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Chapter companions for The Adventurous Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen.

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  1. Chapter 1

    Dedication

    The author dedicates the work to Dr. Otto Schlapp, acknowledging his efforts to promote German classics in Britain, and in memory of their mutual friend Robert Fitzroy Bell.

  2. Chapter 2

    Frontispiece

    The frontispiece poem introduces the narrator's transformative journey through fire, air, water, and land, symbolizing rebirth and worldly experience. The narrator reflects on the troubles and rare joys encountered, offering the book as a guide for readers to abandon folly and live in peace.

  3. Chapter 3

    The Adventurous Simplicissimus

    This opening chapter introduces the protagonist, Melchior Sternfels von Fuchshaim, also known as Simplicissimus, and sets the stage for his life story as a strange vagabond.

  4. Chapter 4

    Book I

    Simplicissimus recounts his early life, his innocent upbringing in a rural village, the violent destruction of his home by soldiers, and his subsequent escape into the forest where he is taken in by a hermit who teaches him about Christianity and the ways of the world.

  5. Chapter 5

    Treats of Simplicissimus’s Rustic Descent and of His Upbringing Answering Thereto

    Simplicissimus introduces himself with a satirical critique of the new nobility who claim ancient lineage despite humble origins. He then describes his own rustic birth in the Spessart, comparing his father's peasant household to a prince's palace, with a thatched roof, smoke-blackened walls, and farm animals as servants. His upbringing was one of profound ignorance—he could play the bagpipe but knew nothing of God, man, heaven, hell, or good and evil, living in a state of innocent foolishness until his father began to train him for higher things.

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  1. Chapter 6II: Of the First Step Towards That Dignity to Which Simplicissimus Attained, to Which Is Added the Praise of Shepherds and Other Excellent Precepts
  2. Chapter 7III: Treats of the Sufferings of a Faithful Bagpipe
  3. Chapter 8How Simplicissimus’s Palace Was Stormed, Plundered, and Ruinated, and in What Sorry Fashion the Soldiers Kept House There
  4. Chapter 9How Simplicissimus Took French Leave, and How He Was Terrified by Dead Trees
  5. Chapter 10VI: Is So Short and So Prayerful That Simplicissimus Thereupon Swoons Away
  6. Chapter 11How Simplicissimus Was in a Poor Lodging Kindly Entreated
  7. Chapter 12How Simplicissimus by His Noble Discourse Proclaimed His Excellent Qualities
  8. Chapter 13How Simplicissimus Was Changed from a Wild Beast Into a Christian
  9. Chapter 14X: In What Manner He Learned to Read and Write in the Wild Woods
  10. Chapter 15XI: Discourseth of Foods, Household Stuff, and Other Necessary Concerns, Which Folk Must Have in This Earthly Life
  11. Chapter 16XII: Tells of a Notable Fine Way, to Die Happy and to Have Oneself Buried at Small Cost
  12. Chapter 17XIII: How Simplicissimus Was Driven About Like a Straw in a Whirlpool
  13. Chapter 18XIV: A Quaint Comedia of Five Peasants
  14. Chapter 19How Simplicissimus Was Plundered, and How He Dreamed of the Peasants and How They Fared in Times of War
  15. Chapter 20Of the Ways and Works of Soldiers Nowadays, and How Hardly a Common Soldier Can Get Promotion
  16. Chapter 21XVII: 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
  17. Chapter 22How Simplicissimus Took His First Step Into the World and That with Evil Luck
  18. Chapter 23XIX: How Simplicissimus Was Captured by Hanau and Hanau by Simplicissimus
  19. Chapter 24XX: In What Wise He Was Saved from Prison and Torture
  20. Chapter 25How Treacherous Dame Fortune Cast on Simplicissimus a Friendly Glance
  21. Chapter 26XXII: Who the Hermit Was by Whom Simplicissimus Was Cherished
  22. Chapter 27How Simplicissimus Became a Page: And Likewise, How the Hermit’s Wife Was Lost
  23. Chapter 28XXIV: How Simplicissimus Blamed the World and Saw Many Idols Therein
  24. Chapter 29How Simplicissimus Found the World All Strange and the World Found Him Strange Likewise
  25. Chapter 30XXVI: A New and Strange Way for Men to Wish One Another Luck and to Welcome One Another
  26. Chapter 31XXVII: How Simplicissimus Discoursed with the Secretary, and How He Found a False Friend
  27. Chapter 32How Simplicissimus Got Two Eyes Out of One Calf’s-Head
  28. Chapter 33XXIX: How a Man Step by Step May Attain Unto Intoxication and Finally Unawares Become Blind Drunk
  29. Chapter 34XXX: Still Treats of Naught but of Drinking Bouts, and How to Be Rid of Parsons Thereat
  30. Chapter 35How the Lord Governor Shot a Very Foul Fox
  31. Chapter 36How Simplicissimus Spoiled the Dance
  32. Chapter 37Book II
  33. Chapter 38How a Goose and a Gander Were Mated
  34. Chapter 39Concerning the Merits and Virtues of a Good Bath at the Proper Season
  35. Chapter 40III: How the Other Page Received Payment for His Teaching, and How Simplicissimus Was Chosen to Be a Fool
  36. Chapter 41Concerning 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
  37. Chapter 42V: How Simplicissimus Was by Four Devils Brought Into Hell and There Treated with Spanish Wine
  38. Chapter 43How Simplicissimus Went Up to Heaven and Was Turned Into a Calf
  39. Chapter 44VII: How Simplicissimus Accommodated Himself to the State of a Brute Beast
  40. Chapter 45VIII: Discourseth of the Wondrous Memory of Some and the Forgetfulness of Others
  41. Chapter 46IX: Crooked Praise of a Proper Lady
  42. Chapter 47X: Discourseth of Naught but Heroes and Famous Artists
  43. Chapter 48XI: Of the Toilsome and Dangerous Office of a Governor
  44. Chapter 49Of the Sense and Knowledge of Certain Unreasoning Animals
  45. Chapter 50XIII: Of Various Matters Which Whoever Will Know Must Either Read Them or Have Them Read to Him
  46. Chapter 51How Simplicissimus Led the Life of a Nobleman, and How the Croats Robbed Him of This When They Stole Himself
  47. Chapter 52Of Simplicissimus’ Life with the Troopers, and What He Saw and Learned Among the Croats
  48. Chapter 53How Simplicissimus Found Goodly Spoils, and How He Became a Thievish Brother of the Woods
  49. Chapter 54How Simplicissimus Was Present at a Dance of Witches
  50. Chapter 55XVIII: Doth Prove That No Man Can Lay to Simplicissimus’ Charge That He Doth Draw the Long Bow
  51. Chapter 56How Simplicissimus Became a Fool Again as He Had Been a Fool Before
  52. Chapter 57XX: Is Pretty Long, and Treats of Playing with Dice and What Hangs Thereby
  53. Chapter 58XXI: Is Somewhat Shorter and More Entertaining Than the Last
  54. Chapter 59XXII: A Rascally Trick to Step Into Another Man’s Shoes
  55. Chapter 60XXIII: How Ulrich Herzbruder Sold Himself for a Hundred Ducats
  56. Chapter 61How Two Prophecies Were Fulfilled at Once
  57. Chapter 62XXV: How Simplicissimus Was Transformed from a Boy Into a Girl and Fell Into Divers Adventures of Love
  58. Chapter 63XXVI: How He Was Imprisoned for a Traitor and Enchanter
  59. Chapter 64XXVII: How the Provost Fared in the Battle of Wittstock
  60. Chapter 65XXVIII: Of a Great Battle Wherein the Conqueror Is Captured in the Hour of Triumph
  61. Chapter 66XXIX: How a Notably Pious Soldier Fared in Paradise, and How the Huntsman Filled His Place
  62. Chapter 67How the Huntsman Carried Himself When He Began to Learn the Trade of War: Wherefrom a Young Soldier May Learn Somewhat
  63. Chapter 68XXXI: How the Devil Stole the Parson’s Bacon and How the Huntsman Caught Himself
  64. Chapter 69Book III
  65. Chapter 70How the Huntsman Went Too Far to the Left Hand
  66. Chapter 71II: How the Huntsman of Soest Did Rid Himself of the Huntsman of Wesel
  67. Chapter 72How the Great God Jupiter Was Captured and How He Revealed the Counsels of the Gods
  68. Chapter 73IV: Of the German Hero That Shall Conquer the Whole World and Bring Peace to All Nations
  69. Chapter 74V: How He Shall Reconcile All Religions and Cast Them in the Same Mould
  70. Chapter 75How the Embassy of the Fleas Fared with Jupiter
  71. Chapter 76How the Huntsman Again Secured Honour and Booty
  72. Chapter 77How He Found the Devil in the Trough, and How Jump-I’-Th’-Field Got Fine Horses
  73. Chapter 78IX: Of an Unequal Combat in Which the Weakest Wins the Day and the Conqueror Is Captured
  74. Chapter 79How the Master-General of Ordnance Granted the Huntsman His Life and Held Out Hopes to Him of Great Things
  75. Chapter 80XI: Contains All Manner of Matters of Little Import and Great Imagination
  76. Chapter 81XII: How Fortune Unexpectedly Bestowed on the Huntsman a Noble Present
  77. Chapter 82Of Simplicissimus’ Strange Fancies and Castles in the Air, and How He Guarded His Treasure
  78. Chapter 83XIV: How the Huntsman Was Captured by the Enemy
  79. Chapter 84On What Condition the Huntsman Was Set Free
  80. Chapter 85How Simplicissimus Became a Nobleman
  81. Chapter 86How the Huntsman Disposed Himself to Pass His Six Months: And Also Somewhat of the Prophetess
  82. Chapter 87How the Huntsman Went a Wooing, and Made a Trade of It
  83. Chapter 88XIX: By What Means the Huntsman Made Friends, and How He Was Moved by a Sermon
  84. Chapter 89XX: How He Gave the Faithful Priest Other Fish to Fry, to Cause Him to Forget His Own Hoggish Life
  85. Chapter 90How Simplicissimus All Unawares Was Made a Married Man
  86. Chapter 91How Simplicissimus Held His Wedding-Feast and How He Purposed to Begin His New Life
  87. Chapter 92How Simplicissimus Came to a Certain Town (Which He Nameth for Convenience Cologne) to Fetch His Treasure
  88. Chapter 93How the Huntsman Caught a Hare in the Middle of a Town
  89. Chapter 94Book IV
  90. Chapter 95How and for What Reason the Huntsman Was Jockeyed Away Into France
  91. Chapter 96II: How Simplicissimus Found a Better Host Than Before
  92. Chapter 97III: How He Became a Stage Player and Got Himself a New Name
  93. Chapter 98IV: How Simplicissimus Departed Secretly and How He Believed He Had the Neapolitan Disease
  94. Chapter 99How Simplicissimus Pondered on His Past Life, and How with the Water Up to His Mouth He Learned to Swim
  95. Chapter 100VI: How He Became a Vagabond Quack and a Cheat
  96. Chapter 101VII: How the Doctor Was Fitted with a Musket Under Captain Curmudgeon
  97. Chapter 102VIII: How Simplicissimus Endured a Cheerless Bath in the Rhine
  98. Chapter 103IX: Wherefore Clergymen Should Never Eat Hares That Have Been Taken in a Snare
  99. Chapter 104X: How Simplicissimus Was All Unexpectedly Quit of His Musket
  100. Chapter 105Discourses of the Order of the Marauder Brothers
  101. Chapter 106XII: Of a Desperate Fight for Life in Which Each Party Doth Yet Escape Death
  102. Chapter 107XIII: How Oliver Conceived That He Could Excuse His Brigand’s Tricks
  103. Chapter 108XIV: How Oliver Explained Herzbruder’s Prophecy to His Own Profit, and So Came to Love His Worst Enemy
  104. Chapter 109XV: How Simplicissimus Thought More Piously When He Went A-Plundering Than Did Oliver When He Went to Church
  105. Chapter 110XVI: Of Oliver’s Descent, and How He Behaved in His Youth, and Specially at School
  106. Chapter 111How He Studied at Liège, and How He There Demeaned Himself
  107. Chapter 112Of the Homecoming and Departure of This Worshipful Student, and How He Sought to Obtain Advancement in the Wars
  108. Chapter 113How Simplicissimus Fulfilled Herzbruder’s Prophecy to Oliver Before Yet Either Knew the Other
  109. Chapter 114XX: How It Doth Fare with a Man on Whom Evil Fortune Doth Rain Cats and Dogs
  110. Chapter 115A Brief Example of That Trade Which Oliver Followed, Wherein He Was a Master and Simplicissimus Should Be a Prentice
  111. Chapter 116How Oliver Bit the Dust and Took Six Good Men with Him
  112. Chapter 117How Simplicissimus Became a Rich Man and Herzbruder Fell Into Great Misery
  113. Chapter 118XXIV: Of the Manner in Which Herzbruder Fell Into Such Evil Plight
  114. Chapter 119Book V
  115. Chapter 120How Simplicissimus Turned Palmer and Went on a Pilgrimage with Herzbruder
  116. Chapter 121II: How Simplicissimus, Being Terrified of the Devil, Was Converted
  117. Chapter 122III: How the Two Friends Spent the Winter
  118. Chapter 123IV: In What Manner Simplicissimus and Herzbruder Went to the Wars Again and Returned Thence
  119. Chapter 124How Simplicissimus Rode Courier and in the Likeness of Mercury Learned from Jove What His Design Was as Regards War and Peace
  120. Chapter 125VI: A Story of a Trick That Simplicissimus Played at the Spa
  121. Chapter 126How Herzbruder Died and How Simplicissimus Again Fell to Wanton Courses
  122. Chapter 127How Simplicissimus Found His Second Marriage Turn Out, and How He Met with His Dad and Learned Who His Parents Had Been
  123. Chapter 128IX: In What Manner the Pains of Childbirth Came Upon Him, and How He Became a Widower
  124. Chapter 129X: Relation of Certain Peasants Concerning the Wonderful Mummelsee
  125. Chapter 130XI: Of the Marvellous Thanksgiving of a Patient, and of the Holy Thoughts Thereby Awakened in Simplicissimus
  126. Chapter 131How Simplicissimus Journeyed with the Sylphs to the Centre of the Earth
  127. Chapter 132XIII to XVI
  128. Chapter 133How Simplicissimus Returned from the Middle of the Earth, and of His Strange Fancies, His Aircastles, His Calculations; and How He Reckoned Without His Host
  129. Chapter 134How Simplicissimus Wasted His Spring in the Wrong Place
  130. Chapter 135XIX
  131. Chapter 136XX: Treats of a Trifling Promenade from the Black Forest to Moscow in Russia
  132. Chapter 137How Simplicissimus Further Fared in Moscow
  133. Chapter 138By What a Short and Merry Road He Came Home to His Dad
  134. Chapter 139XXIII: Is Very Short and Concerneth Simplicissimus Alone
  135. Chapter 140Why and in What Fashion Simplicissimus Left the World Again
  136. Chapter 141Appendix A
  137. Chapter 142Continuation
  138. Chapter 143XIX: How Simplicissimus and a Carpenter Escaped from a Shipwreck with Their Lives and Were Thereafter Provided with a Land of Their Own
  139. Chapter 144XX: How They Hired a Fair Cookmaid and by God’s Help Were Rid of Her Again
  140. Chapter 145XXI: How They Thereafter Kept House Together and How They Set to Work
  141. Chapter 146XXII: Further Sequel of the Above Story, and How Simon Meron Left the Island and This Life, and How Simplicissimus Remained the Sole Lord of the Island
  142. Chapter 147XXIII: In Which the Hermit Concludes His Story and Therewith Ends These His Six Books
  143. Chapter 148Appendix B
  144. Chapter 149Appendix C
  145. Chapter 150Continuatio, XIII
  146. Chapter 151Endnotes
  147. Chapter 152List of Illustrations