The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-06-27
fully Atlantic.l
Tyn Eulenspiegel.
BY ELIZABETH ROBINS.


Of all the fools of fiction or of reality there is
not one who stands out in such bold relief, as a
good-natured rogue and Unsuitable mischief
maker, as Tyll Euenspiegel He is irresst-
ible. Whether we follow him to the beehive
where he set the two thieves to fighting, while
he made his escape, undetected: whether we
accompany him to the church spire in Magde-
burg on that famous occasion when he assem-
bled crowds around the church, only to tell
them they were bigger fools than he was him.
self; or whether we are witnesses Of his i'm
posture upon so august person as the Pope,
we cannot resist laughing heartily with
him, while we admire his amazing in
genuity. His mischief began from his
earliest years. His mother boasted that
he had received three baptisms; for, as
she carried him home from the bapts-
NAL font, she dropped him in the mud, and in
consequence Master Tyll had his third plunge
in basin of water. Perhaps the mud coun-
teracted the good which should have come
from his Christian initiation. However that
may be, from that day forward he became the
scourge of every town to which he went, so
that to many be could only return we'll dis
SoioOus LAio uuNChtuiOo WOAO FGAAouc. I1C no-
sumed every profession and every character.
Doctor, magistrate, misst onary, cook, priest,
baker-he was all these, and many things be-
sides. He passed through as many professions
as Louis Philippe does in the carcatures of
Gavarni. But his cap peeped out at the most
solemn moments, and the ring OF his bells re-
vealed the Jester. There is a single idea in
carnste in every popular book, in which it re-
ours like the refrain in a ballad and consu-
tutes the true charm. That in Baron Mum
chausen is lying adventure; that Of the Seven
Suabians is great stupidity allied to petty cum
ming; that of tho Hindu Guru Simple Is the
same, with pretense of superior wisdom; that
of Eulenspiegel is the literal execution OF ev-
cry command in such way as to defeat its OBJ
ject by carrying it out too literally. He obeyed
to the letter, but never to the spirit.
Gifted with the wisdom of infinite impu-
dence, nothingsdaunted him. He was no mis-
shapen goblin, but like Le Glorjeux, hand
some man. Added to this he possessed enor-
NOUS physical strength and coolness. When
the occasion required it, he could leave his
mischief, and go forth from the town
to slay wolf. Singing its dead
body over his shoulders he was as unconcerned
as Thor was when he went on his expediy
tions against the trolls. This denotes clearly
his Northern origin. He was ready for every
emergency. Where greater man would have
been lost forever, the rogue shoDe with in
creased brilliance. Tricks were played upon
MIN WnlCn ne, IN MS SagaClOuS IOlly, burneu 10
his own profit. True to himself, his last
thoughts were devoted to mischief Dying,
he made will, in which he left his possessions
all contained i'll one large box, to be divided
among his friends, the council OF Mullen, and
the parson of that town. But when his heirs
opened the box they found only stones Over
Eulenspiegels grave was placed a stone, on
which was cut an owl, a looking glass, and the
following lines, recalling Shakespeare's epi-
taph:
"Here lies Eulenspisgel buried low,
His body is in the ground;
We warn the passenger that so
He move not this stones bound"
Eulenspiegel was the true child Of his age.
Had we no other records of medi9yal Europe,
we could read its home life in the Marvellous
Adventures of Master Tyll. Wanton playful
ness mischief for the sake of mischief-is the
keynote to the whole book, as it is to the won-
derful centuries which separated the barbarism
of the Dark Ages from the light of the Renais-
sance,-a period little understood by the world
Of the nineteenth century.