To curb vice in others as well as in me [Macheath],
I wonder we ha’nt better company
’Neath Tyburn tree.
Gay, The Beggar’s Opera (1727).
Tycho, a vassal of the bishop of Treves, in the reign of Kaiser Henry IV. He promised to avenge his lord and master, who had been plundered by Count Adalbert, a leader of bandits. So, going to the count’s castle, he craved a draught of water. The porter brought him a cup of wine, and Tycho said, “Thank thy lord for his charity, and tell him he shall meet with his reward.” Then, returning home, he procured thirty large wine-barrels, in each of which he concealed an armed retainer and weapons for two others. Each cask was then carried by two men to the count’s castle, and when the door was opened Tycho said to the porter, “I am come to recompense thy lord and master,” and the sixty men carried in the thirty barrels. When Count Adalbert went to look at the present, at a signal given by Tycho the tops of the casks flew off, and the ninety armed men slew the count and his brigands, and then burnt the castle to the ground.
The reader may perceive a certain resemblance between this tale and that of “Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves” (Arabian Nights’ Entertainments).
Tyler (Wat), a frugal, honest, industrious, skillful blacksmith of Essex; with one daughter, Alice, pretty, joyous, innocent, and modest. With all his frugality and industry, Wat found it very hard to earn enough for daily bread, and the tax-collectors came for the poll-tax, three groats a head, for a war to maintain our conquests in France. Wat had saved up the money, and proffered six groats for himself and wife. The collectors demanded three groats for Alice also, but Tyler said she was under 15 years of age, whereupon, one of the collectors having “insulted her virgin modesty,” Tyler felled him to the ground with his sledge-hammer. The people gathered round the smith, and a general uprising ensued. Richard II., sent a herald to Tyler, to request a parley, and pledging his royal word for his safe conduct. The sturdy smith appointed Smithfield for the rendezvous, and there Tyler told the king the people’s grievances; but while he was speaking, William Walworth, the lord mayor, stabbed him from behind and killed him. The king, to pacify the people, promised the poll-tax should be taken off and their grievances redressed, but no sooner had the mob dispersed than the rebels were cut down wholesale, and many being subjected to a mockery of a trial, were infamously executed.--Southey, Wat Tyler (1794, published, 1817).
Tyll Owlyglass or Tyll Owleglass, by Thomas Murner, a Franciscan monk, of Strasbourg (1475-1536); the English name of the German “Tyll Eulenspiegel.” Tyll is a mechanic of Brunswick, who runs from pillar to post as charlatan, physician, lansquenet, fool, valet, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything and everything, but invariably “spoils the Egyptians” who trust in him. He produces popular proverbs, is brimfull of merry mischief, droll as Sam Slick, indifferent honest as Gil Blas, light-hearted as Andrew Bode, as full of tricks as Scapin, and as popular as Robin Hood. The book is crammed with observations, anecdotes, fables, bon mots, facetiæ, and shows forth the omnipotence of common sense. There are two good English versions of this popular picaresco romance--one printed by William Copland, and entitled The Merrye Jeste of a Man called Howlëglass and the many Marvellous Thinges and Jestes which he did in his Lyfe in Eastland; and the other published in 1860, translated by K. R. H. Mackenzie, and illustrated by Alfred Crowquill. In 1720 was brought out a modified and abridged edition of the German story.
To few mortals has it been granted to earn such a place in universal history as Tyll Eulenspiegel [U’len-spee’.g’l]. Now, after five centuries, Tyll’s native village is pointed out with pride to the traveller, and his tombstone ... still stands ... at Möllen, near Lubeck, where since 1350 [sic] his once nimble bones have been at rest.--Carlyle.
Tylwyth Teg, or the “Family of Beauty,” elves who “dance in the moonlight on the velvet sward,” in their airy and flowing robes of blue and green, white and scarlet. These beautiful fays delight in showering benefits on the human race. The Mabinogion.