The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship "Long Ago and Far Away". Rabbit Ears Productions also produced an audiotape version, featuring Robin Williams, which was released on Showtime in 1991. It aired as part of Rabbit Ears' "We All Have Tales" series. In addition, Terry Gilliam's 1988 film "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" contains several elements inspired by this story, particularly the opening sequence set at the court of the Grand Turk. A couple had three sons, and the youngest was a fool. One day, the Tsar declared that whoever made him a ship that could sail through the air would marry his daughter. The older two
Baron Munchausen and narrator of these stories was identified only as "M-h-s-n", keeping Raspe's inspiration partly obscured while still allowing knowledgeable German readers to make the connection to Münchhausen. Raspe's name did not appear at all. In 1785, while supervising mines at Dolcoath in Cornwall, Raspe adapted the "Vade mecum" anecdotes into a short English-language book, this time identifying the narrator of the book as "Baron Munchausen". Other than the anglicization of Münchhausen to "Munchausen", Raspe this time made no attempt to hide the identity of the man who had inspired him, though he still withheld his own name. This English edition,