Introduction.
Ancient Greek: Homer, Ulysses and the Cyclops.
Latin: Lucius Apuleius, The trial of Apuleius.
Mediæval: Thousand and one nights, Abon-Hassan the wag. Gesta Romanorum, The deceitful steward; The adventures of an empress. Ser Giovanni, The art of love. Sacchetti, The blind beggar of Orvieto. Anonymous, A Florentine hoax. Juan Manuel, The alchemist. German traditional, The roguery of Reynard the Fox. Thomas Murner, The adventures of Tyll Owlglass. Grimm, The musicians of Bremen. Margaret of Navarre, A Gascon's revenge; The naughty wife.
Elizabethan: William Painter, A doctor of the laws. Robert Greene, The art of coney-catching.
Modern: Le Sage, The leech-craft of Gil Blas. Steele, Tom Varnish as Don Juan. Carlyle, The affair of the diamond necklace. E. A. Poe, The art of diddling. R. H. D. Barham, Theodore Hook and the Berners street hoax. Dickens, The begging-letter writer. George Meredith, Khipil the builder.