The Roi des Pygmées (Pygmy King) worries about the coming of the Grues and the potential disorder his daughter will cause among the generals of his army. In remembrance of her fiancé Timas, who is presumed dead, Parvulie refuses to marry Picolus. As for Pichonine, she is courted by both Picolus and Belus. The king decides to offer Pichonine to whoever defeats the Grues. Ominous signs arise after a sacrifice, and the king asks Sémiandre and Homoncius to speak with the Ciel (sky/gods). Pichonine confesses to Parvulie that she loves Belus. The envoys pass on Mars’ promise to help them in their battle against the Grues. Timas finally comes back and traps the Grues in nets: the Pygmies have won, and the king is about to promise Pichonine to Picolus – who claims to be the victorious hero. Microton declares that Belus has died, when it is in fact Picolus who did, when he was about to kill his rival Belus. Belus and Timas come back and are greeted as the true champions. Pichonine believes she will have to marry Picolus, instead of Belus. Mercure (Mercury), Soleil (the sun), Mars and Jupiter appear one after the other. Vignerons (winegrowers) and Bergers (shepherds) dance.

Not specified

La Grille (Dominique de Normandin, aka Sieur de La Grille)

France

Paris

Printed summary

Greek mythology

Pygmies

Relationship between man and animal

Fake news

Loyalty in love

Rivalry in love

Tragic

Comical

Title page of the original publication (BnF, Paris).

French

Officer

Soldier

Crane (bird)

Mercury

Mars

Jupiter (Jove)

Winemaker

Misunderstanding

Flying machine

Apparition

Les Pygmées

The Pygmy

The shepherdess Philis is loved by Silvandre, whom she loves in return, but she is also courted by Microton. Dorine promises Philis that she will ask the magician Orcan to calm Microton's ardour. Surprising Philis and Silvandre's love dialogue, Microton calls on Orcan to take revenge on Silvandre and force Philis to love him. Orcan performs various magic tricks. He has prepared the potion, but Microton refuses to go and thank the demons. Orcan tries to seduce Elise, who rejects him. Philis reveals to Silvandre that Microton has played the role of a guardian for her. The god of love appears and promises to help Silvandre. Elise convinces Orcan to support Silvandre and Philis' love and to cure Microton of his madness. Orcan forces Microton to go and see the Demons; il conjures up Goblins, Serpents, a Dragon, Demons that frighten Microton and make him give up Philis. Microton announces that he will devote himself only to his flock. Orcan laughs at him. Microton gets angry, but he realises that he has been magically cured of his love for Philis and joins the wedding banquet. Microton wants to eat some of the dishes, but they turn into snakes and toads. The appearance of demons makes Microton run away. Shepherds and shepherdesses sing and dance.

Magic

Animals, Mythical

Animated object

Unwelcome seducer

ou les charmes d'Orcan

Hunter

Sheperherdess

Devil

Statue

Gardener

Magician

Love

Bohemian woman

Goblin

Snake

Dragon

Caterer

Shepherd

Metamorphosis

Les Amours de Microton

Microton's Loves

The play begins with Colombo (Colombus) sailing the sea with his wife Anarda and their son Fernando. They meet a choir of mermaids, then of tritons, all of which are taken away by Fortuna. The ship berths at Motenzuma, the capital of Peru. Tendilla, daughter of Ginacra, the king of Peru, advocates against welcoming the foreigners. Her lover Guascarre speaks against his wife’s empty fears. Ginacra sends him to the ships to meet the strangers, who have brought presents. When the Court and the strangers meet, Colombo fears that his wife Anarda will be tempted; she assures him that she is faithful. Their son falls in love with Tendilla. The servant Giumbè is leading two camels carrying many gifts. This is followed by a dance of monkeys trying to imitate human dances. Ginacra wooes Anarda. As she rejects him, he tries to force Colombo to give his wife to him. The two husbands ask for Guascarre’s help, although he himself is jealous of Fernando. Taken to the temple to be sacrificed, Anarda accepts her coming death—to prove her love for Colombo. Trying to make her change her mind, Ginacra turns her into a goddess: faced with a renewed rejection, he takes her to prison. Colombo is set on dying for his wife. Fernando asks Tendilla to intercede with the tyrant on behalf of his mother. The interlude stages the European nations dressed in colourful costumes. At night, Anarda is waiting in her cell for her husband to save her: Colombo arrives, carrying a torch, and with Giumbè’s help manages to see Anarda. Ginacra also arrives at the prison. Anarda pretends to like him and suggests that he kills Colombo in a duel, to win her love. Colombo hears the end of the conversation, displays jealousy and tries to kill himself at his wife’s feet. She prevents him from doing so and explains her plan to fight, disguised as him. Tendilla declares her love to Fernando: as a true gentleman, Guascarre promises his rival mutual love. Colombo cross-dresses and offers to fight the duel in Ginacra’s stead: the fight now opposes Anarda cross-dressed as Colombo, and Colombo cross-dressed as the king’s champion. Hurt by Anarda, Colombo falls to the ground; When she discovers her opponent’s true identity, she faints. Learning about Anarda’s feats, Ginacra decides to leave her alone. Tendilla hesitates between her two suitors: her father decides that she will marry Guascarre, the oldest of the two.

Automaton

Ottoboni Pietro

Italy

Rome

Printed

Peru

Geographic discoveries

Explorer

Sacrifice

Edifying

Heroic

Fantasy

Pietro Ottoboni, Il Colombo ovvero L'India scoperta, 1690.

Italian

overo L'India scoperta

Christopher Columbus

Wife

Slave

Interpreter

Young woman

King

Prince

Lady-in-waiting

Mermaid

Interlude

Chorality

Thwarted love

Love rivalry

Boat mounted on wheels

Clouds

Board meeting

Sleeping character

Night scene

Spying scene

Fall of a character

Release of a prisoner

Sword fight

Duel scene

Disguised character (false identity)

Character mistaken as a member of the other sex

Final wedding

Il Colombo

Polichinelle wants to be loved while he is dressed as the shepherd Philemon, but is rejected by Issé. Doris accepts Pan's love for a while. Hylas is in turn rejected by Issé. Issé questions the oracle of the oaks of Dodona who tells her that she will fall in love with the god of light. Issé refuses because she prefers Polichinelle. Polichinelle reveals himself to her as Apollo.

Manuscript with songs and dialogue summaries

Oracle

God disguised as a mortal

Unrequited love

Seduction

Parodistic

Polichinelle

Philémon

Mother Gigogne

Doris

The Interpreter

Pierrot

Hylas

Priest

Peasant (female)

Apollo

Unveiling

Spectacular turn of events

Ballet

Song

Dialogue with a character in the audience

Apollon Polichinelle

Apollo as Polichinelle

Dom Gilvaz and Dom Fuas become enamoured with Dona Clóris and Dona Nise, the two nieces of the miser Dom Lanserote; Semicúpio, Dom Gilvaz’s servant, falls in love with their maid Sevadilha. Dona Nise gives her suitor a sprig of marjoram, Dona Clóris gives hers a sprig of rosemary and Sevadilha gifts hers a daisy; they encourage them to make these symbols triumph. The old Fagundes, Dom Lanserote’s maid, agrees to help the lovers. She reveals that one of the young women is promised to the foolish Dom Tibúrcio, and that the other will be sent to a convent. While Dom Tibúrcio is wooing Sevadilha, Semicúpio sneaks into the house; he is carrying a bundle of rosemary for Dom Gilvaz. When he faints, Fagundes sprays water on him and then leaves him with Sevadilha. The two servants bond; this ingenious couple will drive the action of the play. Dom Gilvaz catches Dom Fuas as he is climbing a ladder to break into the house: everyone enters the house and the two rivals, envying each other, engage in dialogues with their beloved. Dom Lanserote stops these outpourings. To escape this bad situation, Semicúpio claims that there is a fire and breaks down the door: the two lords, cornered, pretend to have come to put out the fire. Dom Fuas hides in a trunk to get into the house; he is carried by Semicúpio, who then hides his master Dom Gilvaz in it. While Dom Tibúrcio is courting Sevadilha, Dom Lanserote urges him to choose which of his nieces he will marry. They sit on the trunk. When it is knocked down, the candle goes out: the women arrive on stage for a night scene filled with much confusion. Dom Tibúrcio and Dom Lanserote want to open the trunk, but Dona Nise chases them away by talking about a ghost. Dom Gilvaz thanks Dona Nise, which arouses Dom Fuas’s jealousy. Then Dom Fuas speaks with Dona Clóris, arousing Dom Gilvaz’s jealousy. Semicúpio falls into the trunk. Dom Lanserote and Dom Tibúrcio arrive with light: they open the trunk, out of which comes Semicúpio; as he flees, he blows out the candle and shoves the other characters, who all believe that they are being pushed by their respective companion. The wedding is temporarily cancelled after this quarrel. Dom Gilvaz is waiting for Dona Clóris. He asks Dona Nise to hide him, but Dom Fuas and Dona Clóris find him: they both believe that their lovers have betrayed them. Dom Lanserote has reconciled with his nephew; he summons his nieces and, once again, asks Dom Tibúrcio to choose between them. Dom Fuas, Dom Gilvaz and Semicúpio, dressed as women, accuse Dom Tibúrcio of polygamy: he is forced to leave. In his misfortune, Dom Tibúrcio requires medical care: Dom Fuas, Dom Gilvaz and Semicúpio, dressed as doctors, tell him that he is pregnant; they also prescribe natural remedies to their beloved—marjoram, rosemary and daisy. Dom Gilvaz and his servant break into the garden using a rope. Dom Lanserote is there; he catches Semicúpio and locks him inside the henhouse. By mistake, Dom Fuas sits by the marjoram, and Dom Gilvaz by the rosemary: their lovers come to water the plants and find them: this is the beginning of another fit of jealousy from Dom Fuas and Dona Clóris. Dom Lansarote arrives: the lovers hide in the henhouse, as does Dom Tibúrcio. A judicial officer—Semicúpio in disguise—is with Dom Lanserote: he asks the hiding man to come out of the henhouse and arrests all the lords who walk out of it. In a parodical trial, Semicúpio finds the young women guilty of theft for having stolen the heart of the two lords, and sentences them to marriage; he requests that the costs be covered by Dom Lansarote and Dom Tibúrcio. The weddings put an end to the quarrel between rosemary and marjoram.

António José Da Silva (António José da Silva, aka O Judeu)

Portugal

Lisbon

Suitors

Deception

Medicine

Justice

Wedding

Dramatic

Satirical

Lyrical

António José da Silva, Guerras do Alecrim e Mangerona (1759)

Portuguese

Lord

Legal guardian

Niece

Maid

Old woman

Servant

Music

Love duet

Love story

Jack of all trades

Seduction scene

Fainting

Hidden character

Running away

Punching

Disguise

Cross-dressing

Macaronic Latin

Arrest scene

Confinement

Court scene

Guerras do Alecrim e Mangerona

Wars of the Rosemary and of the Marjoram

The maître d’hôtel Rapinet (Polichenelle) offers to take Madame Flanchet and her daughter Margot, whom he wants to marry, to the fair. But Rudepogne reminds them that Margot is promised to his nephew Jacquot. He sends Jacquot, who threatens Rapinet and quarrels with Margot. Since it is already too late to go to the fair, Rapinet asks two Savoyards to perform curiosité shows for them. At the end of the play, the characters dance with “small Savoyard women”.

Carolet Denis

Curiosity

Lantern

Fairground Theatre

Unfaithfulness

L'Assemblée des poissardes, Soleinne collection, BnF

Polichinelle maître d'hôtel

Merchant (woman)

Savoyard

Savoyard (woman)

Argument

Comedy of language

Metadiscourse on puppet theatre

L'Assemblée des poissardes

The Meeting of the fishwives

Pantalone wants his daughter Rosaura to marry the Comte Rompipignatte, but she refuses. Pantalone asks for Brighella’s help. The latter suspects that Rosaura has a lover. This lover is Fasolino. Brighella lures him into a trap so that Pantalone can kill him. Rosaura learns about the murder and is shut away. After he receives his reward, Brighella carries Fasolino’s corpse out of town. A magician (Mago) summons Pluto and Proserpina in order to bring Fasolino back to life. The Devil carries his corpse into the Underworld. Fasolino’s corpse is burnt, and his ashes are placed inside a crocodile’s egg which is then left on a beach. The egg is warmed by Apollo’s sun and brooded on by a snake. Fasolino is born again and fed with the miraculous milk of an old woman. In barely ten minutes, he becomes adult again. The magician reveals what has happened to him and endows him with magical powers.
Brighella relates it all to Pantalone, who does not believe him. Fasolino appears first as a French Knight, then as a Spanish Knight. Thanks to the Shadows he summoned, he beats the two accomplices with a stick.
Pantalone and Brighella are overcome with fear and call Sandrone for help. But Sandrone is even more terrified than they are. Pantalone begs Rosaura to marry the Comte Rompipignatte so his torment can end. She finally yields and agrees. At the exact moment when she is about to exchange vows with the Comte, Fasolino uses his magical powers to kill Pantalone and the Comte. Then he asks Rosaura to marry him. She refuses because he has just killed her father. Fasolino brings Pantalone and the Comte back to life. The latter flees. Fasolino and Rosaura can finally get married.

Glove-puppet

Marotte

Mantova

Typewriting

Resurrection

Revenge

Death

Count

Pantaloon

Fagiolino

Brighella

Sandrone

Nurse

Shadow

Apparition of the Devil

Pyrotechnics

Murder on stage

Monologue

Aside

Lazzi

Blow-with-a-stick

Fasolino che muore e rinasce da uovo

Fasolino dies and comes back to life from an egg

Dragonne, the Génie’s daughter, is bored. She can neither talk with humans nor leave the forest, because the rivers are controlled by her father’s enemy, Fée Écrevisse (Fairy Crayfish). Being far-sighted, the Génie has prepared a gift for his daughter: the Jam-e-Jam Numai, or the mirror of the universe. This magical mirror shows everything one could want to see, across the entire world. However, the Génie imposes a condition on his daughter: she must never say the name of Fée Écrevisse; if she does, she would fall under her power – irreversibly so. Once she has the mirror, Dragonne watches a fight, hoping that she will find her husband. She focuses on a young warrior, Prince Belle-Épine (Beautiful-Thorn). She orders her father, the Génie, to plan her wedding with this knight. However, the young man is under the protection of Fée Écrevisse, and the king has already decided to marry him to his own daughter Églantine (French medieval name, literally meaning dog rose). Furious, Dragonne laments her fate and says that she is the most unhappy person in the world. Then, looking into the mirror again, she sees the princess Églantine: she orders the Génie to abduct her and make her prisoner. Prince Papillon (Butterfly) arrives at the king’s palace. Chevalier Belle-Épine, the king’s future son-in-law, has given princess Églantine three magical animals: a cat whose fur bristles every time someone tells a lie, a serin that can speak, and a mouse that can sneak everywhere. However, many at court are against this wedding: they do not trust a man capable of obtaining such gifts. Prince Papillon arrives and immediately seduces the entire assembly. He reveals that he has been defeated by Reine Abeille (Queen Bee); he asks the king to protect him. Benevolent, the king offers to accommodate him for three days at the palace. The audience then learns that Prince Papillon wants to marry Princesse Églantine. The third scene begins with Princesse Églantine going missing. The entire court accuses Chevalier Belle-Épine, because the magical animals he has given the princess have also disappeared. Soon after, Prince Papillon also vanishes. Distraught, the knight asks Fée Écrevisse for help: no one but her can counter the power of the Génie, who is the only one capable of catching the magical animals. In the fourth scene, Princesse Églantine, the animals and Prince Papillon are in Dragonne’s cave. The latter wonders whether Chevalier Belle-Épine will come to save his beloved. She demands that the prince and the princess marry, so that the knight can stay with her. She locks them both in a cage, with the animals. The mouse escapes and the serin points the princess to the magical mirror, which is behind the cage. Thanks to it, they can know what is happening in the kingdom. In a hurry, the knight steps on the mouse and kills it. Dragonne comes back; thanks to the mirror, she sees the knight approaching the cave. She hides the prince and the princess in a place even more secret. Meanwhile, the cat manages to leave the cage and hides.
Dragonne welcomes the knight and relates that she saw Princesse Églantine, radiant, in the forest, walking with a prince that looked like a butterfly. The knight takes her word for it. However, the cat suddenly crosses the stage; his fur is bristling. The knight understands that he has been lied to: he declares that he loves Princesse Églantine and promises to take revenge. He steals the magical mirror to give it to Fée Écrevisse, who would do anything to obtain it. Dragonne tells the knight to bid the princess and the prince goodbye, as they will be left with the tigers in the forest. But the knight runs towards the mirror and calls Fée Écrevisse: she appears, furious. With a magical gesture, she turns Dragonne into a lioness. The knight and Princesse Églantine’s wedding can finally be celebrated. The fairy also conjures Reine Abeille, so she can resolve her conflict with Prince Papillon. After a short but decisive conversation, Reine Abeille agrees to marry Prince Papillon. Together, they go back to their kingdom.