Till Eulenspiegel, The Borat of the Renaissance

Way before the shenanigans of Borat and Ace Ventura, another joker roamed the lands. Till Eulenspiegel traveled 14th century Europe farting and playing pranks.

Till Eulenspiegel is the 14th century protagonist of a German chapbook (a short book of up to 40 pages) published in 1515. The character torments everyone he meets with silly jokes on his vagabond travels throughout Europe. Till’s name directly translates to “owl-mirror”. It has been suggested that this is a veiled pun in Low German for “wipe-arse”. Whether this is true or not, it is abundantly clear in Till’s adventures that toilet humor was popular in 16th century Germany. The stories contain plenty of fart jokes. Additionally, Till forces his unfortunate victims to smell, touch and even eat excrement every chance he can.

The stories were very popular and were printed in German, English, Dutch, Flemish and French. 19th century English editions tended to remove all the scatological humor.

The three panels below are from a Dutch illustration from 1767-93 that we added a little digital splash of color. The cover images above are taken from the cover of the 1515 edition which we also colored.

Young Till Tricks His Father

When Till was a boy he would play pranks upon his neighbors, who had quite a few negative things to say about Till. His father demanded to know if the accusations were true, but Till professed his innocence. He said the townspeople hated him for no reasons at all, and he would prove his innocence by riding silently behind his father, so his father could hear the townsfolk shouting insults at him unfairly.

So they rode and Till pulled down his pants and mooned the villagers, and they shouted insults but his father couldn’t see Till misbehaving. Then Till sat in front on his father and stuck out his tongue at the villagers, and again they shouted insults, and again his father couldn’t see him misbehave, and Till’s father thought him innocent, and unfairly accused.

Till Eulenspiegel and the Bee Hive Thieves

Till once went to a neighboring village with his mother. He got drunk and wandered through a garden looking for a place to take a nap. He spotted some huge baskets that were used for beekeeping, some of which contained beehives with live bees. However, opening the lids he spotted an empty basket that he could sleep in. Till climbed inside, pulled the lid closed and fell asleep. He slept all afternoon and evening while his mother unsuccessfully searched for him. Eventually she returned home assuming that he had already left.

Around midnight two thieves entered the garden to steal a hive. It was dark but they lifted up all the baskets searching for the heaviest basket assuming it would have the most honey. The heaviest basket contained Till, but they lifted it up and struggled out of the garden and on their way to their village.

Till awoke confused and upset from the shaking. He realized he was being carried away in the dark, and toward a village he didn’t live in. After allowing himself to be carried for some time he suddenly reached out of the basket and tugged upon one thief’s hair.

“Ouch!” Yelled the thief. He yelled at the other thief for pulling his hair, but the second thief had no idea what he was talking about. Till thought this was quite funny and so he pulled hard upon the hair of the second thief.

“Ouch!” Screamed the second thief. Now both thieves were yelling. They dropped the basket and started fighting in the darkness until they fell apart and couldn’t even find each other or the basket.

The commotion finished with and all alone, Till once again fell asleep in his basket and only awoke later from the rising sun.

Till Eulenspiegel and the Innkeeper from Cologne

Till Eulenspiegel traveled to Cologne, where for several days he stayed at an inn. He discovered that the innkeeper was a crook and decided to find another place to stay. He told the innkeeper his plans to find other lodgings after that night. The innkeeper responded by showing other guests to their rooms but did not offer a room for Till. When Till asked for a room for the night, the innkeeper provided him a bench, a sheet and a pillow along with three accompanying farts.

Till decided to get revenge upon the farting innkeeper. The innkeeper had a folding table which the guests used for dining. Till unfolded it, defecated in the middle, and folded it back up.

The next morning Till handed the innkeeper his sheet and pillow and set off. The innkeeper unfolded the table to serve lunch to the guests and was greeted by a terrible sight and stench. He wasn’t upset though, as he thought Till’s retribution was deserving and sent for him. The two became friends and appreciated each other’s pranks.