Guignol tries to sell a bundle of little sticks carried by his donkey. The barber Pommadin tries to negotiate the price, but Guignol refuses. Pommadin ends the deal and pays the price required by Guignol, but he requests everything that the donkey carries. Guignol agrees, but Pommadin takes the stick that was holding everything together. Guignol complains to the burgomaster, but he sides with Pommadin. Guignol goes to Pommadin’s barber shop and asks for him and one of his friends to be shaved, reassuring Pommadin that he will pay for both of them in advance. Pommadin takes the money, and Guignol comes back with his donkey and forces Pommadin to shave it. The burgomaster is called again, but this time, he sides with Guignol. Pommadin wants the donkey out of his shop and thus has to reimburse and compensate Guignol. An Apothicaire (Apothecary) sells Guignol a remedy that will make his donkey obedient. A Marchande (Female Merchant), Marie, complains to Guignol that the donkey destroyed her crystal and porcelain shop, and they argue. Guignol and Niafron run away to go and have lunch together out of the city.

Glove-puppet

Not specified

Mourguet Laurent

France

Lyon

Printed

Donkey

Beard

Trade

Judgment

Deceived deceiver

Comical

Farcical

Le Marchand de picarlats (Vuillerme-Dunant's manuscript), Fonds Léopold Dor.

French

Le Marchand de génevottes; Le Marchand de fagots; Le Marchand de cotrets.

Guignol

coiffeur

Bourgmestre

Apothecary

Merchant (woman)

Monologue

Dialect as a social marker

Comic distortion of language

Deceived naivety

Misunderstanding

Fight with an animal

Plot twist

Le Marchand de picarlats

The picarlats Merchant

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

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

With the hope of finding some gold, Pierrot and Polichinelle break into the Sorcier’s (Sorcerer) house, but they are caught by a Poule noire (Black Hen) that attacks them. Polichinelle runs away with the Poule, but Pierrot, trapped, hides in a cauldron. Panicked, the Sorcier calls his colleagues for help, and they all try to bring the Poule back using a potion prepared in the cauldron. Pierrot moves around in the cauldron (which makes the Sorciers run away) and uncovers himself. To punish him, the Sorcier turns his head into that of a donkey. Meanwhile, Polichinelle is starving and kills the Poule, making it disappear: the Diable (Devil) appears in its stead. To punish Polichinelle, the Diable gives him the head of a red donkey. Polichinelle and Pierrot come back and threaten the Sorcier into giving them their appearance back; the Sorcier tells them that he lost his powers when he lost his Poule. Pierrot searches through the Sorcier’s potions and finds a cream that gives him his head back. However, the Sorcier runs away with the cream, chased by Pierrot. A Cocher (Coachman) arrives, thinks that Polichinelle is gorgeous, whips him and wants to hitch him to his cart. Polichinelle defends himself with his stick and the Cocher runs away. Desperate to get his head back, Polichinelle tries another one of the Sorcier’s creams, but his head turns into that of a pig. A Charcutier (Pork butcher) sees Polichinelle and is in awe of the talking pig; Polichinelle thinks that he is insane and chases him away with his stick. Pierrot comes back with the remedy, and Polichinelle gets his real head back. Polichinelle leaves with Pierrot and encounters the Sorcier: he kills him with a single blow of a stick.

All audiences

Paris

Naivety

Cauldron

Fantastic

Sorcerer

Polichinelle

Pierrot

Devil

Coachman

Pork butcher

Metamorphosis

Apparition of the Devil

Chase

Hidden character

Dance

Running gag

Blow-with-a-stick

Whiplash

Death on stage

Unexpected turn of events

Disappearance

Characterisation through onomatopoeia

La Poule noire

The Black Hen

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.

Creditor

Veiled woman

Polygamy

Colonialism

Islam

Party

Tony Tardy, Guignol au Maroc (first page)

Gnafron

Grocer

Fishmonger

Moroccan

Sultan

Officer

Zouave

Sergeant

Sailor

African

Disguised character (false identity)

Song

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.