176

THE PAGEANTS

to be planed off; the scene is illustrated graphically in a woodcut
by Erhard Schoen.240 The term "ungehobelt" still connotes coarse-
ness, while in many folk customs, particularly those of handicraft
groups, the motif is given concrete form in initiation ceremonies
that "level off" the candidate through immersion, planing, and
grinding.241 Out of these traditions the Ldufer fashioned their
"schleiffmuhl," a grinding mill of fortune, directed at characters
who have always been the butt of the carnival: the fool, the
woman, and the peasant.
The elephant again rides the Eol/e-sleigh in 1524 (Fig. 54)
with a bright red saddle strapped about him and a pink castle with
four blue-roofed turrets mounted on his back. The textual refer-
ence on f. 6yr is as follows: "Hetten ein Hoel, das war ein Hbel-
fant, druch ein SchloB." Two fools, costumed in blue and purple,
and red and green, gesture gleefully to the onlookers from the
castle, one of them swinging his orange-colored club on high in
greeting. More action than we see here is described in the text of
other MSS: in the storming of this Holle a "warrior," one of a
group burlesquing the attack against the elephant in the guise of
old men in rusty armor, fell from the ladder and was injured so
severely that he died three days later.242 Our miniature of the
castle for 1504 showed us the assault carried out on ladders; we
shall find this scene represented again in the miniature of the last
act in the history of the Schembartlauf, the storming of the
pageant in 1539.
The last Holle is a pageant-ship on wheels (Fig. 55). The text-
ual note on f. 68r mentions several characters in a pantomime on
the ship: "die Holl was ein groB Schiff darin ein Pfaff ein Doctor,
Narr und Teuffel, Dasselbe ist nachmalB von Jnen auff dem
240 Cf. Geisberg (Holzschnitt), Nr. 1180 (urn 1533).
241 Cf. Krebs, pp. 42 (Regensburger Handwerksordnung, 1731, cited here, speaks of
"hoblen, schleiffen, predigen, tauffen"), 46, 64ft.; Dorrer, p. 71 (Innsbruck carpenters'
play, "Den Bauern zu hobeln," forbidden 1607).
242 Cf. MS No. 58 (Drescher, p. 18): "Die Hell war ein Helfandt, Vnd ein schloB
darauff, war von Alten Kriegileuten mit Alten Rostig harnisch Angethan, vnd
gesturmet, vnd einer Am Sturm Nam schaden, An einer Laittern, daz er Jn 3
tagen Starb." According to MS No. 60 the injured man was burned in the fire:
"Die Holl war ein Thurn mit Kriegsleuten uff einen Helephanten gebauet, den
stiirmeten und verbrannten sie vor dem Rathaus, da fiel einer von der Laitern ins
Fewer und am dritten Tag hernach starb er"; cf. Briiggemann (Mitt.), p. 12.