[Illustration: GOETHE] GERMAN WIT AND HUMOR [Illustration] _A COLLECTION FROM FAMOUS SOURCES CLASSIFIED UNDER APPROPRIATE SUBJECT HEADINGS_ [Illustration] PHILADELPHIA GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1903, by GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY _Published, August, 1903_ _Contents_ CHAP. PAGE I. HUMOR OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 5 II. HUMOR OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 10 III. FOR GUNNERS 22 IV. FOR DOCTORS 37 V. FOR LAWYERS 57 VI. A CHAPTER FOR COMPOSERS AND MUSIC LOVERS 74 VII. FOR AND ABOUT TRAVELERS, TOURISTS, AND SUMMER BOARDERS 102 VIII. ON CYCLING 117 IX. AUTHORS, SCIENTISTS, ARTISTS, AND OTHER CELEBRITIES 120 X. ON THE STAGE AND OFF 154 XI. THE GERMAN SOLDIER 162 XII. CROWNED HEADS AND SOME OF THEIR FAMOUS STATESMEN AND GENERALS 180 XIII. STUDENTS IN THE FATHERLAND 234 XIV. WOMEN AND CHILDREN 246 XV. MISCELLANEOUS 269 German Wit and Humor CHAPTER I _Humor of the Sixteenth Century_ The Fool’s Lesson When Eulenspiegel came to Magdeburg—the fame of his notorious pranks having preceded him—several of the best citizens asked him to give them a sample of his buffoonery. He said he would do so, and promised to fly from the roof of a house on the market place. The news spread rapidly, and old and young hurried there to see him fly. For some time Eulenspiegel stood on the low roof, moving his arms and acting as if he were going to fly, then he burst out laughing and cried: “I thought I was the only fool in the world, but I see that here are almost a whole city full of them. If you had told me that you were going to fly, I should not have believed you; and yet you believed me, a well-known fool. How should I be able to fly? I am neither a goose nor any other kind of a bird. I have no wings, and without wings and feathers nobody can fly. Now you see, I told you a falsehood.”