[Gutenberg 43599] • A Picture-book of Merry Tales

The Birth of Owlglass, and how he was thrice baptized.

In the Duchy of Brunswick is a forest called Seib, and in this lies the village of Kneitlingen, where the good child Owlglass was born.

The life of this child does not confirm the old saying, “like father like son,” for his father, by name Elaus Owlglass, was a quiet respectable man, and his mother, Anna, was the very model of a woman, for she was meek and a woman of few words. No particular circumstance attending the birth of our hero is handed down to us, and it therefore was, probably, not very different to other births; but it is recorded that he enjoyed the benefit of three distinct Baptisms.

There does not seem to have been any Church in the village where he was born, for when the time came for him to be christened he was sent by his parents to the village of Amptlen, where he received the name of Tyll Owlglass. The place is still remembered as the scene of this ceremony; but also because close by there stood once a castle of the same name, destroyed, as a nest of robbers, by the good people of Magdeburgh, with the help of their neighbours.

At the time we are speaking of it was the custom of the land that the godfathers and godmothers, together with the nurse and child, should adjourn, immediately after the christening, to an alehouse, there to enjoy themselves; and that part of the ceremony was not forgotten or neglected on this occasion. Now it was a long way from the Church to the ale-house, and the day was very hot, so that the party indulged rather freely in the refreshing beverage, delaying their homeward journey as long as possible.

CONTENTS

The Birth of Owlglass, and how he was thrice baptized

How all the People of the Village, both Men and Women, made complaints of young Owlglass; and how, whilst on horseback with his Father, without his knowledge, he made game of them all

How Owlglass crept into a Beehive; and how, when two Thieves came in the night to steal it, he managed to set them quarrelling, so that they came to blows and left the Hive behind them

How Owlglass ate a roasted Fowl off the spit, and did only half Work

How Owlglass was forbidden the Duchy of Luneburgh, and bought himself Land of his own

Of the manner in which Owlglass paints a Picture for the Count of Hessen, and how he persuades him that those of base birth could not see the Painting

How, at Erfurt, Owlglass taught a Donkey to read

How Owlglass brought it about that the Watch of Nurenberg fell into the Water

How Owlglass appears as Dentist and Doctor

How Owlglass sells his Horse to a Jew, and on what Terms

How Owlglass sells an Old Hat for more than its Weight in Gold

How Owlglass, by means of a false Confession, cheated the Priest of Riesenburgh out of his Horse; and how he steals another Priest’s Snuff-box

How a Bootmaker of Brunswick larded Owlglass’s Boots; and how he was paid for doing so

How Owlglass hires himself to a Tailor; and how well he executes his Master’s Orders

How Owlglass caused Three Tailors to fall from their Work-board, and persuaded the People that the Wind had blown them down

How Owlglass tells a Truth to a Smith, to his Wife, his Assistant, and his Maidservant, for which he gets his Horse shod

How Owlglass hired himself to a Merchant as Cook and Coachman

How Owlglass cheated a Horse-dealer at Wismar, and afterwards cheated the Public

How Owlglass sowed Rogues

How Owlglass hired himself to a Barber, and entered his House through the Window

How Owlglass frightened an Innkeeper at Eisleben with a dead Wolf

The Grateful Animals

Tim Jarvis

The Shoemaker and the Dwarfs

The Countryman and the Jew

My Watch

Fittletetot

The wee Bannock

Jock and