The only spirit which the magician Negrocephalus is able to invoke on that day is the rooster spirit of Gockelhahn. The spirit informs him that his wife, the Gackerackack chick, is hatching a golden egg, which he promises to bring to Negrocephalus. The tired magician goes to his cabinet and asks his famulus Putzlmayer to keep watch. However, Putzlmayer prefers having fun by doing magic, thanks to Negrocephalus’s spellbook. He too invokes Gockelhahn, who comes back with the promised egg. Putzlmayer gets scared after hearing a voice coming from the egg and informs Negrocephalus before fleeing. Whoever is inside the egg keeps asking to be let out, and Negrocephalus starts worrying too. He swears to the being inside the egg that he will not eat it before daring to break the shell with his magic wand. After a series of thunderclaps and lightning, Kasperl comes out of the egg.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Manuscript

Birth

Nativity

Myth

Spirits

Wine

Donkey

Rooster

Magic

Sorcery

Learning

Faust

Laziness

Nonchalance

Cheekiness

Fantasy

Parodistic

German

Magician

Famulus

Cock, cockerel

Verschiedene Erscheinungen welche nicht zum Vorschein kommen

Apparition

Kasperl

Prologue

Spectacular turn of events

Magic act

Comical regional accent

Unveiling

Talking animal

Off-stage voice

Object coming to life

Address to the public

Versified passages

Pyrotechnics

Das goldene Ei

The Golden Egg

Gnafron is crippled with debts. He leaves France for Morocco with Guignol, but they board on a military ship and so the both of them become soldiers. After realising what their new “job” is, they land in Morocco as sentries. While keeping watch, Gnafron and Guignol meet the Qaid’s daughter, Ziléna. Guignol falls in love with the beautiful Muslim woman before even having seen her face – since he needs her father’s permission to do so. Guignol suggests that Gnafron replaces the muezzin’s donkey. He argues that when Ahmed – the muezzin – sees that his donkey has been changed into a man, he will interpret it as a miracle and take Gnafron to the Qaid. Gnafron would then be able to plan Guignol’s arrival. Guignol’s plan works: Ahmed and the Qaid believe in a miracle. He wants to know why “the donkey” took the shape of a French soldier. Gnafron explains that, for a brief period of time, the donkey worked for the French. The Qaid asks Gnafron whether he remembers the French manoeuvres and if he could teach them to his soldiers. Gnafron becomes the general of the Moroccans. In the meantime, Guignol arrives at the palace dressed in Moroccan fashion. He reunites with Ziléma, who agrees to marry him. Guignol warns the Qaid that the Zouaves are close by. The Qaid is distressed as he cannot find his daughter Ziléma. Guignol assures him that she will reappear. The Qaid promises to make him “the greatest Mufti of Islam” if the miracle takes place. At this exact moment, Ziléma unveils her face. The Qaid is overwhelmed with joy, and Guignol takes advantage of his emotion to ask for his approval to marry Ziléma. The Qaid agrees and promises to give Gnafron “a big “negress” of Beaujolais” – one possible meaning of “negress” in French being a bottle. When the Zouaves reaches the town, Guignol introduces himself as the sultan of Casbach. He allows them to enter the town and tells the Qaid that it is a day to celebrate. Gnafron is the only unhappy character at the end, as he is given a real “negress” instead of a bottle of Beaujolais.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

France

Creditor

Veiled woman

Polygamy

Colonization

Islam

Party

Comical

Tony Tardy, Guignol au Maroc (first page)

French

Guignol

Gnafron

Grocer

Fishmonger

Pork butcher

Moroccan

Sultan

Officer

Zouave

Sergeant

Sailor

African

Disguised character (false identity)

Comic distortion of language

Song

Dance

Guignol au Maroc

Guignol in Morocco

Cockatrice is made aware that he must not look at himself in a mirror, otherwise he will die. As he wants to admire his own beauty, he runs away and visits a painter to get a portrait of himself painted. To flatter him, the painter portrays him like an English gentleman. Blind-Boy finds Cockatrice and takes him away with him without paying the painter. Blind-boy tells Cockatrice that Columbus the Parrot and himself met a very old man named Old Man Adam, who owns a donkey, a table, and a stick which have magical powers. All three of them go to Old Man Adam’s house, and Old Man Adam gives them the objects as presents as they will lose their magical powers should they not change owners.