Till Eulenspiegel

Till Eulenspiegel (circa 1290-1350), German clownish peasant born near Kneitlingen, Brunswick (Braunschweig). In the numerous folk and literary tales that he inspired, Till appears as a shrewd, country-bred trickster who outwits arrogant townspeople, especially innkeepers, and such superior beings as clergymen and noblemen. Never bound by contemporary codes of morality or good taste, Till Eulenspiegel (or Howleglas, “owlglass”) frequently achieves his ends by means that in themselves are satirical of contemporary mores and social strata.

Till's adventures were first collected (1515) in a High German chapbook probably based on an older Low Saxon original. Later this work was translated into most European languages. Till is also the subject of such works as Les aventures de Tyl Ulenspiegel (1867), by the Belgian novelist Charles de Coster, and the symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, 1895), by Richard Strauss.