Till Eulenspiegel

"In the year 1500 after Christ's birth, as one reckons, I, N., have been asked by various people to collect (for their sake) these accounts and tales and to show how in times gone by a clever, foxy and roguish son of a farmer was born in the Duchy of Brunswick and named Till Eulenspiegel". Till Eulenspiegel is the most famous of German folk heroes, a roving jester whose exploits, translated into dozens of languages, and influencing composers such as Richard Strauss, have fascinated and delighted millions for nearly 500 years. Eulenspiegel's adventures, mocking pompous people of all sorts, have never fully been translated into English. Censored versions reduce to childishness his penetrating satire of late medieval and Renaissance life. This is the translation of the earliest known complete edition of 1515, with interpolations from previous fragments. Its introduction recreates the historical context of the tales, while exploring their meanings and considering the controversial question of their authorship. This edition also includes the entire set of 16th-century woodcuts, which illustrate Till Eulenspiegel's piercing and bawdy wit.