Mors de la Pomme, Princess

Princess

The empress in Lübeck participates in a long chain dance.

After the long introduction with the Fall, Death's mandate, the three arrows and Bible and sin, the proper sequence begins.

We now get confirmation that "Mors de la Pomme" differs from the traditional dance of death in that the participants are not gathered in one long chain dance (picture to the right), but that each individual is surprised by Death in his or her everyday life surrounded by friends, family and colleagues.

Death points out her intrusion by a play on words: As a noun "entremetz" means one or more side-dishes or desserts. As a reflexive verb it means to mediate or (when you're not invited) to meddle or interfere. Such a rhyme, where a word has two meanings, is called an "equivocal rhyme".

The princess seems to use puns herself. She says her "serfs" can see her even though there are no thrallbound serfs present. The word "serfs" leads to "asservie" (to enslave), which has nothing to do with serving, but perhaps is a retort to the words of Death about serving at the table. She continues with "those who have served me" and hopes she will be "served by the prayers".

"Asservie" and "servie" is an example of a "rich rhyme" (French: "rime riche") where it's not just the final syllable that rhymes.

As always there's a third verse from a witness who comments on the situation. In this case it's the head waiter, the maître d'hôtel:

Footnotes: (1)

Dances of death Various Mors de la Pomme Princess