20:
319:, 'He who wanted all, lost all.'" He says that the two city dwellers got their just comeuppance. The story says that he wishes they'd been whipped, as the antagonist in another story he has heard, was beaten for his chicanery. His comment is a transition to the next tale, causing the father to ask his son to tell him this story. Thus, the roles of the father and his son are reversed, as the father, who was the storyteller, becomes the listener, and the son, who was his father's audience, becomes the narrator.
339:
says, he binds and beats the tailor when such a fit comes over him. He also tells the eunuch what to look for: "When you see him looking all around and feeling the floor with his hands and getting up from his seat and picking up the chair on which he is seated, then you will know that he is mad, and if you do not protect yourself and your servants, he will beat you on the head with a
508:, comes to see the cursed dancers, who, despite no rest, food, drink, or sleep, dance non-stop, night and day, regardless of the temperature or the weather. Several times, the emperor orders a covering to be built to protect the dancers from storms, but it is reduced to rubble overnight each time it is built or rebuilt.
511:
After the year has ended, the curse is lifted, and the dancers fall down upon the ground, as if dead. Three days later, they arise—except for Ave, who has died. Soon after, the priest also dies. The emperor installs the container in the church as a receptacle for the dead girl's arm, and it becomes
338:
whom the king has set over the apprentices as their supervisor that the tailor is subject to seizures of madness, during which he becomes violent and dangerous. In fact, Nedui claims, he has killed those who have happened to be near him when he is in the grip of such a fit. To protect himself, Nedui
500:
The priest, too late, sends his son, Ayone, to rescue his daughter, Ave, who is one of the "twelve fools" involved in the dancing. However, due to the curse, when Ayone takes his sister's arm to separate her from the other carolers, it detaches from her body. Miraculously, her wound does not bleed,
354:
he has committed to have deserved such a beating, and the eunuch tells him what Nedui told him about the tailor's seizures. "Friend, when have you ever seen me crazy?" the master asks his apprentice, to which question he receives, from Nedui, the rejoinder: "When have you ever seen me refuse to eat
523:
The other dancers cannot get together again, ever, and must skip, instead of walking, wherever they go. Living mementoes of God's curse against sacrilegious behavior, they bear permanent physical changes to their clothing and their bodies: "Their clothes didn't rot nor their nails grow; their hair
425:
as one who knows (and wrote a version of) the narrative and points out that the story is "known in the court at Rome" and has appeared widely in many chronicles, including those "beyond the sea." However, after the telling of the tale, the storyteller admits that some doubt its veracity.
346:
The next day, Nedui hides the tailor's shears, and, when the master, hunting for them, behaves as Nedui mentioned to the eunuch, the eunuch orders his servants to bind the tailor and beats him himself with a club. His servants also beat him until he is unconscious and "half dead."
365:
By having the listener tell the narrator the moral of the story, the storyteller shows that the narrative has successfully served its purpose as an exemplum, as the listener, hearing the story, shows that he is able to ascertain the moral that the tale is intended to express.
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Although some believe and others doubt the authenticity of the tale he's told, the narrator says he recounted the story so that his listeners, taking heed, may be "afraid to carol in a church or churchyard, especially against the priest's will," as "jangling is a form of
482:
The singers' carol contains three lines, the last of which appears to become the basis of their curse, as they are unable to leave the churchyard or to quit singing or dancing for a year after God curses them for their sacrilegious behavior:
295:. Near their destination, their provisions are nearly depleted, and the two city dwellers attempt to cheat the country man by telling him that whoever of them dreams the most extraordinary dream shall get the last of their bread.
374:
The third exemplum, "The Cursed
Dancers of Colbeck," is a prose, rather than a poetic, narrative. Like a mini-sermon, it preaches against wrong conduct—in this case, sacrilegious behavior. This tale has an identifiable author,
475:--madly, as a kind of challenge," and persisted in singing and dancing in the churchyard while the priest was trying to conduct Mass, despite his entreaties to them to stop, the priest calls upon God to
504:
Ayone takes the arm to his father. The priest tries, three times unsuccessfully, to bury the limb, but the grave casts it back, so the priest displays it inside the church. Everyone, including the
334:, but does not save any for Nedui, telling them that Nedui "would not eat honey even if he were here." Upon learning that he has been left out, Nedui avenges himself upon his master by telling the
27:
41:
275:), stories that illustrate a general principle or underscore a moral lesson: "The Two City Dwellers and the Country Man" and "The King's Tailor's Apprentice" (both from
312:
The country man says he dreamed the same things that his companions dreamed and, believing them to be forever lost, one to heaven and the other to hell, ate the bread.
86:
moral teachings, usually based on saints' lives or other people who exemplified a moral ideal. In some cases, an exemplum could be a symbolic natural phenomenon - like
74:, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point. The word is also used to express an action performed by another and used as an example or model.
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of the story: "The tailor deserved his punishment because if he had kept the precept of Moses, to love his brother as himself, this would not have happened to him."
19:
460:
567:
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In "The Two City
Dwellers and the Country Man," told by the father, the three traveling companions of the tale's title are on a
32:
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As the city dwellers sleep, the country man, alert to their intended deception, eats the half-baked bread before retiring.
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As a result of the curse, the dancers cannot stop singing and dancing; neither can they let go of one another's hands.
611:
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L'exemplum en pratiques : production, diffusion et usages des recueils d'exempla latins aux XIIIe-XVe siècles
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became a vivid satire on this genre. There were also notable lay writers of moral tales, such as the 13th-century
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659:
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It is also improper to dance in church, as the story that the narrator is about to tell demonstrates.
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The son's story recounts the story of a king's tailor's assistant, a youth by the name of Nedui.
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467:, an area in eastern Germany, just north of the present-day Czech border) decided, one
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634:, University of Toronto Press, Toronto; Buffalo; London, 2017, pp. 302–353, 342.
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548:, Volume I. Sarah Lawall (Gen. Ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006.
453:" are "forbidden" and sacrilegious, and "good priests" will not tolerate them.
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384:
376:
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141:(after 1225) were famous medieval collections aimed particularly at preachers.
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England in Europe: English Royal Women and
Literary Patronage, C.1000–C.1150
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The story starts by identifying several activities that are not allowed in
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One day while he is away, his master gives the other apprentices bread and
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and led before God by angels. The other says that angels escorted him to
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The city dwellers relate their made-up dreams. One says he was taken to
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441:, or summer games." In addition, "interludes or singing, beating the
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638:, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt1whm96v.14. Accessed 4 May 2020.
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When "twelve fools" in
Colbeck (or, as the editors' note explains, "
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truth," the narrator names the culprits and their victims and cites
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The son tells his father the moral of the story: "As it says in the
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To bolster his listener's belief that "most of" his tale is "the
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When he regains consciousness, the tailor asks the eunuch what
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Kratzmann, Gregory C.; Gee, Elizabeth, eds. (1 January 1988).
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351:
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110:
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392:. A prose version of it appears in the early 12th century
379:, who set down the story in the early fourteenth century.
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The
Dialogues of Creatures Moralysed: A Critical Edition
163:). Examples dealing with historical figures include:
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In late-medieval literature and sermons exempla were
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383:s version is translated by Lee Patterson from the
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410:under the literary influence of the nunnery at
25:
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402:, which in turn was probably taken from the
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28:Libro de los exemplos por a. b. c.
283:"The Two City Dwellers and the Country Man"
16:A moral anecdote used to illustrate a point
546:The Norton Anthology of Western Literature
528:change. Nor did they ever have relief..."
269:The Norton Anthology of Western Literature
575:. Vol. 2. Namur-Paris. p. 316.
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279:) and "The Cursed Dancers of Colbeck."
77:
647:
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493:Why are we waiting? Why don't we go?
121:, real history, or natural history.
490:With him he led the fair Mersewine.
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271:includes three exempla (singular,
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671:
487:By the leafy wood rode Bovoline,
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370:"The Cursed Dancers of Colbeck"
238:On the Fates of Illustrious Men
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249:The Book of the City of Ladies
157:Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena
148:The Miller's Prologue and Tale
101:Collections of exempla helped
94:as divine punishment for the "
1:
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445:, or piping. . . . while the
358:The father tells the son the
125:'s book of exempla, c. 1200,
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177:Lives of the Twelve Caesars
42:Clemente Sánchez de Vercial
10:
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524:didn't lengthen nor their
501:nor does she die from it.
404:Translatio Sanctae Edithae
58:(Latin for "example", pl.
626:“Edith Becomes Matilda.”
264:Three examples of exempla
105:preachers to adorn their
259:by various Tudor authors
221:The Legend of Good Women
66:= "for example", abbr.:
606:Archive. pp. 5–6.
566:Louis, Nicolas (2013).
323:"The King And His Wife"
256:Mirror for Magistrates
161:Tales of Count Lucanor
51:
26:
660:History of literature
400:William of Malmesbury
381:The Norton Anthology'
155:and the 14th-century
90:'s book depicting an
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395:Gesta Regum Anglorum
210:De viris illustribus
199:De viris illustribus
131:Les contes moralisés
78:Exemplary literature
277:The Scholar's Guide
632:Elizabeth M. Tyler
516:commemorating the
244:Christine de Pizan
133:(after 1320), and
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88:Etienne de Bourbon
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655:Wisdom literature
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437:: "carols,
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31: [
649:Categories
553:References
526:complexion
435:churchyard
433:or in the
289:pilgrimage
92:earthquake
534:sacrilege
439:wrestling
227:Boccaccio
168:Suetonius
139:Parabolae
115:folktales
423:Pope Leo
408:Goscelin
355:honey?"
273:exemplum
205:Petrarch
183:Plutarch
103:medieval
84:didactic
72:anecdote
56:exemplum
518:miracle
512:a holy
506:emperor
461:Kolbigk
317:proverb
216:Chaucer
119:legends
107:sermons
60:exempla
610:
479:them.
465:Saxony
447:priest
431:church
419:gospel
336:eunuch
303:heaven
194:Jerome
111:fables
636:JSTOR
630:, by
604:Brill
573:(PDF)
514:relic
477:curse
473:carol
463:, in
443:tabor
360:moral
352:crime
332:honey
293:Mecca
49:]
35:]
608:ISBN
451:mass
341:club
307:hell
235:and
98:".
68:e.g.
577:hdl
536:."
406:by
398:by
343:."
291:to
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54:An
40:by
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