Anno MCCCL.
[13]. This device is faithfully copied from that in the edition of 1519.
The Hundred and Tenth Adventure.
How in after time our most excellent Owlglass was esteemed so worthy that he was made a holy Saint; and on the day of All Fools in April do the folk alway keep his memory, as also when they do a foolish thing, the which maketh him continually esteemed of great and small.
That which is accomplished of a great man must at some season bring him honour and glory; therefore be not astonished at the matter which came to pass when that Cardinal Raymundus lay at Möllen great number of years after. For in those parts did many bear in mind the virtues of the illustrious Owlglass; and the cardinal himself went and looked upon the gravestone of Owlglass, and had report made unto him of his doings and sayings. And, for as much as the people of Möllen gave great glory unto his memory, the good cardinal wrote unto the Holy Father at Rome; and unto the great content and delight of the townsfolk of Möllen, Master Owlglass was made a Saint, and beareth rule over all manner of chousings, beguilings, cozenings, cheatings, and knaveries having fellowship with Saint Nicholas; and when that a man goeth about to do a foolish thing, remembereth he that holy man, Saint Owlglass, and doth call upon his name—and of a verity is Saint Owlglass, of all the saints that be in the calendar, that one which hath the government of the greatest number of devout folks here on earth. For fools be there many; and upon the first day of that fair month of April, the weather of which is as various as were the adventures of the holy saint—upon the first of April, I say, do all men honour him, and indeed every day; for in that hour in the which they accomplish any idle vain work, do they increase his glory. So that Saint Owlglass doth receive the continual esteem of both great and small.
The Hundred and Eleventh, and Last, Adventure.
Reciteth a few grave reflections of this present chronicler.
That thing which a man maketh his own, and causeth aye to be his beloved work, be it evil or good, will beset him for ever, nor, save in the prickings and movings of his trembling conscience, and timorous spirit, will he acknowledge his own desperate courses, the which seemed fair to enjoy, but turn unto the apples of Sodom and Gomorrah i’ the mouth; and like unto the red-hot ploughshare, over the which the hardened criminal walketh, doth the sin all done in life sear the aspen soul, which quivereth in terror at evil doing. And verily when that I look me back over the book, my good master, which now I present unto thee, do I perceive right well that deep meaning and truthful lesson which can be gathered by the careful reading of such a life as that one of good Master Owlglass. It hath been said unto us, that we should not do evil that good may arise therefrom; yet from such actions and enactments as those of our master came forth good, for we are taught therein to know the wisdom of the saying of Solon unto that ancient King Crœsus, that until the end be perceived ye should esteem no man happy. And what profit had Master Owlglass of his knaveries? A life of continual change and hurrying to and fro upon the face of the earth—of carking care, and, oftentimes, pinching hunger and parching thirst. For whatsoever he wrought was a thing spoiled thereafter, and his knavery and wickedness at not any season brought him content. Lo! do we not live in other times; but yet those very same things which lay so heavy upon Owlglass, sit yet openly among us, in defiance of the judgment which the voice of the righteous man pronounceth against them. O that folly, knavery, and injustice, could be rooted up from the fair soil of this world, and cast forth unto the burning! This book was brought forth with not a little travail, for while it should cause the merry laugh upon the cheek of old and young, peradventure it may enter into the hearts of some, and they may read that lesson which we do all merit. If that Master Owlglass had not been a knave and a beguiler, might he not, with his rare wit and ingenious brain, have waxed strong in good and noble things? Therefore strive we to understand the intent of his life, and use those talents with the which God hath endowed us, to the greater glory and honour of the Giver; for truly hath it been here clearly set forth how the fool’s cap doth extinguish all light of use, beauty, or excellency.
APPENDIX A.
Bibliographical Notes for the Literary History of Eulenspiegel.
In the foregoing volume, as has been announced in the preface, the edition followed in chief has been the oldest Low German quarto, printed at Strasburg in the year 1519. This is the one with which the Franciscan Friar, Doctor Thomas Murner, has been identified; and, as all reasonable surmise and possible evidence indicate him to be the author of the original Eulenspiegel, we have no reason to believe that any older edition will ever be discovered, although there is a rumour of a Low German edition of 1483. The title page is as follows:—“Ein kurtzweilig lesen von Dil Ulen | -spiegel geboren, vsz. dē land zū Brunszwick. Wie er | seī lebē volbracht hat. & evt (?) seiner geschichten.” Underneath Owlglass on horseback with owl and glass. It consists of one hundred and thirty paged leaves in small quarto, and contains twenty-five sheets, marked A–Z, and a–b iiii; but the number of pages in a sheet varies from four to six and eight. The number of stories contained in the edition is ninety-six, and, with the exception of nine stories, each is provided with a rudely-executed woodcut, in all of which Eulenspiegel is represented in the ordinary dress of the period, his head uncovered, and without the fool’s dress which it has been the custom since to bestow upon him. Panzer was only acquainted with one copy of this edition mentioned in Wenker’s Catalogue, Strasburg, 1783, p. 215, No. 3175. This is preserved in the Ducal Library of Gotha, and no other is known to exist. It is now readily accessible to the student, being reprinted by Dr. Lappenberg (Dr. Thomas Murner’s Ulenspiegel. Leipzig, T. O. Weigel, 1854).