Hanswurst is thrown out like trash from the stage of the Berlin theatre following the success of Voltaire’s tragedy Alzire. He is exiled to Salzbourg, where he lodges at Stoffel Knips’ house and seduces his host’s wife. Stoffel Knips catches them in the act and throws them out. Hanswurst’s distress is such that he tries to kill himself. But thunder strikes the branch on which he was hanging. Two Turks pass by the unconscious couple and take them aboard their felucca going to Turkey. During the trip, Madame Knips gives birth to two children – a boy and a girl – who grow extremely fast. In Turkey, Hanswurst is castrated to be made a eunuch in the Sultan’s seraglio. Madame Knips fell in the sea with her son during the trip, but she manages to swim to shore. She competes with her daughter for the Sultan’s favours; Hanswurst takes offence and makes a scene. He is banished by the Sultan as a result, and returns to Berlin, where he meets a prostitute. He recognizes one of the brothel’s clients as his own son, who also escaped drowning and became a pedant professor of philosophy. During a lecture he gives on the German almanac Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, published by Friedrich Christoph Nicolai, all the characters on stage die from atrocious diarrhoea.

Not specified

Schink Johann Friedrich

Germany

Berlin

Printed

Turkey

Sultan

Seraglio

Unfaithfulness

Prostitution

Suicide

Education

Literary criticism

Sturm und Drang

Genie

Adventure

Navigation

Human castration

Mutilation

Childbirth

Storm

Tempest

Scatology

Colic

Fart

Fornication

Triviality

Obscenity

Satirical

Anonymous illustration on the title page of Johann Friedrich Schink's collection Marionettentheater

German

Hanswurst

Madame Knips

Turk

Sailor

Daughter

Physician

Slave

Lady

Old woman

Prompter (theatre)

Scene of recognition

Bawdy equivocation

Splitting of the body

Prologue

Address to the public

Love story

Hanging scene

Play in verse

Epilogue

Unexpected turn of events

Brothel scene

Foul language register

Allusion to current literary events

Hanswurst von Salzburg mit dem hölzernen Gat

Hanswurst of Salzbourg with the wooden arse

Kasperl leaves for America on a boat, but is swallowed by a whale that spits him out on an island inhabited by cannibals. They salt him and smear him in whale fat. Attracted by the smell of fat, an eagle kidnaps Kasperl on the verge of being eaten and takes him back to Europe. Kasperl manages to escape and meets a horseman who takes him back to his family. The play ends as a prologue with an invitation to take a seat in front of the puppet theatre for the start of the main performance.

Shadow theatre

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Munich

Boat

Navy

America

Shipwreck

Fish

Leviathan

Unknown land

Island

Sausage

Beer

Thirst

Hunger

Cannibalism

Savage

Kidnapping

Horse

Family

Fantasy

Comical

Kasperl

Baleine

Cannibal

Eagle

Horserider

Madame Kasperl

Child

Monologue

Chorus

Sung scenes

Macaronism

Puppet theatre within the theatre

Kasperl bei den Menschenfressern

Kasperl among the anthropophagi

Blind Woman is lying on her bed, which is on top of her house, and narrating her unsuccessful love stories to Doctor Fell. Her tale lasts for a few days. It ends when the curtain falls and a Marionette comes to announce that the Theatre Director found a way to make her stop her storytelling by gifting her a ring which grants one wish. Blind Woman declares to Doctor Fell that she wants revenge on Jupiter. Thanks to the ring, she turns into a Sphinx to force Jupiter to surrender to her power by asking him riddles. She asks Doctor Fell to dress up as a nanny. Jupiter is sailing at sea, dressed as a ship’s captain. He receives a call from Mama Ops, his mother, who wishes him to meet a smart woman and lets him know that she revealed his location to Blind Woman. Jupiter is distraught and reaches the boat of Blind Boy, Cockatrice, and Columbus, who also decide to dress up to mislead Blind Woman. The latter awaits Jupiter on a dock, under the guise of a Sphinx. She is persuaded that he disguised himself as a woman to get away from her. Jupiter, as a captain, lands with Blind-Boy, Cockatrice, and Columbus, who cross-dress as the Three Graces. Blind Woman, who thinks Cockatrice to be Jupiter, asks him a riddle and snatches his veil. Cockatrice appears, wearing a nightgown and makeup as a lady. Blind Woman faints into Doctor Fell’s arms while the others take this opportunity to get back on the ship and flee. 
When she comes to her senses, she meets a Watchman and tries to trick him with a riddle as well, while the curtain falls.