In Jeu-Maloches, a village in the French department of Indre, flageolet player Arthur Graboyos became a waiter at the inn Hôtel du Veau Qui Désire Téter (Hotel of the Calf That Wants To Suckle) in order to grow closer to Dorothée – the daughter of the innkeeper Friturin. Arthur and Dorothée both want to marry each other, but Friturin refuses to let an artist marry his daughter. Arthur is expecting a donation from an uncle in America. Bidet – the postman – brings a letter of marriage proposal to Friturin. Bidet himself would also like to marry Dorothée; however, she rejects him. The shipowner Chandelle, who sent Friturin the letter to offer his nephew to Dorothée, arrives at the hotel with an enormous trunk filled with pepper. Friturin dismisses Arthur after they quarrel. The latter comes back disguised as a cook and hides in Chandelle’s trunk to abduct Dorothée during the night. But the trunk snaps shut on him with a padlock. Several misunderstandings and quarrels happen one after another – Dorothée believes that Chandelle is Arthur in disguise, Friturin mistakes Chandelle for Arthur and Chandelle does not understand that Arthur is his nephew because he assumed the name Graboyos for his career as a musician. Arthur comes out of the trunk and makes himself recognised. All the misunderstandings are clarified and Chandelle gifts Arthur forty thousand French francs so that he can marry Dorothée.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Maurice Sand (Maurice Sand)

France

Nohant

Printed

Rivalry in love

Love

Dowry

Father-daughter relationship

Musician

Cunning

Wedding

Comical

Maurice Sand, Le Flageolet (first page of the manuscript)

French

Le Danger des malles à cadenas

Innkeeper

Domestic servant

Postman

Daughter

Monologue

Popular speech

Letter

Misunderstanding

Disguised character (false identity)

Hidden character

Instrumental tune

Le Flageolet

The Flageolet

Pierrot visits the marriage broker Marcassin: he wishes to marry a woman with a large dowry, which would allow him to pay off his debts. After questioning him about his preferences, Marcassin recommends Mademoiselle Putiphar, a 45 years old hunchbacked woman with only one eye. He calls his servant Catherine, asks her to go and get Mademoiselle Putiphar, and pretends to leave. Pierrot gropes Catherine and asks her if she wants to be his lover while he will display his future wife in a fairground booth. Catherine agrees, and as they both leave, Marcassin congratulates himself on marrying his daughter. In the second tableau, the messy clothes of Catherine and Pierrot show that they made love. The Commissaire (Superintendent) questions Pierrot and tells him that he has been watching Marcassin for a long time: he opened a marriage agency with the sole intent of marrying his own daughter, Catherine. As Pierrot is caught with Catherine, the Commissaire obliges him to marry her, and weds them with Marcassin’s blessing.

String marionette

Paris

Manuscript

Money

Marriage agency

Trap

Forced marriage

Théâtre de Guignol, Champs-Élysées, Paris (Le Monde illustré, 27/06/1868)

Pierrot

Marriage broker

Police Superintendant

Song

Erotic scene

Spying scene

Les Mariages à la mode

The fashionable Weddings

Rosaura, a young woman, and Doralice, an elderly widow, talk about an admirer who has been sending flowers and gifts to Rosaura. Doralice advises her to accept his courting, but Rosaura is in love with Florindo, who is poor. Rosaura receives a bouquet, a ring and a note, all thrown on the sill of her window by Facanapa, Count of Castelbianco. She decides to let him come up, so that she can give him his gifts back. She sends Arlecchino to meet the Count, who reacts by hitting him. Facanapa enters Rosaura’s room through the window. She asks Arlecchino to make him leave, but Facanapa kicks him again before paying him to become his servant. Pantalone, Rosaura’s father, is annoyed by the presence of the Count in his daughter’s bedroom after she has explained the situation to him. Pantalone agrees to rent Rosaura’s bedroom to the Count for the night. Florido arrives and angrily requests compensation. The Count has Florindo then Pantalone tied up to a chair by Arlecchino. The Count informs Pantalone that he is wealthy, and is planning on marrying Rosaura without asking for a dowry. Pantalone agrees, even though he thinks that the Count is slightly odd. The latter explains that he wanted proof of the love between the two young lovers and of the greediness of Pantalone, who was willing to give his daughter to anybody regardless of their identity. To everyone’s surprise, he marries Rosaura and Florindo and reveals that he is the rich uncle of the orphan Florindo, and that he comes from America. He says that he will give the newlyweds luxurious presents and properties in Veneto if he receives their affection. He also wants to keep Arlecchino, who is only too happy to serve him.

All audiences

Italy

Wealth

Avarice

Le stravaganze di Facanapa, ed. Chiopris

Venetian

Young woman

Widow

Facanapa

Count

Uncle

Arlecchino

Pantaloon

Father

Florindo

Young man

Kicking

Scene of recognition

Le stravaganze di Facanapa

Facanapa’s eccentricities

Once again, Fagiolino borrows money from Polonia, Sandrone’s wife, and promises to pay her back as soon as he manages to marry Colombina, the niece of the wealthy Pantalone, and to collect her dowry. Meanwhile, Sandrone makes a deal to buy lands so that he won’t have to work for a landlord any longer. When he discovers that Polonia has taken money from his savings in order to lend it to Fagiolino, he beats her and swears to himself that he will do the same to Fagiolino. In the meantime, Bergnocla, a friend of Fagiolino, warns him that Arlecchino and Brighella are plotting against Pantalone: they have abducted Colombina in order to demand a ransom. While she is kept hidden in Brighella’s inn, they make Pantalone believe that it is the fearsome bandit Sebastian who has abducted her. Moreover, Arlecchino secretly wants to marry Colombina to obtain her dowry. Fagiolino, who is in love with Colombina, manages to foil Arlecchino’s plan: he intercepts Pantalone, who was headed to the bandit’s place with the money for the ransom, pretends to be the bandit himself and takes the money, so that it never falls into Arlecchino and Brighella’s hands. Those two are quarrelling because they each think that the other has betrayed them, and nobody suspects Fagiolino. They also think that the true bandit, Sebastian, is now angry with them because they have used his name for their own purposes. They beg Fagiolino to speak to the bandit and to talk some sense into him. Fagiolino accepts, in exchange for payment, and is delighted about the success of his plan. He pretends to have convinced the bandit to free Colombina and to leave Arlecchino and Brighella in peace. He finally goes to meet Pantalone so that he can be given credit for having convinced the bandit to free Colombina. Pantalone believes him and agrees to give him Colombina’s hand in marriage. Fagiolino goes back to Sandrone’s and pays him back the money he owed him.