German original of 1519 in the excellent and exhaustive work of Dr. Lappenberg; and I need not here especially refer to any other, save that of M. Octave Delepierre, long time a zealous antiquary, who argues for a Flemish origin for our hero, an origin in which, giving every meed of praise to that gentleman for the singular ingenuity and complete localization which his book exhibits, I need scarcely say that I cannot coincide. Nay, it may even be suspected that he himself is but in jest with his argument.

I have also to draw the notice of the reader to the Appendices at the end of this volume, which enter into the bibliographical and other history of the book, and to mention that I am greatly indebted to the Rev. Dr. Bandinel, the venerable Librarian of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and also to my friends, the Rev. Alfred Hackman, M.A., Precentor of Christ Church, and the Rev. John S. Sidebotham, M.A., Chaplain of New College, and Preacher at St. Martin’s, Carfax, Oxford, for much valuable assistance in searching for Eulenspiegel literature amidst the treasures contained in that valuable library.

This is all, I think, which need here be said touching the task I have here completed; for the reader need not be asked to appreciate the artistic skill of my friend and coadjutor, Mr. Alfred Crowquill. If the reader does but experience in the perusal of this singular book—practically the first English edition of it—one tithe of the pleasure I have had in preparing it, all that was to be accomplished will have been duly fulfilled.

KENNETH ROBERT HENDERSON MACKENZIE.

35, Bernard Street, Russell Square, W.C.
_October 3, 1859._

-----

Footnote 1:

See Adventure the 36th, p. 63.

Footnote 2:

Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 235 (Library
ed.); vol. i. p. 240 (Cabinet ed.).

Footnote 3:

Matter of doubt to the present writer whether it be thus superior; in
any case, it would be scarcely so interesting to people now-a-days.
But see the Appendix.

Footnote 4:

Bouterwek, in his “History of German Poetry and Eloquence”
(_Geschichte der deutschen Poesie und Beredsamkeit_), vol. ix. p. 336,
confirms the observations of Hallam, and lends additional testimony to
the popularity of the Eulenspiegel. Adolf Rosen von Kreutzheim, in the
Preface to his poem, the _Esel-König_ (Ass-King), alludes to the
general dispersion of Eulenspiegel, Marcolphus, Katziporo, and other
works, and abuses them in set terms as shameful, mischievous, and
dangerous.

Footnote 5:

History of German Fiction, vol. ii. p. 298.

Footnote 6:

Jonson’s Works, p. 650.

Footnote 7:

An Howleglass is mentioned as being in the library of a Captain Cox.
On which, see the Appendix, p. 221.

Footnote 8:

Carlyle, Miscellaneous Essays, Edition 1857, Vol. II. pp. 287–288.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

PAGE

THE INTRODUCTION TOUCHING MASTER TYLL OWLGLASS 1

Adventures.

I.—How Tyll Owlglass was born, and was on one day three times christened 2

II.—How that Owlglass when that he was a child did give a marvellous answer to a man that asked the way 3

III.—How all the boors did cry out shame upon Owlglass for his knavery; and how he rode upon a horse behind his father 5

IV.—How Owlglass did learn to dance upon a rope, and did fall therefrom into the River Saale 6

V.—How Owlglass did move two hundred young people, that they did give unto him their shoes, with the which he made rare sport upon his rope 8

VI.—How that Owlglass his mother did move him that he should learn a handicraft 9

VII.—How Owlglass did deceive a baker at Strasfurt, and gat bread for his mother 10

VIII.—How Owlglass, with other children, was forced to eat fat soup, and gat blows likewise 11

IX.—How Owlglass brought it about that the stingy farmer’s poultry drew for baits 12

X.—How Owlglass was again moved of his mother to depart to a foreign land, that he might learn a handicraft 13

XI.—How Owlglass crept into a bee-hive; how two thieves came by night to steal honey; what honey they did steal; and how Owlglass made it come to pass, that the thieves did fight one with the other, and did leave the bee-hive standing 14

XII.—How Owlglass for little money did have a singing bird for his dinner 16

XIII.—How Owlglass did eat the roasted chicken from off the spit 17

XIV.—How Owlglass did publish abroad that he would fly from off the roof of the town-house at Magdeburg 19

XV.—How Owlglass did cure the sick folks in the hospital at Nürnberg in one day, and what came thereafter 21

XVI.—How Owlglass bought bread according to the proverb, “To him that hath bread is bread given” 23

XVII.—How Owlglass became a doctor, and did cure many folk 23

XVIII.—How that Owlglass became a drawer of teeth, and cured all by a wondrous pill 25

XIX.—How that Owlglass did at Brunswick hire him to a baker, and did there bake owls and monkeys 26

XX.—How Owlglass did again hire him unto a baker, and how he bolted meal in the moon’s light 29

XXI.—Telleth of what manner of thinking was Owlglass, and how he formed his life according unto principles of virtue and goodness 32

XXII.—How that Owlglass did hire him to the Count of Anhalt to blow the horn on a tower; and when that enemies did approach, then blew he not, and when that they came not, then blew he 33

XXIII.—How that Owlglass did have golden shoes struck unto his horse’s feet 37

XXIV.—How that Owlglass did have a great contention before the King of Poland with two other fools 38

XXV.—How that Owlglass did make confession to a priest, and took from him a silver box 39

XXVI.—How that Owlglass was forbidden the dukedom of Lunenburg, and how he did cut open his horse and stand therein 40

XXVII.—How that Owlglass did buy an inheritance in land from a boor, and how he sate therein in a cart 42

XXVIII.—How that Owlglass painted the forbears of the Landgrave of Hessen, and told him that an if he were ignobly born, he might not behold his painting 43

XXIX.—How that Owlglass was for little money well entertained of two innkeepers 49

XXX.—How that Owlglass did tell his master how he might ’scape giving pork unto his neighbours 51

XXXI.—How that Owlglass conferred with the rector and masters of the University of Prague in Bohemia, and how he did make answer unto their questions, and therein came off most wisely 52

XXXII.—How that Owlglass did on a time mix him up in a marriage strife, and did soon end it with great renown 54

XXXIII.—How that Owlglass did cause an ass to read certain words out of a book at the great university of Erfurt 55

XXXIV.—How that Owlglass did kill a hog, and answered for his evil doings unto the burghmaster 58

XXXV.—How that Owlglass at Nugenstädten, in the land of Thuringia, did wash the women’s furs 61

XXXVI.—Telleth how that Owlglass journeyed about the land with a saint’s head, and did beguile many therewith 63

XXXVII.—How that Owlglass did make the town-watch of Nürnberg to fall into the water which is called the Pegnitz 65

XXXVIII.—How that Owlglass did at Bamberg eat for money 67

XXXIX.—How that Owlglass did make a wager with a Jew about a horse, and did deceive him 68

XL.—How that Owlglass did have much money for an old hat 70

XLI.—How that Owlglass journeyed unto Rome to see the Pope, and how his Holiness considered that Owlglass was a heretic 72

XLII.—How that Owlglass without money bought poultry at Quedlingburg, and for security gave unto the farmer’s wife the cock 75

XLIII.—How that Owlglass, with a knavish confession, did beguile the priest of Riesenburg of his horse 76

XLIV.—How that Owlglass did hire him to a smith, and what he did while with him 80

XLV.—How that Owlglass did cause all the tools, hammers, and tongs of a smith to be as one mass of iron 83

XLVI.—How that Owlglass did speak a word of truth unto a smith, his wife, man, and maid, each one before the house 85

XLVII.—How that Owlglass, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, did with guile delude two Jews of rings 87

XLVIII.—How that Owlglass served a shoemaker, and how that he inquired of him what shapes he should cut; and the master answered him, and said: “Great and small, as the herdsman driveth forth to field.” Therefore cut he oxen, cows, calves, sheep and pigs 88

XLIX.—How that Owlglass bought eggs and had them tightly packed 90

L.—How that Owlglass made a soup for a boor, and put therein shoemaker’s oil; for that, in his nobility, he thought it good enow for the boor 91

LI.—This chapter is a special chapter, telling how that a bootmaker sought to beguile Owlglass by greasing his boots, and how that Owlglass looked through the window, and brake it 93

LII.—Telleth how that Owlglass at Einbeck became a brewer’s man, and did seethe a dog which was called Hops 95

LIII.—How that Owlglass hired him to a tailor, and sewed so secretly that it was not seen of any one 97

LIV.—How that Owlglass caused three tailors to fall from their board, and then would have persuaded the people that the wind had blown them down 99

LV.—How that Owlglass assembled all the tailors throughout the whole land of Saxony, by proclaiming that he would teach them a mighty useful thing, that would get bread both for them and their children 101

LVI.—How that Owlglass beat wool upon a saint’s day, and that very high 103

LVII.—How that Owlglass was hired by a furrier, and did sleep among the skins 105

LVIII.—How that Owlglass on a time at Berlin did make wolves 107

LIX.—How that Owlglass, being servant to a great lord, did fetch for him wine and beer together in a most delectable manner 109

LX.—How that Owlglass for a tanner prepared leather with stools and benches, at the good city of Brunswick on the Dam 111

LXI.—How that Owlglass was groom unto a noble lord, and what knavery he wrought unto his lord’s horse Rosamond 112

LXII.—How that Owlglass beguiled the drawer at the town-house cellar of Lübeck, and did for a can of wine give him a can of water 114

LXIII.—How that Owlglass ’scaped hanging by his cunning, and would have hanged himself for a crown, yet did not 116

LXIV.—How that Owlglass, at Helmstadt, caused a great pocket to be made 119

LXV.—How that Owlglass, at Erfurt, beguiled a butcher 120

LXVI.—Telleth how that good Master Owlglass again beguiled the butcher at Erfurt, by pleasing him with a most grateful jingle 122

LXVII.—Touching the faults of the which our noble Master Owlglass had a few; for he was human, and in all human things is imperfection 123

LXVIII.—How that Owlglass, at Dresden, became a carpenter, and for his pains earned little thanks 125

LXIX.—How that Owlglass did hire himself unto the master of a saw-mill 127

LXX.—How that Owlglass became a maker of spectacles, and perceived that trade was very bad 129

LXXI.—How that Owlglass of a boor at the fair of Gerau took leather 132

LXXII.—How that at Hildesheim Owlglass did hire himself unto a merchant, to be his cook, and what tricks he played unto him 133

LXXIII.—How that at Greifswald good Master Owlglass came unto the Rector of the University, and proclaimed himself to be a master in all languages, save in one only, to wit, the Spanish tongue 140

LXXIV.—How that Owlglass did, at Wismar, become a horse-dealer, and beguiled a merchant 143

LXXV.—How that Owlglass wrought a great knavery upon a pipemaker, at Lüneburg 145

LXXVI.—How that an old woman mocked the good Master Owlglass when that at Gerdau he lost his pocket 148

LXXVII.—How that Owlglass gained money by a horse 152

LXXVIII.—How that, at Oltzen, Owlglass did beguile a boor of a piece of green cloth, and caused him to confess that it was blue 153

LXXIX.—How that Owlglass most strangely gat a potful of money 157

LXXX.—How that Owlglass ran great peril of his neck for receiving the pot of money, yet gat fifteen shillings instead of a hanging 160

LXXXI.—How that Owlglass told many that he had lost his money-girdle, and thereby came with good luck unto a warm fire 162

LXXXII.—How that Owlglass did at Bremen of the market-women buy milk, and cause it to be poured altogether into one tun 163

LXXXIII.—How that Owlglass spake unto twelve blind men, and persuaded them that he had unto them given twelve shillings, and how that they spent the money and came evilly off thereafter 164

LXXXIV.—How that in a city of Saxony Owlglass sowed knaves 169

LXXXV.—How that in the good city of Hamburg, Owlglass hired him unto a barber, and went through the casement unto his service 173

LXXXVI.—How that Owlglass did cause the host of the inn at Eisleben to be beset with great terror, by showing unto him a wolf, of the which he professed no fear 175

LXXXVII.—How that Owlglass paid his host with the ring of his money 180

LXXXVIII.—How that Owlglass, at Lübeck, did escape from a house, when that the watch would have taken him for his debts 181

LXXXIX.—How that Owlglass, at Stassfurt, of a dog took the skin, the which he gave unto his hostess for her charges 182

XC.—How that our noble master gave assurance unto the same hostess, that Owlglass lay upon the wheel 184

XCI.—How that Owlglass caused a Hollander from a plate to take an apple, the which evilly ended for the eater 185

XCII.—How that Owlglass caused a woman to break in pieces the whole of her wares, in the market-place at Bremen 187

XCIII.—How that Owlglass sold a horse, the which would not go over trees 191

XCIV.—How that of a horse-dealer Owlglass bought a horse and only paid half of the money therefor 192

XCV.—How that in the land of Brunswick Owlglass turned shepherd 193

XCVI.—How that without money Owlglass bought a pair of shoes 195

XCVII.—How that Owlglass sold unto the furriers, at Leipzig, a live cat, the which was sewed into the skin of a hare; and how rare sport came thereof 196

XCVIII.—How that Owlglass hired himself unto a boor 197

XCIX.—How that Owlglass gat him to the High School at Paris 199

C.—How Owlglass would fain have been an innkeeper at Rouen, but was beguiled by a one-eyed man, and again, in turn, cozened him 199

CI.—How, in Berlin, Owlglass was an officer, and collected taxes of the boors 201

CII.—How that in his latter days Owlglass became a pious monk, and what came thereof 203

CIII.—How that when at Möllen Owlglass lay sick, his mother came unto him 206

CIV.—How that when Owlglass was sick unto death, he made confession of three things, the which it sorely troubled him he had not done 207

CV.—Saith, how that to a greedy priest Owlglass confessed his sins, and paid him handsomely for his pains 209

CVI.—How that Owlglass in three parts did divide all that belonged unto him; and the one part gave he freely unto his friends, and another thereof humbly to the town council of Möllen, and the third part unto the priest there 211

CVII.—How that at Möllen Owlglass died, and the swine did cast down the coffin when that the good priests sang the vigil 212

CVIII.—How that our for ever prized Master Owlglass was buried 213

CIX.—Telleth what stood upon his gravestone 214

CX.—How in after time our most excellent Owlglass was esteemed so worthy that he was made a holy Saint; and on the day of All Fools in April do the folk alway keep his memory, as also when they do a foolish thing, the which maketh him continually esteemed of great and small 215

CXI.—Reciteth a few grave reflections of this present chronicler 216

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A.

Bibliographical Notes for the Literary History of Eulenspiegel 219

APPENDIX B.

The Historical Eulenspiegel and his Gravestone 240

APPENDIX C.

Of Dr. Thomas Murner, the Author of Eulenspiegel 244

APPENDIX D.

The Verses inserted by William Copland in the English black-letter
Howleglas of 1528 247

APPENDIX E.

The Bakâla Legend of the Valacqs analogous to Owlglass 249

APPENDIX F.

Works akin to the Eulenspiegel Literature 252

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Cup and Ball (Frontispiece)

Vignette Owlglass (Title)

PAGE

Tyll Owlglass 1

Child Owlglass 4

Beehive borne, _coloured_ 15

Doctor Owlglass, _coloured_ 23

Hot Water Cure 24

Wisdom and Impudence 27

Watchman Owlglass 34

Painter Owlglass 46

Respected Reader 56

Furrier Owlglass 61

Poulterer Owlglass, _coloured_ 75

Blacksmith Owlglass 81

Brewer Owlglass, _coloured_ 96

Ware Wolf! 107

Nimble Owlglass 116

Provident Owlglass 121

Sawyer Owlglass 127

Optical Owlglass 129

Nothing like Leather! 132

A Pleasant Sight 137

Horse-dealer Owlglass 144

A Young Bride 151

A Genial Fellow 175

A Fat Friend 186

Unhorsed 191

Shepherd Owlglass 194

Owlglass selleth Puss, _coloured_ 196

Monk Owlglass 203

Dip not too deep! _coloured_ 208

The Device of the Owl and Glass 214

Put out the Light! 217

The Gravestone 240

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE

MERRY ADVENTURES AND JESTS

OF

MASTER OWLGLASS.

The Introduction touching Master Tyll Owlglass.

With what joy and inward content do I not greet ye, my masters, bringing with me for your sweet delectation and delightful comfort the history, the which I have most diligently written, and out of many learned and wise books gathered together, and which indeed telleth of the merry jests, rare conceits, and subtile cony-catching of that renowned Master Tyll Owlglass, who in the Brunswick land was born. And i’ faith, ye do owe me not a little grace and thankfulness for that which I have now finished,—but an if my pains had been a thousandfold greater than they have been, I would not have spared myself. This is mine answer unto ye. And my desire hath been, that ye shall most merrily sit ye round the fire and laugh until that your sides shall ache, and your inner man be shaken with the continual reverberation of your delighted spirit. For an ill heart is such an one that doth never rejoice, but trembleth ever and anon at the wonders with the which we be encompassed, so do ye now, without any other speech from me, accept this little book, and therein read, and ponder well the deeds of this noble master, who from low estate and boorish condition rose to be the companion of princes and dukes, and, by his infinitude of rare parts, remaineth well known and beloved of all men in divers countries and lands all over the fair domain of Christendom. And now do I bid ye farewell, and leave ye with a companion less tedious than am I, and in the reading of his life will ye not lose your labour, that know I well.

The First Adventure.

_How Tyll Owlglass was born and was in one day three times christened._

As verily all creatures must have a beginning of their lives, so that they may come into this world to abide therein, so also must it be with the famous Master Owlglass, who lived in Germany many years, and of whom many notable adventures are told and noised about all over that country. In the land of Brunswick, in the deep wood named Melme, lieth a village named Kneitlingen, and there was born the pious child Owlglass. And the name of his father was Nicolaus, commonly said Claus, Owlglass, and his mother’s name was Anna Wertbeck. It fortuned, that when the child was born that they made a great feast, and sent the child to be christened in the village of Amptlen; hard by the castle of Amptlen, which was after destroyed by the people of Magdeburg. And when the child was baptised, he was called Tyll Owlglass. Truly, however, after that the feast had come to an end, the godfathers and godmothers of the child having eaten and drunken right lustily (for it was the custom of that place most heartily to do these things), set forth on their way homeward, and the sun being hot, they were tired and they minded not their steps to be careful of them, and so it came to pass, that one of them carrying the child caught her foot upon a stone and fell into a ditch, so child and all were quickly covered with mud. But as weeds cannot so easily come to harm, the child was not hurt, but only thus christened in the mire.

When they got home, the child was washed clean in hot water. Thus was Owlglass in one day three times christened, first in the church, then in the mud of the ditch, and at last in warm water. So is it always shown with great and famous persons, that, in their infancy, strange and most wonderful things do foreshow their future greatness.

The Second Adventure.

_How that Owlglass when that he was a child did give a marvellous answer
to a man that asked the way._

Upon a time went the father and mother of Owlglass forth, and left Owlglass within the house. Then came a man riding by, and he rode his horse half into the house in the doorway, and asked: “Is there nobody within?” Then answered the child: “Yea, there is a man and a half, and the head of a horse.” Then asked the man: “Where is thy father?” and the child made answer and said: “My father is of ill making worse; and my mother is gone for scathe or shame.” And the man said to the child: “How understandest thou that?” And then the child said: “My father is making of ill worse, for he plougheth the field and maketh great holes, that men should fall therein when they ride. And my mother is gone to borrow bread, and when she giveth it again and giveth less it is a shame, and when she giveth it and giveth more it is scathe.” Then said the man: “Which is the way to ride?” And the child answered and said: “There where the geese go.” And then rode the man his way to the geese, and when he came to the geese they flew into the water; then wist he not whither to ride, but turned again to the child and said: “The geese be flown into the water, and thus wot I not what to do nor whither to ride.” Then answered the child: “Ye must ride where the geese go and not where they swim.” Then departed the man and rode his way, and marvelled of the answer of the child. Thus from the mouths of babes cometh forth wisdom and ready conceit.

The Third Adventure.

_How all the boors did cry out shame upon Owlglass for his knavery; and
how he rode upon a horse behind his father._

Now when Owlglass had come to an age to run about, he began playing divers tricks and knavish actions among the boys of his village; and he fought and tumbled about upon the grass, that he looked more like a monkey than a boy. But when it came to pass that he was four years old, his malice waxed greater and greater, so that his father was ever being disputed with by the neighbours, who cried out shame upon Owlglass, as being so great a knave; and though it happened that his father did scold him with many words, Owlglass did always excuse himself by knavish answers. Thereat the father thought he would quickly learn the verity of these sayings of the neighbours, and at a time when the boors were all walking in the streets, he did set his son Owlglass behind him on his horse. Then, also, he commanded Owlglass that he should be most quiet and silent. What, then, did the pious and good child? He did silently play tricks and mocked the people, whereon they did most loudly cry out upon Owlglass: “Fie upon the little malicious knave!”

Now as Owlglass spake never a word in all this time, his father did not know how it came to pass that the people did cry out so loudly; and Owlglass complained to him, and said: “Hearest thou, father! Here sit I silently behind thee upon thy horse and say no word, and yet the people cry out against me for my knavery.” Then the father sayeth but little, and taketh Owlglass and setteth him upon the horse in front of him. Then did Owlglass open his mouth wide, and did stretch forth his tongue, in mockery of the people. And the people did run forth, crying: “Out upon the little knave!” Yet did not the father see the knavery, but said: “Alas for thee, that thou shouldst have been born in an unhappy hour!” So much did he love Owlglass, that he then departed out of the land of Brunswick, and he did abide in the land of Magdeburg, hard by the river Saale.

In a little time thereafter, so sorrowful was he, that he gave up the ghost, and left his wife and child in great poverty. Thus it is that great men are often persecuted and smitten with many blows in their own land, nor do they find good comfort therein! Owlglass, although he knew not any handicraft, did grow up and wax older in knavery; and when that he was sixteen years old, did excel in tricks, quips, and quiddities.

The Fourth Adventure.

_How Owlglass did learn to dance upon a rope, and did fall therefrom
into the river Saale._

It hath been said of old time, by the wise and cunning: “When that the cat is out of the house, then play the mice.” Thus fared it with Owlglass after that his father was dead. His mother had become old and full of years, and she could no longer have the mastery over Owlglass, and he did learn many greatly knavish conceits. And his mother was sorely troubled of Owlglass, and bore not with his knavery.

Now it fortuned, that the house where Owlglass and his mother did live, lay hard by the river Saale, and Owlglass did go up into the garret of the house, and there did learn to dance upon a rope, until that his mother did find him going to and fro upon the rope, and did so belabour him with a cudgel, that he fled through the window of the garret on to the roof, where she could not follow him. And this often came to pass, until he grew older, and she became weak and of no strength to have power over him. Then thought he, it was time that he should in open day render it manifest unto all, how great was his perfection in the art of dancing upon the rope, and he did stretch the rope across the river Saale, from one house even unto a house which lay over against them on the other side. And when that the people beheld such unwonted sport, they did run together, old and young, in a great crowd, and did marvel much that Owlglass should go hither and thither in so sure a manner upon the rope.

Happiness is, however, but for the few, and seldom doth evil fortune fail to sow sorrowful seeds in the midst of joyous doings; and thus fortuned it, that the mother of Owlglass did hear the shouting of the people at the feats of Owlglass, and that she might reprove with heavy punishment the knavery of her son, she hastened to the place where the rope was tied, and cut it through with a knife secretly. Then did good Master Owlglass plump into the water with much mockery and despite; and all the people did laugh greatly thereat, and Owlglass was vexed, so that he could speak no word; nor did he fear the bath and the peril of drowning as much as the jests of the people, who ran after him, blessing the bath with much outcry. Thus did Master Owlglass come evilly off in his first undertaking.

The Fifth Adventure.

_How Owlglass did move two hundred young people, that they did give unto
him their shoes, with the which he made rare sport upon his rope._

In no long space of time thereafter, Owlglass did desire to avenge him, concerning the mockery which befel him after the bath, therefore did he tie the rope across unto another house, and once again told the people that he would dance to and fro upon the rope. Soon did the people come together in great multitude, and there were in that place both old and young; then Owlglass spake unto the young people, and said that he would show unto them a most rare device upon the rope with their shoes. Then did they believe him, and with that put their shoes off their feet and gave them unto Owlglass, and he did put them all together upon a string and went up on to the rope; and all the people thought that he was going to make some wonderful stroke therewith. But the boys were sad, and would fain have received their shoes again.

When, therefore, Owlglass was sitting upon the rope and had ended his trickery, he cried out with a loud voice and spake these words: “Be ye now every one in readiness, and let him seek his shoes again;” and he cut the string and threw all the shoes upon the ground, in such wise that one shoe fell upon another into a great heap, and none could be distinguished. Then did the people, old and young, come in great crowds, and caught a shoe here and another there; and one spake and said this was his shoe, whereat another did make answer that it was his; and then fell they to fisticuffs, and with great blows they pulled out the hairs from their heads: one lay on the ground, and the other belaboured him with sturdy strokes; and one wept with a loud voice while another did laugh, and a third screamed like a peacock. Thus went things forward, until the old men began also to give many stripes to the crowd.

But Owlglass, sitting upon his rope, laughed until his stomach shook again, and cried out: “Right merry may ye be! Seek ye your shoes again in that wise in which I sought my way forth from the bath.” Then did he come down from his rope, and left them in contention; nor did he again come forth, for fear of the people, but abode at home with his mother. Thereover did his mother greatly rejoice, and thought that now he was a wise and gentle person, and soon, therefore, would things go better with them all. Yet knew she not of his knavery, and wherefore he dared not go out. But the wisdom of Owlglass was great; for it is better to abide in darkness with a whole skin, than live in a palace of light and be beaten with many stripes. Thus did, therefore, our great example of wit and judgment.

The Sixth Adventure.

_How that Owlglass his mother did move him that he should learn a
handicraft._