Motif Index of German Secular Narratives                 
Published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
 Introduction   Matière de Bretagne   Chansons de Geste   Miscellaneous Romances   Oriental Romances   Heroic Epic   Maere and Novellas   Romances of Antiquity   Index 



MLBA-1
MLBA-70
 

Maere and Novellas


Der Mönch als Liebesbote A (>1400) von Keller, A.(ed.): Erzählungen aus altdeutschen Handschriften (StLV 35). Stuttgart 1855. p. 232–241

MLBA-1:   A beautiful Roman woman falls in love with a young nobleman who is also in love with her. He parades in fashionable clothes outside her window. She wants to meet him and complains in confession to a barefoot monk that the young man bothers her and has given her a precious ring.
Motif References:

T 10 Falling in love

MLBA-70:   The monk is to bring back the ring and rebuke him, so that she is not slandered in the absence of her husband. Rebuked by the monk, the young man realizes what she intends, and he also pretends that he has given her the precious ring. However, he promises to improve. The monk visits the woman, who gives further details of the wooing. She says that the nobleman has sent her a pouch with a belt, a ring, and a love letter inside. In this letter he has written in detail how he would have visited her during the nighttime. The monk promises to rebuke him. He returns the belt and the ring, and he tells the nobleman the contents of the love letter in order to show him that all is discovered. When the accused nobleman promises improvement, the monk retreats to his cell and the young man hurries to his ladylove.
Motif References:

K 1584 Innocent confessor duped into being go-between for adulteress and lover