Transcriber's Note:
1. Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/adventuroussimpl00grimrich
2. Book V skips numbering between Chap. xviii. and xx.

THE ADVENTUROUS

Simplicissimus

THE ADVENTUROUS

Simplicissimus

BEING THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LIFE
OF A STRANGE VAGABOND NAMED

MELCHIOR STERNFELS VON FUCHSHAIM

WRITTEN IN GERMAN BY

HANS JACOB CHRISTOPH
VON GRIMMELSHAUSEN

AND NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME
DONE INTO ENGLISH

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN

MCMXII

Copyright 1912

TO

DR. OTTO SCHLAPP

Lecturer in German in the University of Edinburgh,
as a tribute to his successful endeavours
to promote the knowledge of the
German Classics in Britain, and in
memory of a mutual friend,
Robert Fitzroy Bell

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BOOK I.

Chap. i.: Treats of Simplicissimus' rustic descent and of his upbringing answering thereto

Chap. ii.: Of the first step towards that dignity to which Simplicissimus attained, to which is added the praise of shepherds and other excellent precepts

Chap. iii.: Treats of the sufferings of a faithful bagpipe

Chap. iv.: How Simplicissimus' palace was stormed, plundered, and ruinated, and in what sorry fashion the soldiers kept house there

Chap. v.: How Simplicissimus took french leave and how he was terrified by dead trees

Chap. vi.: Is so short and so prayerful that Simplicissimus thereupon swoons away

Chap. vii.: How Simplicissimus was in a poor lodging kindly entreated

Chap. viii.: How Simplicissimus by his noble discourse proclaimed his excellent qualities

Chap. ix.: How Simplicissimus was changed from a wild beast into a Christian

Chap. x.: In what manner he learned to read and write in the wild woods

Chap. xi.: Discourseth of foods, household stuff, and other necessary concerns, which folk must have in this earthly life

Chap. xii.: Tells of a notable fine way, to die happy and to have oneself buried at a small cost

Chap. xiii.: How Simplicissimus was driven about like a straw in a whirlpool

Chap. xiv.: A quaint comedia of five peasants

Chap. xv.: How Simplicissimus was plundered, and how he dreamed of the peasants and how they fared in times of war

Chap. xvi.: Of the ways and works of soldiers nowadays, and how hardly a common soldier can get promotion

Chap. xvii.: How it happens that, whereas in war the nobles are ever put before the common men, yet many do attain from despised rank to high honours

Chap. xviii.: How Simplicissimus took his first step into the world and that with evil luck

Chap. xix.: How Simplicissimus was captured by Hanau and Hanau by Simplicissimus

Chap. xx.: In what wise he was saved from prison and torture

Chap. xxi.: How treacherous Dame Fortune cast on Simplicissimus a friendly glance

Chap. xxii.: Who the hermit was by whom Simplicissimus was cherished

Chap. xxiii.: How Simplicissimus became a page: and likewise, how the hermit's wife was lost

Chap. xxiv.: How Simplicissimus blamed the world and saw many idols therein

Chap. xxv.: How Simplicissimus found the world all strange and the world found him strange likewise

Chap. xxvi.: A new and strange way for men to wish one another luck and to welcome one another

Chap. xxvii.: How Simplicissimus discoursed with the secretary, and how he found a false friend

Chap. xxviii.: How Simplicissimus got two eyes out of one calf's-head

Chap. xxix.: How a man step by step may attain unto intoxication and finally unawares become blind drunk

Chap. xxx.: Still treats of naught but of drinking bouts, and how to be rid of parsons thereat

Chap. xxxi.: How the Lord Governor shot a very foul fox

Chap. xxxii.: How Simplicissimus spoiled the dance

BOOK II.

Chap. i.: How a goose and a gander were mated

Chap. ii.: Concerning the merits and virtues of a good bath at the proper season

Chap. iii.: How the other page received payment for his teaching, and how Simplicissimus was chosen to be a fool

Chap. iv.: Concerning the man that pays the money, and of the military service that Simplicissimus did for the Crown of Sweden: through which service he got the name of Simplicissimus

Chap. v.: How Simplicissimus was by four devils brought into hell and there treated with Spanish wine

Chap. vi.: How Simplicissimus went up to heaven and was turned into a calf

Chap. vii.: How Simplicissimus accommodated himself to the state of a brute beast

Chap. viii.: Discourseth of the wondrous memory of some and the forgetfulness of others

Chap. ix.: Crooked praise of a proper lady

Chap. x.: Discourseth of naught but heroes and famous artists

Chap. xi.: Of the toilsome and dangerous office of a Governor

Chap. xii.: Of the sense and knowledge of certain unreasoning