A squire being asked, why he had married a deaf wife? said, In hopes she was also dumb.
The German nation made small pretence to wit or humor. What we have of their early efforts is either gross or stupid.
A few specimens taken from their mediæval Jest collections will quickly prove this.
A malicious woman often beat her husband; being reproved for it, and told that her husband was her head, she answered, May not I beat my own head as I please?
Some Dutchmen conversing in a bookseller’s shop at Leyden, an unknown German came in, upon which one of them exclaimed, “Why is Saul among the prophets?” The German retorted: He is seeking his father’s asses.