As he wanders alone in the woods, the knight Wolfdietrich pays tribute to his sword and to his mount, precious allies in his adventures. Suddenly, a monstrous woman calls out to him, and asks him to spend the night with her. When met with an unequivocal and insulting refusal from Wolfdietrich, the woman insists and threatens him, before sentencing him to seven years of sleep. When he awakes, in the same woods but seven years later, he has neither his sword nor his mount, and he has lost his bearings and his senses. The mermaid appears and asks for the same thing again but the young knight refuses again, repelled by her ugliness. Ashamed of being challenged in such a way by a woman, he prefers to ask for his death. The diabolical mermaid refuses, and takes away his sight, his youth and his sanity. Lost and weakened, Wolfdietrich slowly tries to walk, groping around, and singing tirelessly the same refrain about his past achievements. The mermaid loses hope in being one day delivered by the one she loves, and resigns herself to go back and wait for death in her tower next to the Fountain of Youth. Some time later, she hears Wolfdietrich’s voice as he is being followed by people who threaten to hit him. He wants to know who deprived him of his senses and of his youth. He dwells on his past glory before being reduced to silence, stricken with the mermaid’s provocation. The mermaid dives in the Fountain of Youth where she gets her youth and beauty back, as Wolfdietrich gets his sight back. Now dazzling, she reminds him of his wrongdoings when he was a young and handsome knight. Admitting to his mistakes, Wolfdietrich wants to end his life, and throws himself in the fountain, which gives him his youth, his sword and his mount back. The mermaid rewards him for his remorse, and, now that she has been delivered from her evil spells, she can marry him.

Shadow theatre

Not specified

Wolfskehl Karl

Germany

Munich

Printed

Initiation tests

Hero

Fountain of Youth

Courtly love

Ugliness

Fantasy

Didactic

Pathetic

Photo of Rolf von Hoerschelmann's sets and silhouettes for the first scene (with Wolfdietrich and the Rough Els)