Don Juan has asked his servant Kasperl to sell his last shirt and coat, but Kasperl has spent the money from the sale on beers. He sends him to borrow money from his father, the knight Pantolfius. When Pantolfius refuses, Don Juan himself comes to ask him to comply, but in vain, and Kasperl kicks him in the nose. To find money, Kasperl then has the idea of summoning the devil, but when Don Juan wants to sell him his soul, he replies that it already belongs to him and takes it to hell.

Not specified

Reinhardt Carl

Germany

Munich

Printed

Tralala

Excessive drinking

Drunkard

Drinking

Credit

Father

Perlike

Money

Debt

Hits

Radirullala

Devil

Eternal punishment

Satirical

Parodistic

Grotesque

Farcical

German

Don Juan

Pantolfius

Kasperl

Final intervention of the devil

Spectacular turn of events

Song

Pact with the devil

Kasperl und Don Juan

Kasperl and Don Juan

Kasperl drags on stage the corpse of the devil murdered in Kasperl und der Teufel, and, to get rid of it, throws it out of the hand-puppet booth. His wife suddenly tells him that Death is coming before running away. Death tells Kasperl that it is time to die, but he answers that he does not have time for that. As Death insists, he asks to go and kiss his dear wife one last time: he comes back with a stick and, letting Death go before him, he strikes the skeleton to pieces with a great blow in its back. He leaves and gently sings: everyone now celebrates Kasperl for having defeated Death.

Glove-puppet

Gruesome

Stick

Death

Woman

Household

Beer

Tavern

Detail of a page from Carl Reinhardt, Das wahrhaftige Kasperltheater (based on a 1924 republication, Wien/Leipzig/München, Rikola Verlag, p. 75): Kasperl blows Death to pieces.

Madame Kasperl

Allegory

Address to the public

Blow-with-a-stick

Epilogue

Kasperl und der Tod

Kasperl and Death

The devil steals the box in which Kasperl, in the previous play (<a href="https://puppetplays.eu/en/oeuvres/5777/frau-kasperl-und-die-köchin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frau Kasperl und die Köchin</a>) had locked his wife, his lover and the night watchman. He replaces it with another box in which Kasperl almost gets his nose stuck when he comes to sniff if it does not contain sausages. Instead, the devil emerges and wants to take him away. But Kasperl has fun making him disappear and reappear with the magic formula "Parlucke! Parlicke" until the devil gets dizzy and cries for mercy. He insists that Kasperl follow him, who finally announces that he is going to draw his will and returns with a club, with which he kills the devil. He seals him up in the box and goes to throw it in the fire.

Eating

Hunger

Grandparents

Comical

Role reversal

Running gag

Apparition of the Devil

Hidden corpse

Kasperl und der Teufel

Kasperl and the Devil

After having locked the devil up in a box (in <a href="https://puppetplays.eu/en/oeuvres/5840/kasperl-und-der-teufel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kasperl und der Teufel</a>), Kasperl wants to throw him in the water. Suddenly, it is his wife who emerges from the box… and who starts to slap him many times to take revenge, for he wanted to get rid of her (<a href="https://puppetplays.eu/en/oeuvres/5777/frau-kasperl-und-die-k%C3%B6chin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frau Kasperl und die Köchin</a>)! Kasperl ends up throwing both his wife and the box out of the glove-puppet booth, and then goes to the inn. On the way, he encounters a curious animal peeping at him; he pets the animal, which bites him. He fetches a sausage to feed the animal, but decides to eat it and gives the skin of the sausage to the animal. The animal catches Kasperl’s arm with its maw, then catches him by the back of his pants… Kasperl goes to get his stick, which the animal tries to steal from him; the animal gets beaten and runs away, followed by Kasperl who wants to knock it out.

Sausage

Animal

Beast

Mace

Nightingale

Crocodile

Jaws

Glutton

Carl Reinhardt, Das geheimnisvolle Tier, 1852.

Chase

Domestic scene

Slaps

Das geheimnisvolle Tier

The mysterious animal

Kasperl leaves his wife Grete and resigns from his job at Stoffelbauer’s farm to explore the world. On the road, he meets the genius of the mountains, Cuivre Curpus. The latter is dressed as an old man and Kasperl gives him three of his copper coins. Cuprus thanks him and gifts him a magic violin in turn. Kasperl uses it to make the Jew Mauschl dance until he faints, after discovering that he was embezzling money. Two robbers – Fangauf and Schnapper – take advantage of the opportunity to steal Mauschl’s purse. Kasperl is then introduced to Duke Richard’s court as the violinist Spagatini, and he seduces the Duke’s daughter, Princess Amalie, as well as her lady-in-waiting. One day he is caught serenading them by night, but he makes the guards, the whole court, the princess and the lady-in-waiting dance. However, he is brought to justice and accused by Mauschl of having stolen the purse. As a result, he is sentenced to death. At the gallows, he asks to play one last tune on his violin, in the hope of making everyone dance and escaping. But Cuprus appears with Grete. He takes away the magic of the violin but promises to save Kasperl’s life, on condition that he goes back to his wife.