Le mort
Faicte voye vous aves tort Le cordelier Quest ce: que de vivre en ce monde. |
Death makes a last reply to the previous dancer, the shepherd: »Faicte voye vous aves tort sus bergier«.
The shepherd wasn't added before 1486 along with the pilgrim, the promotor and the jailor. In the original text and in the 1485 edition Death addressed the peasant / laborer: »Faictes voye: vous aves tort Laboureur«.
Something similar happens with the gendarme, who was also added in 1486.
The Franciscans were called "Cordeliers" because of the cord they used as a girdle. The cord had three knots symbolizing the three vows: Poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Le mort
Petit enfent na guere ne: Lenfant A. a. a. ie ne scay parler |
The child — somewhat contradictory — says he doesn't know how to talk: »A. a. a. ie ne scay parler«. He is a child and his tongue is dumb.
The child has almost the same line in Der Doten Dantz mit Figuren (to the right)": ».A.a. ich enkan noch nit sprechen / Hüde geborn hüde müß ich auffbrechen«.
The clever child is actually quoting Jeremiah 1,6: »And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child« (Douay-Rheims Bible).
The child's last line, »Als woill stirbet das iůnge als das alde«, is also a copy of the French, »Ainsi tost meurt ieune que vieulx«.(1)
Footnotes: (1)
Der Doten Dantz mit Figuren is from ca. 1486-88, and Heinrich Knoblochtzer has probably owned a copy of Guy Marchant's books.
Oosterwijk has also written a monograph on Death and the infant titled "Muoz ich tanzen und kan nit gân?". Much of Oosterwijk's work (including these two) is available on the Internet.