Voluptaria
Pleasure
A knight announces to his beautiful wife that he must go away to war in Prussia. His grieving wife asks to accompany him, and she disguises herself as a man to fight alongside him. The two fight side by side, but one day they are captured by a pagan king. They are held in prison until the king's birthday arrives - and in a show of magnanimity, he decides to free the prisoners, and orders them to bathe. They refuse initially, but at last must comply, and the second 'knight' is revealed to be a woman. The pagan king immediately desires the wife, and has her husband tied to a column to watch as he has sex with her. He falls into a drunken sleep, and the knight asks his wife to untie him, but she refuses, and falls alseep in turn. While the king and the wife sleep, the husband sees that a poisonous spider falls into their wine. They awaken, the king drinks the wine, and dies in agony. The wife decides to slash the king with her husband's sword to shift the blame to him, but she swings wildly and instead severs her husband's ties. He takes her back to their home, and tells his friends the story of their adventures as if they had happened to someone else, asking what should be done to such a woman. They all say that the woman should be killed (locked in a cellar and starved to death), and so he does.
Note
Nishimura (2001) notes close analogues are found in:
- Der Born Judas, 17 ‘Vor den Augen des Gemahls’: Newlyweds travel together to the wife’s hometown at her request. They are attacked by bandits, and the wife falls in love with the bandit. The bandit ties up the husband and enjoys his wife’s company. A viper spills its venom on a bottle of wine placed by his side, and the bandit drinks it and dies. The wife unties her husband and continues her journey. The wife is killed by her own father when he finds out what happened.
- Kathasaritsagara, Chapter 61, ‘98, 'The Story of the Wife who falsely accused her Husband of murdering a Bhilla’: A man goes on a business trip accompanied by his wife. He leaves his wife at an old Brahmin’s house because there is a forest inhabited by barbarians on the way. The wife goes off to the village with a young barbarian. The husband hears from the Brahmin and goes looking for her. The wife excuses herself that she was forced to be brought there and tells him to stay hidden because the man will be back soon. The barbarian man drags the husband out at the wife’s bidding, ties him to a tree, and enjoys himself with the wife before the husband’s eyes. When the barbarian man falls asleep and the husband asks God for help, the bonds are loosed, the husband beheads the man, and leaves with his wife. The wife shows the head she brought to the chief of the town on the way and complains that this man killed my husband. The two are taken to the king, but when the truth is revealed, the wife’s ears and nose are cut off.
Critical Literature
The inset story appears in the following manuscripts
This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database
