The New International Encyclopædia/Eulenspiegel, Till

EULENSPIEGEL, oilen-shpē'gel, Till or Tyll (Ger., owlglass). A German of clownish wit, whose gross jests made his life the gathering point of popular tales of mischief. A Low Saxon account of his pranks was written in 1483 and printed in 1519 in a High German version, probably by Thomas Murner (q.v.). It has often been edited, best by Lappenberg (1854). It was soon rendered into Czech, Polish, Italian, Danish, French, Latin, and into English under the title Howle-Glass. It has been adapted for modern German readers by Simrock (1878). Its universal popularity is a striking witness to the general debased taste that prevailed at this period. It was afterwards adapted by both Reformers and Catholics to their purposes. Fischart (q.v.) issued a metrical version in 1571. Modern imitations are: Böttger, Till Eulenspiegel: Modernes Heldengedicht (1850); and Wolff, Till Eulenspiegel Redivivus (1875). A modern English edition, elaborately illustrated, appeared in 1860, and a translation by Mackenzie in 1890. Consult Roscoe, German Novelists (London, 1880).