Till Eulenspiegel is a protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero, but a background in earlier Middle Low German folklore is likely. The character may have been based on a historical person.
The literal translation of the High German name ‘Eulenspiegel’ is ‘owl mirror’ (hence owle-glasse). It is both innocuous and indicative of his character and has been explained as a garbled form of an expression for ‘wipe-the-arse’.
The chapbook was first published around 1510 and then republished many times through the whole sixteenth century. In the timing sense, it is very close to the ‘Journey to the West’ which published at the end of the sixteenth century.
Same to the ‘Journey to the West’ Till’s book is without an author’s name.
The first chapters of the chapbook are dedicated to Till’s childhood. In chapter nine, Till leaves his mother and begins his life as a vagrant. Takuan does the same, but after a brief venture to a monastery.
Till is depicted as trickster who plays practical jokes on his contemporaries, at every turn exposing vices, greed and folly, hypocrisy and foolishness. Although craftsmen are featured as the principal victims of his pranks, neither the nobility nor the pope is exempt from being affected by him.
It’s a great reference for Takuan whose vocation is to expose and exploit vices: ignorance, anger, and greed.
In the novel of Charles De Coster, ‘The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak’, Till has a best friend.
Lamme Goedzak is a jolly, good-natured, if somewhat naïve man. He functions as a sidekick to Ulenspiegel. While sometimes slow-witted Lamme is nevertheless Tijl’s most loyal friend.
Lamme Goedzak’s name literally translates as ‘lazy kind soul’, which already hints at his personality.
Lamme is also known for being a Bruegelian bon vivant who enjoys eating and drinking. When depicted on book illustrations he is usually carrying food and wine.
The expression ‘lamme goedzak’ sometimes is used as eponym for obese, jolly people who enjoying eating and drinking. Certain Flemish comics characters, like Lambik and Nero, have also been compared with Lamme Goedzak in terms of character.
Camille Huysmans, in his commentary on De Coster, considered Lamme Goedzak to be modeled on Sancho Panza, Don Quixote’s loyal companion in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes.
Lamme Goedzak was one of the references for the wandering warrior Wang-Zhu Leizu, who is also massive, fat, and always hungry. He enjoys eating and drinking, and is sometime depicted as naive yet good-natured personality.
That said, the main reference for Leizu was, of course, Zhu Bajie from the ‘Journey to the West’.