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The third story tells of how Claus Eulenspiegel moved away from Kneitlingen and Till learned to walk the tightrope
Then Till's father moved from there to the land of Magdeburg on the river Saale. That is where Eulenspiegel's mother was from. Soon after that, the old Eulenspiegel died. The mother remained in the village with her son and they ate what they had, eventually leaving them poor. Eulenspiegel though, wanted to learn no trade and was already sixteen years old. But he was still lively and learned many a trick.
Eulenspiegel's mother lived in a house whose yard was by the river. And Eulenspiegel himself began to walk on the tightrope. He first did it in the attic since he did not want to do it in front of his mother, for she could not stand this dumb habit of his and threatened to beat him. Once she caught him on the rope and tried to swat him off the rope with a big stick. But he escaped through the window and ran up to the roof where she couldn't reach him.
The peace lasted for a while, until he became a bit older. Then he started walking on the rope again and actually drew the rope across the river from the back of his mother's house all the way to a house on the opposite bank. Many people, young and old, noticed the rope on which Eulenspiegel planned to walk. They gathered and wanted to watch him on it, as they were curious to see what odd games he'd play and what strange things he'd do on it.
Now, while Eulenspiegel was in the midst of his best antics, his mother noticed what was going on, but really could not do much about it. So she snuck into the back of the house and up to the attic where the rope was tied up and cut it in two! And her son fell into the water and got a thorough river bath and a great mocking too. The farmers laughed very much and the boys called out to him: "Haha, you just bathe, you've long been asking for it!"
This pained Eulenspiegel a lot. He didn't mind the bath but the calls and mockery of the lads he did. He began to plot his revenge to make them pay for it. In the meantime, he made the best of his bath.
English translation created for E2 from the original by Hermann Bote at the German project Gutenberg.