The fantastic Tales of Baron Hieronymus Carl Friedrich von Münchhausen

Baron Munchausen is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book Baron "Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia". The character is loosely based on baron Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen. The fictional Baron's exploits, narrated in the first person, focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveller; for instance: riding on a cannonball, fighting a forty-foot crocodile, and travelling to the Moon. Intentionally comedic, the stories play on the absurdity and inconsistency of Munchausen's claims, and contain an undercurrent of social satire.