DER FAHRENDE SCHÜLER IM PARADIES
(The Wandering Scholar from Paradise) by Hans Sachs.
Premiered about 1550. In this play, a peasant wife laments the passing of her late husband when a "scholar" (i.e., a student on semester break) appears at her doorway and asks for money. The scholar says he has left Paris not three days ago, but she misunderstands him to have said "Paradise" and not "Paris." She asks if he saw her husband there, and the student says he did indeed—and he needed boots, a good pair of trousers, and money. The wife provides her guest with a bundle of clothing and a pouch with 12 gulden. The scholar accepts both but says he needs money as well for his trip. She gives him more money and he departs. Her present husband then enters and asks her why she's singing so joyfully. She tells of her chance meeting with a scholar from Paradise and how she gave him money and clothing for her late husband. The husband immediately departs to find the scholar, vowing to beat him soundly. When he returns, he will beat his wife as well.
A curtain is pulled across the space, and the student stands before it, noticing a man on horseback coming his way. He hides the bundle behind the curtain as the peasant comes onstage, asking the scholar if he has seen a man burdened down with pack and guilt. The scholar says he has seen such a man, who ran directly into yonder bog. The peasant gives the scholar some coins and asks him to watch his horse as he departs into the bog looking for the miscreant. "Fair Fortune many thanks, and ease to ye, my weary shanks!" says the student, departing for the peasant's horse, which he intends to ride to a nearby inn called Paradise.
The curtain is then pulled back to reveal the peasant woman worrying about her husband, who has not returned for some time. The peasant enters from the side, and the wife asks if he found the "scholar from Paradise." He did, he says, and to speed him on his journey gave him his horse. The wife hugs her husband and praises him for his generosity and kindness.