The Open Punchline as a Trap: How the ›Drei listige Frauen A‹ Trick their Audience

Abstract

The Märe ›Drei listige Frauen A‹ tells two stories in parallel. The first, overt story is about three women who, more or less, outwit their respective husbands in order to win the petty bet as to which of them will be the most cunning. The second, hidden story is about a, more or less, gullible audience which allows a dubious narrator to serve them up three highly improbable hoaxes. The open ending of the ostensible story, namely the undecided bet between the three women, which is left to the audience to decide, acts as a hinge between the two readings, turning a simple story into a complex game with truth and probability.