Volrat, Die alte Mutter (>1250)
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Maere and Novellas
Volrat, Die alte Mutter (>1250)
von der Hagen, H.H.: Gesammtabenteuer. Hundert altdeutsche Erzählungen, 3 vols. Stuttgart/Tübingen 1850. Reprint Darmstadt 1961. Vol 1, Nr. 5, p. 89–100
VolAM-1:
A very old blind lady from Swabia criticizes her son for his large-scale lifestyle. After having no success, she makes up her mind to accuse him at the emperor Friedrich’s court in Nürnberg. When she asks her son to bring her to court, he guesses her intention, but doesn’t know how to prevent it. At the court, he takes to cunning. At the entrance to the courtroom, he suggests to his mother that she hold onto the sleeve of his shirt because of the oncoming crowd.
Motif References:
W 131 Profligacy
P 231 Mother and son
P 510 Law courts
J 1190 Cleverness in the law court – miscellaneous
VolAM-150:
He puts the shirt of a strange knight into his mother’s hand, and the knight pushes his way to the emperor.
Motif References:
K 1840 Deception by substitution
VolAM-190:
She accuses her son to the emperor. When the astonished knight says his mother died thirty years before, he is reproached for denying his own mother.
Motif References:
X 120 Humor of bad eyesight.
J 1280 Repartee with the ruler.
K 2100 False accusation
VolAM-360:
To prevent falling from grace, he accepts the imperial verdict to honor her like a mother, and they ride home. On the way back, traveling knights recognize the old lady and take her back to the emperor. They explain the situation to the emperor, and he gives a horse to the knight, as substitute for the lost mother.
Motif References:
J 830 Adaptability (to overpowering force)
J 1162 Plea by admitting accusation and discomfiting accuser
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