Charles De Coster’s famous book “The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel,” published in December 1867, not only made Belgian literature famous, but also became an outstanding phenomenon of world literature. Charles De Coster’s novel, recounting the adventures of Thyl Ulenspiegel and his friend Lamme Goedzak—the fat glutton—breathes with a spirit of freedom-lovingness. Thyl Ulenspiegel, a prankster and sharp mocker who gets under the skin of haughty nobles, monks, and kings alike, turns into a fighter—a brave beggar/cause-man (guez) embodying the national spirit of Flanders. Thyl is a folk hero who never dies and never grows old. He is many-faced: today he is a soldier or a peasant, tomorrow a painter in a landgrave’s palace, then a court jester to the king—yet in every guise he remains a rebel, fighting for the happiness of his people.