The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, also known as The Amazing Adventures of Baron Munchausen, or simply The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (full original name: Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia) is a 1785 novel by German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe, loosely based on the real-life Baron Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen (1720–1797), who became famous for telling preposterous but highly entertaining tall tales based on his military career.
The real-life Baron was born in Bodenwerder, Hanover, but joined the cavalry of Tsarist Russia in 1739. He served in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, and two military campaigns in its immediate aftermath. He retired from the military in 1760, and spend the rest of his life as a Freiherr (free lord, baron) in his family's estate in Bodenwerder. He entertained local aristocrats with highly exaggerated accounts of his military career. Due to his new reputation as a witty storyteller, he was regularly visited by travelers who wanted to hear his stories. He died childless after two marriages.
In the novel, Baron Munchausen invites his friends for dinner and relates his extraordinary (as well as totally believable and truthful) adventures (which obviously undoubtedly happened) and travels over a bottle.
The adventures of the Baron became popular enough to be adapted to multiple media. Some adaptations:
Films:
- Münchhausen (1943)
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
The story is the Public Domain and can be read in the Project Gutenberg
in several formats, as well as here, here.
The Surprising Tropes of Baron Munchausen:
- Artistic License – Ornithology: In one of his tall tales, Munchausen narrates an encounter with a giant kingfisher which had placed its church-sized nest in a tree and laid at least five hundred eggs. Kingfishers are tiny birds which excavate burrows in riverbanks and lay two to ten eggs each time, but Munchausen would never allow facts to get in the way of a good story.
- Blatant Lies: After telling how he and his companions escaped from a remote island inhabited by giant kingfishers, and visited a strange land inhabited by one-horned men and oxen, Munchausen says he arrived in a country where (tall)-taletellers are hanged; but he was not worried for his own safety, since he has never told a lie.Munchausen: ''"This gave me no concern, as I have ever confined myself to facts".
- Bring My Brown Pants: Lampshaded by the Baron when he is chased by a bear up a tree and talks about "the stream of that water of which there is plenty of supply in great fear".
- Cranial Plate Ability: In Russia, Munchausen and his drinking buddies are baffled by an old general who, in a nation of hard drinkers, is drinking everyone under the table without ever showing signs of intoxication. Munchausen however discovers the general's secret, which is to discreetly lift the silver plate that serves him as a skull prosthesis once in a while, thus releasing the alcoholic vapors which collect in his brain.
- Deadly Dodging: In the first story, the Baron is running away from a lion when he finds his way blocked by a crocodile. Munchausen involuntarily falls to the ground right when the lion is pouncing, with the result that the feline springs over him and into the reptile's open jaws.
- The Door Slams You: During a stay in Saint Petersburg, the Baron sees through the windows of his bedroom a flock of wild ducks swimming in a nearby pond. Immediately he picks his gun and runs out of the house in such a hurry that he strikes his face against the door.
- Dub Name Change: When Saturnino Calleja wrote the Spanish version, the main character was renamed "El Barón de la Castaña" (The Baron of Chestnuts). Similarly, his companions in one Turkish caper were renamed: Berthold, Adolphus, Albretch and Gustavus became Zanco Largo (Long Stride), Catalejo, (Spyglass), Cargamontañas (Mountain-Carrier) and Soplido Turbulento (Turbulent Breath).
- Fiendish Fish: In the eight chapter, Munchausen is swallowed whole by one giant fish while bathing in the Mediterranean.
- Frozen Body Fluids: When translating the original text to German, Gottfried August Burger added an extra tall tale: Hunting in the Russian winter, Munchausen is attacked by a bear just when he has disassembled his gun to repair it. The baron takes refuge in a tree, but accidentally drops the knife he needs to assemble the gun. By directing "the stream of that water of which there is plenty of supply in great fear" onto the handle of the knife, the baron creates an icicle by which he pulls up the knife, then assembles the gun and shoots the bear.
- Getting Eaten Is Harmless:
- First time, Munchausen's swallowed whole by a giant fish while swimming in the Mediterranean. While inside its stomach, he starts to move around and create a commotion, which results in the fish swimming frantically onto the surface and getting harpooned by the fishermen. The Baron emerges from the creature’s sliced stomach without a scratch.
- Next time, Munchausen and his ship are Swallowed Whole by an enormous Sea Monster, only to discover a village of swallowed ships inside, along with their still-alive crew members. Baron and other prisoners escape by putting a large mast between the monster's jaws and sailing out.
- Giant Flyer: In one island, Munchausen stumbles upon a church-sized nest built by a giant kingfisher. Its hatchlings are only "considerably larger than twenty full-grown vultures".
- Great White Hunter: The Baron loves telling outrageous stories about hunting trips. In his very first story, he tells how he hunted both a lion and a crocodile in Sri Lanka.
- Have a Gay Old Time: As trapped inside a giant fish, whose belly is being cut open, the Baron "called out lustily to be released from a situation in which [he] was now almost suffocated".
- Horse of a Different Color: In one tall tale, the Baron tames and rides a Roc Bird.
- Inconsistent Spelling: When writing the German translation, Gottfried August Burger changed the baron's name to Munchhausen (which is the correct spelling).
- Klingon Promotion: Done accidentally. A couple of farmers had climbed a tree to gather cucumbers (yes, cucumbers) when the tree is blown into the air together with them by a terrifyingly severe storm. When they finally -and safely- land, their tree falls upon the chieftain of another island, killing him on the spot. The natives are so happy to get rid of the tyrannical asshole, that they choose the newcomers as their new governors in gratitude for accidentally destroying their tyrant.
- Misplaced Wildlife: In the first story, Munchausen visits Sri Lanka and encounters a lion. To be fair, a lion subspecies (Panthera leo sinhaleyus) lived on Sri Lanka thirty-seven millennia ago, but neither Munchausen nor Rudolf Erich Raspe could know this.
- The Münchausen: The Trope Namers. Baron Munchausen is always delighted to regale his hosts with stories about his fantastic adventures which absolutely happened. Yes, he really rode one flying cannonball, tamed a roc, got swallowed by a giant fish...
- Quicksand Sucks: But not to worry, because Munchausen pulled himself and his horse out of the bog by his own bootstraps. Or hair, depending.
- Soft Water: During one adventure, one giant kingfisher seizes the ship's captain in one claw, flies with him above a mile high, and then lets him drop into the sea. The ship's captain simply swims back to the island, looking wet but no worse for the wear.
- Superhero Speciation: During one of his adventures in Turkey, Munchausen is accompanied by four friends with extraordinary abilities: Berthold can reach anywhere in the world in a single step; Adolphus is capable of pulling off miraculous shots from great distances thanks to his Super-Senses; Albretch has Super-Strength; Gustavus possesses Super-Breath-related powers.
- Tall Tale: Munchausen loves bragging about riding cannonballs and performing even more preposterous deeds.
- Turtle Island: One tale features the baron finding an island that turns out to be a giant fish.
