Tentamina

From The Seven Sages of Rome

The Test

A young woman who is sexually unsatisfied by her old husband wishes to take a lover. Before she does so, however, her mother counsels her to test her husband’s patience and depth of feeling. The young wife first cuts down her husband’s favourite tree, then kills his beloved dog, and receives no punishment – this, she reports to her mother, encourages her to take lover. But the final test – disrupting a dinner and shaming her husband before guests – results in her husband losing patience, and ordering her to be blood-let to within an inch of her life. She no longer desires a lover.

Note

Nishimura notes the motif index code for this narrative (TU1159: complaisance of old husband), and also relevant analogues and reference stories, including: Vincentius Bellovacensis, Speculum Morale, 3.9.5; Gesta Romanorum, 121 ‘Die zwei Ritter’; Decameron, 7.9; Wickram, Das Rollwagenbüchlin, 16 ‘Von einem Schneider'; English Folktales, p. 340, ‘The Domineering Husband’; French Folktales, 26 ‘The Handless Girl’; Rakugo, ‘Umaya Kaji (Stable on Fire)’.

Critical Literature
Nishimura (2001)Campbell (1907)Runte, Wikeley, Farrell (1984)Runte, Society of the Seven Sages Portal (2014)Brunner (1933)Whitelock (2005)
Tentamina appears in the following versions and secondary versions
Tentamina is narrated in the following occurrences
Narrator Pages
Ancilles Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 2, 38
Faltach Bühnenfassung / Stage adaptation: Sebastian Wild, Tragedj
Fourth Master Admont Stiftsbibliothek Cod. 163, Admont Stiftsbibliothek Cod. 652, Augsburg Universitätsbibliothek Cod. I. 2. 2° 22, Bamberg Staatsbibliothek Msc. Class. 87, Berlin Staatsbibliothek Ms. lat. qu. 184, Berlin Staatsbibliothek Ms. theol. lat. fol. 239, Berlin Staatsbibliothek Ms. theol. lat. qu. 151, Berlin Staatsbibliothek Ms. theol. lat. qu. 272, Bern Burgerbibliothek Cod. 723, Brno Moravský zemský archiv Cerr II 361, Dresden Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Mscr. Dresd. C 398, Dresden Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Mscr. Dresd. F 61a, Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Mscr. Dresd. F 61a, Eichstätt Universitätsbibliothek Cod. st 698, Gdańsk PAN Biblioteka Gdańska Ms. 1974, German Version A: Allegatio/Libellus, Latin Version A: Allegatio/Libellus, Latin Version H
Josephas Aventewr von Diocleciano
Lentulus D (Sept Sages de Rome), K (Sept Sages de Rome)
Malcome Older Scots Version A: Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
Malquidras (Malquydrac) Thystorye of ye vii wyse Maysters of rome (English, 16th c.)
Malquidras or Maxencius (?) Brno Moravská knihovna RKP-0048.042 (Rkp 84)
Malquidras A (Seven Sages), Anonymous Verse Version, Brussel Koninklijke Bibliotheek 9245, Cambridge University Library MS Dd.1.17, Cambridge University Library MS Gg.6.28, Colmar Bibliothèque Municipale Ms. 55, Edinburgh National Library of Scotland Advocates MS 19.2.1, Auchinleck Manuscript, Edinburgh National Library of Scotland MS. 16500, Asloan Manuscript, Erlangen Universitätsbibliothek Ms. B 11, French A/L Overlap, French Version A: Roman des Sept Sages, German Version H, H (Historia Septem Sapientum), Hans von Bühel, Dyocletianus Leben, L (Sept Sages de Rome), London British Library Arundel 140, London British Library Cotton Galba E IX, London British Library Egerton 1995, Middle English Version A, Old Swedish Version A: Sju vise mästare, Old Swedish Version H: Sju vise mästare, Oxford Balliol College Library MS 354 (Richard Hill's Commonplace Book), Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson poet. 175, Paris Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 3516, Paris Bibliothèque nationale de France, français 95, Prosafassung / Prose Version, Scots Version H: Rolland, Seuin Seages, Spanish Version H: Los Siete Sabios de Roma, Versfassung / Verse Version
Third Master S (Scala Coeli)
Waldach Hystorij von Diocleciano, Wien Schottenstift Cod. 33 (407)
Tentamina appears in the following manuscripts