Heinrich Kaufringer, Der verklagte Bauer (ca. 1400)
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Maere and Novellas
Heinrich Kaufringer, Der verklagte Bauer (ca. 1400)
Euling, K. (ed.): Heinrich Kaufringers Gedichte. (=StLV 182) Tübingen 1888. Vol. 3, p. 24–43
HKVB-1:
Promythion: Warning to unfaithful advocates and clerics. A village priest is angry about a rich but stingy peasant who pays his duty but nothing more. He wins the advocate as an ally and they decide to tame the shrew. When the peasant calls bad weather good weather and is mowing grass during mass on the cemetery the minister believes he has enough for verdict. He slanders his deeds during mass and threatens to reveal the doer if he doesn’t improve. But the peasant is still not interested. The minister announces that he will notify the sinner by throwing a stone at him.
Motif References:
Q 220 Impiety punished
Q 223.6 Failure to observe holiness of Sabbath [Sunday] punished
HKVB-432:
The peasant ducks but is accused by the judge. When found guilty he doesn’t deny anything and tells the priest who threatens him with hell he has heaven and hell at home and he doesn’t need any advice; his horse is smarter than the priest. He is accused of being a heretic at the court but is not scared as he has always been cor-rect with the parochial goods. The bishop and the whole capital come to his house to see the futile accusations. After a good meal the peasant rejects all accusations. Bad weather has to be called good because it has been sent to improve mankind. He has heaven and hell at home because his mother has been ill for 32 years. In helping her, he earns heaven or hell.
Motif References:
J 1160 Clever pleading
J 1162 Plea by admitting accusation and discomfiting accuser
K 1657 Unjust official outwitted by peasant who quarrels with him and thus turns the attention of the ruler to the abuses
HKVB-627:
The peasant’s horse is smarter than the minister because it doesn’t fall twice in the same pit. But the priest, although has been beaten three times, still slips in to the judge’s wife. The bishop finds him not guilty.
Motif References:
J 1264 Repartee concerning clerical incontinence
K 1271 Amorous intrigue observed and exposed
HKVB-666:
The priest has to pay 100 pounds for unjustified slandering and the judge has to pay for the bishop and his men’s accommodation. Epimythion: The author praises the good ending of the story and complains about unjust judges in his time.
Motif References:
J 1172 Judgment as rebuke to unjust plaintiff
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