Hans is a happy new father but when the infant screams, he beats it. His wife Liesel worries, but she is in denial. Then Hans wants to baptise the child in beer. They quarrel again and eventually agree to call the infant Stiefele (boot), so that it will always have good shoes. The innkeeper Schnallans must prepare a feast, but they do not agree on the menu and Hans beats him to death. A police officer grabs him and wants to hang him, but Hans hangs him instead. Liesel worries because of the double murder which weights on her husband’s conscience and, above all, because there is no one to prepare the feast anymore. Hans settles the matter by fetching a whole Swiss cheese.

Not specified

Müller Alphons

Germany

Frankfurt

Printed

Household

Couple

Family

Father

Infant

Feast

Party

Meals

Police

Justice

Gallows

Assassination

Serial murder

Cheese

Beer

Hanswurst

Farcical

Comical

Front cover of the collection Sechs neue Lust-Spiele für das Porzinell-Theater

German

Idyllisches Lustspiel in einem Akt

Mother

Baby

Innkeeper

Police officer

Murder on stage

Comic Equivocation

Hanging scene

Versified passages

Fight

Domestic scene

Die Taufe

The Christening

The knight Fichtou arrives on stage breathless: he hit an old man in the forest and his horse died by accident. He says goodbye to his horse then leaves the stage. The admiral Caratchou, a pagan, arrives. He is looking for adventures and decides to stay near a bridge to keep people from crossing it. Then he relates his various achievements. The knight Fichtou comes back and they both fight. Fichtou wounds Caratchou and forces him to abjure his religion, before fetching something to drink for him. He comes back with a watering can he took from a farmer after fighting him. Caratchou asks Fichtou to bring him the balms in his luggage to heal his wounds. He coats himself in the balms then stands up, healed, and says goodbye to Fichtou as he leaves, but he forgets his pants. Fichtou meets the Roi (king) de la Drap d’Maison and the prince Drap d’chiel à Bouton and tells them how he has freed the bridge. The prince brags about having won a duel against Caratchou. Then the three of them go have something to eat but the king can only afford some paltry leftovers meant for the cat. The king and prince go hunting. Fichtou meets a farmer and asks him to fetch his wife. He reunites with his wife and asks why she looks so unwell. Fichtou relates his fight against Caratchou and asks her wife why she is so pale. The princess tells him that she has given birth to a stillborn child, who was almost three metres high, and that they had to fold him in half to bury him. They both decide to go have a meal.

Single rod marionettes

Belgium

Liège

Manuscript

Knighthood

Bragging

Duel

Miraculous cure

Epic

Histoire du Terrible Chevalier Fichtou (first page).

French

Knight

King

Princess

Peasant

Monologue

Story

Histoire du terrible chevalier Fichtou

Story of the terrible knight Fichtou

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.

String marionette

Craig Edward Gordon

Italy

Marina di Pisa

Portrait

Magic

Enchanted object

Wealth

Forest

Donkey

Mirror

Narcissism

Runaway

Magical words

Thief

Fantasy

English

Cockatrice

Basilic

Blind Boy

Blind

Parrot

Columbus

Pretty Polly

Painter

Adam

The Magic Donkey

Table

Stick

Hidden character

Blind character

The Painter and the Three Magics

Le Peintre et les trois objets magiques

Blind Boy, Cockatrice, and Columbus the Parrot are headed to Rome. The Magic Donkey refuses to walk because it is afraid of Cockatrice’s face, and until he wears a mask. At a crossroads where three different roads lead to Rome, they each decide to follow a different path and agree to meet at the Royal George, an inn. Columbus, disguised as a rich traveller, gets to the inn first. He uses the Magic Table to gift a delightful meal to all customers. After this meal, Columbus goes to sleep, and Oward, the innkeeper, switches the Magic Table with an ordinary one. In the morning, Columbus receives a telegram from the King of Rome, who is also the King of Europe, inviting him to his palace to meet his daughter, Princess Razzlemond, and to marry her. At court, Columbus tries to make another feast appear but fails. The innkeeper complains about his table being stolen, and Columbus is sent to prison.

Die Taufe

Idyllisches Lustspiel in einem Akt

Histoire du terrible chevalier Fichtou

The Painter and the Three Magics

The Roman Adventure - Part One

The Magic Table