Kom, king of the city of Polimicra, announces to his people that a giant is treading on their land. He promises his daughter to whoever defeats him: Occe, who is in love with Nec, therefore comes forward and offers himself as a champion. Although she pretends not to have feelings, Nec is secretly in love with the giant Ercole (Hercules). Vam, the Pygmies’ general, is in love with Has, Kom’s second daughter. But Has is in love with Occe. The envoy Brin announces the arrival of the giant; he describes him in horrifying terms: the giant Ercole demands the king’s two daughters, or he will destroy the city. In the gardens of the palace, Nec and Has see the sky darken when the giant arrives. Has is desperate, but Nec rejoices: either her kingdom defeats him, or she will become Ercole’s wife. In the panic, a propitiatory sacrifice is made to Mammon, while the battle is being prepared. Brin is trying to accept that he will be devoured; the general Vam suggests that they put the giant to sleep to defeat him. Has declares his love to Occe, to try and stop him from the certain death awaiting him; but Occe’s decision does not change in the slightest. During the sacrifice, Has prays for the people, while Nec refuses to pray for the defeat of the one she loves: her father sends her to the dungeon. Brin arrives, distressed: Ercole’s nose is showing - it was taken for a mobile rock – and Ercole is asking for the king’s daughters. The giant makes fun of Occe, who is trying to fight him. Vam fills the place with smoke. Ercole sneezes: everyone falls to the ground and believes that they are being punished by the gods. They try to flee, but are stopped by Ercole’s hand. Only Nec stands before Ercole to declare her love. Out of pity and admiration for her bravery, Ercole commands Nec and Occe to marry, as well as Vam and Has, and he decides to spare everyone.

String marionette

Not specified

Italy

Rome

Printed

Giant

Pygmies

Threat

Sneezing

Wedding

Humorous

Burlesque

Parodistic

Pier Jacopo Martello, Lo starnuto d'Ercole. Teatro italiano, Parte ultima. Bologna: Lelie Dalla Volpe, 1723.

Italian

Hercules

King

Princess

Prince

General

Messenger

Playing with scale

Music

Chorus

Public announcement

Monologue

Invisible character

Confinement

Fight between an actor and a puppet

Ridiculous fight

Earthquake

Character thrown in the air

Final wedding

Lo starnuto d'Ercole

Hercules's sneeze

Momus wakes up the Olympian Gods. After quarrelling several times and playing a few games, Jupiter promises that he will find him a wife; but the gods must flee the Giants, who have attacked them. Jupiter and Momus arrive incognito among humans who come to them complaining about their lot. Silène’s (Silenus’) donkey drives the Giants away. After going back to Olympus, Jupiter suggests that Momus marries Diane (Diana), Melpomène (Melpomene), Thalie (Thalia), and then the Foire (Fair).

Rod and string marionette

Piron Alexis

France

Paris

Greek mythology

Unfaithfulness

Scatology

Game of guessed professions

Competition of theaters

Comédie Française

Comédie-Italienne

Theaters of the Parisian fairs

Comical

French

La Vengeance de Tirésias (Tiresias' Revenge)

ou la Gigantomachie

Jupiter (Jove)

Juno

Apollo

Mercury

Momus

Morpheus

Minerva

Venus

Husband

Merchant (man)

Poet

Wise man

Silenus

Priest

Fair

Allegory

Metamorphosis

Comical regional accent

Le Mariage de Momus

Momus' Marriage

The Knight Soleie has lost his horse and weapons. He believes he has landed on a desert island. Tchantchet shows him he has not. The Knight wants to find his father and, once he arrives at his family’s castle, asks his mother about his whereabouts. She tells him that his father has gone to war. The Knight believes he can see his wounded father – a fact which alarms his mother. But it is only a passing vision. Tchantchet brings a letter announcing the return of the father, the Bon Ténébreux. The latter arrives at the castle, reunites with his family and relates his achievements, especially his duel against Don Quixote, whom he has killed. The Knight Soleie also relates his fights, one of which ended with Malbrouke’s death. The Knight Mastique, one of Soleie’s cousins, introduces himself. He asks for the permission to bring Soleie with him, on a boat, to free the woman he loves. The Queen Rosemonde worries about this journey and has them promise to ring her or send a telegram if the boat sinks. Mastique and Soleie have landed on a new shore. The Géant Bras d’Acier (the Giant with the Steel Arm) appears suddenly and wants them to pay for the right of way. He wounds Soleie but the latter kills him. Mastique tends to Soleie. They both decide to leave the island and are flung in the air by an Enchanter, who brings them back home.

Single rod marionettes

Belgium

Liège

Knighthood

Adventure

Navigation

Epic

Walloon

Knight

Queen

Tchantchès

Magician

Vision

Story

Fight

Apparition of a wizard

Flying character

Le Chevalier Soleie

The Knight Soleie

Périjon, the king of Gaul, dies. His son ascends the throne and asks Fleur de Marie, King Houel de Nantes’ daughter, to marry him. She agrees to do so once he comes back from a pilgrimage to Roma. He leaves for America with his barons to help the king Bougjia, who is fighting the Saracens. King Bougjia’s daughter, Blanche, offers her love to the young king of Gaul called Périjon - just like his father. He accepts her love but goes back to Brittany to marry Fleur de Marie. Blanche finds him, poses as Fleur de Marie in order to seduce him and becomes pregnant with his child. Fleur de Marie gives birth to Paladin Roland, who kills a lion at the age of seven during a hunt. Blanche becomes Fleur de Marie’s servant to take revenge on Périjon, and she attempts to poison the young Paladin. Fleur de Marie dies because of the poison, but Paladin is saved by the knight Captano. Périjon asks his baron to judge Blanche. Paladin Roland brings the young woman to the woods to kill her, but an angel appears and stops him from going through with his plan. Blanche comes back to America and hides her pregnancy. The French emperor Télémak learns that the admiral Mérilus d’Arabie has declared war on him. He asks his brother Périjon for help. Périjon promises that he and his son Paladin Roland will help. During an enormous battle, the admiral Mérilus, Madracar and Solfina take Roland prisoner. Mérilus informs his brother Méridon, King of Syria, who rejoices over his capture and comes join him along with his barons. Rose, Mérilus’ daughter, visits Roland in his cell, but he rejects her advances because she is a pagan. To get revenge on him, she stops bringing him food. Roland learns that the old Delerigni is in the next cell. He digs a hole in the wall and listens to Delerigni recount his feats of arms before he dies. In the end, Roland agrees to marry Rose, on condition that she helps him escape. Rose plots with the prison guard. They pretend that Roland has died and asked, before his death, to be sent back to Britanny in a coffin. Méridon goes back to Syria. The king Périjon worries about his son Paladin Roland. The Chevalier Ténébreux suggests that they ask for king Bougjia’s help. A messenger brings news of Roland’s death, before his coffin is brought. Roland comes out of it and relates his jailbreak. As an act of revenge, he takes command of his father’s army to fight the pagans. Rose searches for him but she will only find him much later. Paladin Roland and the Bon Ténébreux wage battle against Mérilus and kill over a hundred thousand of his soldiers. Mérilus flees on a ship with his wife and his treasure and asks his brother for shelter, while Paladin Roland goes back home. In an enchanted wood, the knight Cocodor meets a devil, who asks him what his religion is. Cocodor lies and pretends to be a pagan. The devil punishes him by turning him into a giant with a flaming head and ordering him to kill everyone who ventures in his mountain. Cocodor thus kills 200 knights. The emperor Télémak receives a message asking him to end to the miseries caused by the giant, then a second message in which the admiral Goutier d’Antioche commands him to give back Lombardy. Télémak summons his army and meets with Périjon. Paladin Roland offers to fight the giant with the flaming head, but Périjon refuses because he is too young. Roland leaves with Télémak to wage war against the admiral Goutier. The pagan army is defeated by Télémak’s, and Goutier’s son – Carolu – is taken prisoner by Roland then killed in a tournament. On the way home, Roland meets knights on their way to fight the giant. Blanche and Périjon’s child, Raimond dit le Cadet (Raimond alias the Youngest), becomes a knight. He leaves Toulouse to go on an adventure. The knights arrive at the fire mountain where the giant lives. Blanches inquires one of the knights about Roland’s whereabouts, and she is told that he is in Britanny. In a forest, she is attacked by robbers, but she fights and kills them. The devil and giant are thrown behind bars, in an enchanted cell, but they kill all the knights. Mérilus and Méridon swear to kill Périjon and to destroy France to take revenge on Paladin. A new battle begins, opposing Christians and pagans. The latter have three times as many combatants (400 000), and Paladin is taken prisoner. The Chevalier Ténébreux takes command of the army and asks for King Bougjia’s help. Blanche remembers that the guardian angel told her to come to Paladin Roland’s aid. She asks her father for the permission to lead an army, dresses as a warrior and leaves for Syria, where she fights Mérilus and Méridon’s army. She triumphs and delivers Paladin, who avenges himself by putting every pagan to death. Blanche goes back to America and Paladin, in Britanny, recounts to his father how Blanche freed him. Pséryion worries as he remembers how Fleur de Marie was poisoned. Millonnaise, Mérilus’ wife, is pregnant with his child. She makes the devil appear to offer her child’s soul, on the condition that the child can triumph against Paladin. The devil agrees to the deal. For a moment, Cocodor is delivered from the devil’s spell. He comes back to Britanny and asks her daughter for news of his two brothers. He learns that he has killed them when he was the giant with the flaming head. A father and his son, the knights Mariguesse and Mulgador, offer their services to Télémak. They want to fight the giant. In Britanny, Rose is attacked by a traitor who wants to charm her. But Paladin Roland arrives and kills him. Roland and Rose recognise one another, cry and kiss. Then Roland presents Rose to his father and says he wants to marry her. Périjon refuses because she is a pagan. Then he sends Roland to fight the giant. Roland meets his half-brother Raimond le Cadet in a forest, but they fight because they do not recognise one another. Neither one of them manages to win. Paladin bandages his wounds at king Bougjia’s castle. Once he is healed, he leaves for the mountain of Triste-Mort (Sad-Death). He comes across messengers who try to persuade him not to go. Then he meets his uncle Mariguesse and his cousin Mulgador, both dying, and they also advise him not to go, before they die. Roland finds the devil and the giant with the flaming head. The devil disappears and the giant is killed. Poor and rich people alike come running to celebrate his victory. Roland comes back to Britanny, where Périjon and Rose believed him dead. They reunite and kiss. A message is sent to Télémak, who joins them. Roland tells Rose that they must fight Raimond le Cadet before they can marry. He comes across Millonnaisse, who tries to poison him, and he kills her along with the knights that were with her. Roland and Raimond le Cadet meet again and fight, but a young companion recognises Raimond and realises that they are brothers. She takes them to Blanche, who relates how she has given birth to Raimond. Paladin takes her back to Britanny with Raimond le Cadet and King Bougjia. Périjon marries Blanche and Paladin marries Rose and is appointed King d’Antioche. His companions are also rewarded.

Handwritten outline

Enchantment

Battle

Poison

Quest

Half-brother

Fantasy

Histoire de Paladin Roland. First page of the manuscript.

Orlando

Emperor

Jailer

Count

Mother

Lady-in-waiting

Apparition of the Devil

Massacre scene

Scene of recognition

Histoire de Paladin Roland

Story of Paladin Roland

Premier Meneur greets the audience in French. Napoleon passes, followed by his grognards (soldiers of Napoleon’s Old Guard). Then Deuxième Meneur sings a song in Walloon. Chevalier Soleil (Knight Sun) arrives, sad and without arms, on a desert island. He meets Adam – Tchantchet, who explains how to leave the island using a bridge, while also warning him that he may encounter the Diable (Devil) and Homme Sauvage (Wild Man). Pigs and horses cross the stage, then a dragon attacks the Knight, who kills it. The Knight meets the Devil then Homme Sauvage and kills them both. In her castle, Reine Rosemonde (Queen Rosemonde) complains about being lonely to Sénéchal – Tchantchet (Seneschal – Tchantchet). Her son Chevalier Soleil arrives, after being away for a long time, and asks where his father – Roi Ténébreux (Brooding King) – is. When he learns that he went to war two years ago and did not give news, Chevalier Soleil decides to go hunt for him, but a letter informs him of his father’s return. Roi Ténébreux then arrives on stage and relates his various feats, particularly how he killed Don Quixote. Chevalier Mastique, Roi Ténébreux’s nephew, arrives and asks for his help: Fier à Bras’ people have abducted Esclarmonde – the woman he loves. Chevalier Soleil asks his father for the permission to save his cousin. His father agrees. Fier à Bras tries to force Esclarmonde to marry him. Chevalier Soleil and Chevalier Mastique attack Fier à Bras and kill him, but Chevalier Soleil is wounded and dies. Angels carry him away in the sky.