Daniel Kehlmann transposes the medieval legend of the trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel to the seventeenth century, weaving historical figures into an enchanting work of magical realism, macabre humor, and rollicking adventure. Tyll is a scrawny boy growing up in a quiet village until his father, a miller with a secret interest in alchemy and magic, is found out by the church. Tyll flees, accompanied by the baker's daughter, Nele, and falls in with a traveling performer who teaches him his trade. And so begins a journey of discovery and performance for Tyll as he travels through a world devastated by the Thirty Years' War, encountering along the way a hangman, a fraudulent Jesuit scholar, and the exiled King and Queen of Bohemia. The result is both a riveting story and a moving tribute to the power of art in the face of the senseless brutality of history.