An irreverent young man, seemingly a peasant, he reserves contempt and irony for the village authorities (whether Orthodox priest, boyar or judge), but often plays the fool, or displays an erratic and criminal behavior that scholars attribute to the eclecticism of sources weaved into the narrative.

Also the subject of an opera by Sabin Drăgoi, he inspired Tudor Arghezi to write a poetic cycle and encourage a new project in cinema, undertaken by Geo Saizescu.

[16] Writer János Ábrahám also reports that Hungarian folklore in Transylvania (as written down by László Merényi) conserves the character "Jankó Gügye", who appears as an unluckier version of Păcală.

[2] Playwright and essayist Victor Eftimiu also identified episodes and plot devices taken from "other peoples", including "The Hunchback's Tale" from One Thousand and One Nights and Breton variants of "Idiot John" (see The Hedley Kow).

As noted by philologist Ovidiu Papadima, this work was done in German by Arthur Schott, a Württemberger agronomist in Austrian Transylvania; it adapts the hero's name as Bakála.

"[25] According to Eftimiu: "Another popular figure [in Romanian folklore] is that lad Păcală, who has all sorts of adventures, who makes a mockery of brigands, of publicans, of priests, of the devil himself.

"[26] Film critic and psychiatrist Ion Filotti Cantacuzino likewise notes: "Păcală [stands for] all the humorous and common-sense qualities, all the glittering wit and biting irony one sees in the Romanian peasant.

"[29] An intermediary position was advanced by Bârlea, who writes that Păcală, Pepelea, Eulenspiegel and Djoha all personify "unrelenting aspiration of the popular masses toward social justice and equity".

[30]The "devilish aspects" of Păcală's career are also highlighted by philosopher Liviu Mitrănescu, who points out that, in one of the anecdotes, he leads an entire village into drowning by assuring it that there are cattle grazing at the bottom of a river.

[32] In the version penned by Ioan Slavici and paraphrased by his critical biographer Pompiliu Marcea, the drowned (defined here as "all the men of a village, led by their priest") are in fact punished for their greed: "they trusted Păcală's account about gold treasures being located on the river bottom."

[33] Sandu Timoc similarly estimates that, in the Serbian Romanian variants of the cycle, Păcală most often exchanges his lines with either boyars or Romanies, and that the "moral and physical defects of people" are favorite targets of his satire.

[34] As Bratu notes, the slow transformation into a folk hero ultimately separated Păcală from Eulenspiegel—Păcală is implictly depicted as immortal, whereas, outside of Charles De Coster's Legend of Thyl, Eulenspiegel is presented as someone to have lived in the past, and whose grave still exists.

[36] Longer versions of the Păcală cycle, which are seen by folklorist Ion Burada as less authentic,[37] include other fantasy elements, such as his visit to Heaven and his subsequent playing of a magic flute or bagpipe.

[18] According to Eftimiu, this description misses the point; he draws instead parallels between Păcală, on one hand, and, on the other, instrument-playing, animal-taming figures of Greek mythology (Amphion, Orpheus, and Pan).

"[26] Crăciun notes that he shares traits with Sancho Panza; though sometimes serving as an embodiment of stupidity, and therefore antithetical to Păcală, he is generally depicted as "quite smart [...], more malleable, less of a trickster, and more persistent than his companion.

Păcală miraculously arrives in time to save his friend; he presents himself as an independent witness, one who has "seen in my own village, in some peasant's yard, a duck, big as a storehouse (or a cauldron, one as tall as the bell tower)".

An early mention in Moldavia, which closely predates Schott's collection, is Constantin Negruzzi's sketch story—called Păcală și Tândală, and first appearing in Albina Românească of 1842.

His Tandalida, issued in 1854, mocked national stereotypes, showing Păcală as a Romanian and Tândală, in the leading and anti-heroic role, as a Pole;[43] it saw print in the French Empire, where Heliade was living at the time.

The stock characters were transformed to make a point about Romanian nationalism—Alecsandri canvassed support for the Danubian Principalities' union, with Păcală as the wise and debonair unionist, and Tândală as a retrograde boyar.

[2] Some three years later, Iosif Vulcan, a leader of the Romanian community in Budapest, began publishing there the satirical journal Umoristul, with a permanent column of "Păcală's letters to Tândală".

[48] Ion Hintz-Hințescu put out the first Păcală-only volume in 1876, at Brașov,[2] effectively translating from Schott,[49] though the following year saw anecdotes, collected on-site by peasant Ioan Panea, being published in Budapest by Vulcan's Șezătoarea.

[2] The former volume, Isprăvile lui Păcală, is seen by Manolescu as "classical" in format, preserving a standard of Romanian fairy-tales that authors such as Mihai Eminescu had already modified into a "romantic and poetic" form.

[57] Its 1894 edition, which received an award from the Romanian Academy, was illustrated by two artists, Hlavsa and Constantin Jiquidi; a 1920 reprint additionally included a cover drawing by Ary Murnu.

[60] Also in Transylvania, Ioan Slavici, seen by Crăciun as Păcală's "true literary father", reworked the story into a modern narrative,[2] probably using oral reports from in and around Arad as his basis.

[63] The original myth was by then becoming known to peasants from the Duchy of Bukovina, where woodcarver Ion Pâșlea crafted a critically acclaimed group-statue of a musical band, which was in fact Păcală playing various instruments.

[66] Another stage adaptation based on Dulfu was done in 1927 by Horia Furtună—receiving poor reviews from Șeicaru, who saw it as a "systematic mockery" of Romanian folklore,[25] and, retrospectively, from literary historian George Călinescu, who found it "chatty".

[77] Echoes of the folk myth appear in scattered poems by Tudor Arghezi and Mihai Beniuc;[2] in 1957, the former published a satirical volume, Stihuri pestrițe ("Motley Verses").

[78] Also included therein is Balada maeștrilor ("Ballad of the Maestros"), in which Păcală, visiting town to find a cure for his aging donkey, is impressed with the titles that members of the urban elite bestow on each other.

They include Nicolae Labiș's Păcălici și Tîndăleț of 1962, which imagines that Păcală and his sidekick both had children of their own;[80] the same author had published a "strange poem", Slutul ("Ugly Mug"), which references the anecdotes with an added "note of tragedy".

[79] The first production, issued in 1974 and eponymously titled, was based on a screenplay by Dumitru Radu Popescu and starred Sebastian Papaiani (who came to embody Păcală in the popular mind).