DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.74283#0120
102
THE GROTESQUES
Hans Sachs thinks of the "holtzleut" clad, like our Wild Man, in a
garment of moss, foliage, and grass: "MieB, laub and graB ist
unser gwandt."28 The shaggy costume has an ancient history, for
it was worn by the "goat-men" singing and dancing in the worship
of Dionysus.29 We may imagine the mummers in the above-men-
tioned ludi of the "sylvan men" also covered with foliage. To the
devil maskers of the religious drama a hairy or scaly garb, or one
that simulated the animal skin, was indispensable for the fierce
impression they wished to make.30 The devil's fellow comedian,
the fool, also shows marks of the animal costume in his dress: we
have already referred to his asses' ears and cock's comb, his fox
or rabbit tail, and his calf-skin. A later clown, the Zanni Arlec-
chino of the coinmedia dell' arte, wore a tuft of skin or a rabbit's
tail,31 and this, together with the wooden batte he carried, leads
Nicoll to conjecture on the possible relation of Harlequin to the
comic mime Hercules, distinguished by his animal skin and his
wooden club.32 This conjecture grows out of the many intensive
investigations of the origin of Harlequin, the most authoritative
of which is that by Otto Driesen,33 who established a line of de-
scent for the Zanni from the "maisnie Herlechin," the medieval,
ghostly troop of the dead (Wildes Heer).34 Herlechin's represen-
tative, Croquesots (Driesen's translation is "Narrenbeisser"),
28 Hans Sachs, Werke, III, 563.
29 Cf. L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1909), V, 232f.; further M. v. Boehn (Biihnenkostiim), p. 21 (Seilenos) ; Mannhardt,
II, 141-3 (Satyrspiel); Nicoll (Masks), p. 22.
20 Cf. Nicoll (Masks), pp. 189-191. The fiercer the devils looked the more amusing
they were to the spectators; cf. M. Rudwin, Der Teufel in den deutschen geistigen
Spielen des Mittelalters und der Reformationszeit (Gottingen, Vandenhoeck und
Ruprecht, 1915), pp. 7-11, 75-7, 103-7.
31 Cf. Nicoll (Masks), p. 269.
32 Idem.; cf. also ibid.; Figs. 38, 40, for Phlyax vase-pictures of scenes, in which
Hercules appears as a bearded buffoon with a skin on his head.
33 Otto Driesen, Der Ursprung des Harlekin, "Forschungen zur neueren Literatur-
geschichte," XXV (Berlin, 1904).
"H. M. Flasdieck, "Germanischer Mythos in romanischer Wandlung," Anglia,
LXI, (1937), Hft. 3/4, studies the relation of Harlequin to Wodan, and suggests
that the latter is younger than Herlekin, but that they are in the same tradition,
cf. p. 311; further p. 27if., for a review of the possible Germanic origin of the
name (hellekin < Hbllchen). The legends and sources on the subject of the Wild
Hunt are presented in K. Meisen, Die Sagen vom Wiitenden Heer und Wilden Jager
(Munster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, n. d. [1935]).
THE GROTESQUES
Hans Sachs thinks of the "holtzleut" clad, like our Wild Man, in a
garment of moss, foliage, and grass: "MieB, laub and graB ist
unser gwandt."28 The shaggy costume has an ancient history, for
it was worn by the "goat-men" singing and dancing in the worship
of Dionysus.29 We may imagine the mummers in the above-men-
tioned ludi of the "sylvan men" also covered with foliage. To the
devil maskers of the religious drama a hairy or scaly garb, or one
that simulated the animal skin, was indispensable for the fierce
impression they wished to make.30 The devil's fellow comedian,
the fool, also shows marks of the animal costume in his dress: we
have already referred to his asses' ears and cock's comb, his fox
or rabbit tail, and his calf-skin. A later clown, the Zanni Arlec-
chino of the coinmedia dell' arte, wore a tuft of skin or a rabbit's
tail,31 and this, together with the wooden batte he carried, leads
Nicoll to conjecture on the possible relation of Harlequin to the
comic mime Hercules, distinguished by his animal skin and his
wooden club.32 This conjecture grows out of the many intensive
investigations of the origin of Harlequin, the most authoritative
of which is that by Otto Driesen,33 who established a line of de-
scent for the Zanni from the "maisnie Herlechin," the medieval,
ghostly troop of the dead (Wildes Heer).34 Herlechin's represen-
tative, Croquesots (Driesen's translation is "Narrenbeisser"),
28 Hans Sachs, Werke, III, 563.
29 Cf. L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1909), V, 232f.; further M. v. Boehn (Biihnenkostiim), p. 21 (Seilenos) ; Mannhardt,
II, 141-3 (Satyrspiel); Nicoll (Masks), p. 22.
20 Cf. Nicoll (Masks), pp. 189-191. The fiercer the devils looked the more amusing
they were to the spectators; cf. M. Rudwin, Der Teufel in den deutschen geistigen
Spielen des Mittelalters und der Reformationszeit (Gottingen, Vandenhoeck und
Ruprecht, 1915), pp. 7-11, 75-7, 103-7.
31 Cf. Nicoll (Masks), p. 269.
32 Idem.; cf. also ibid.; Figs. 38, 40, for Phlyax vase-pictures of scenes, in which
Hercules appears as a bearded buffoon with a skin on his head.
33 Otto Driesen, Der Ursprung des Harlekin, "Forschungen zur neueren Literatur-
geschichte," XXV (Berlin, 1904).
"H. M. Flasdieck, "Germanischer Mythos in romanischer Wandlung," Anglia,
LXI, (1937), Hft. 3/4, studies the relation of Harlequin to Wodan, and suggests
that the latter is younger than Herlekin, but that they are in the same tradition,
cf. p. 311; further p. 27if., for a review of the possible Germanic origin of the
name (hellekin < Hbllchen). The legends and sources on the subject of the Wild
Hunt are presented in K. Meisen, Die Sagen vom Wiitenden Heer und Wilden Jager
(Munster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, n. d. [1935]).