'Minne, herre, waz ist das?': consequens, courtliness, and consent in Das Häslein

This essay examines the Middle High German Märe, Das Häslein (‘The Little Hare’). This comic tale weaves together two separate episodes with distinct generic associations: the first a fully-fledged fabliau, the second more fabular in tone. The interweaving of logical formula and moral instruction deftly represents the vibrant intertextuality of comic literature. Female voices prove to be essential conduits for the successful functioning of both moral and logical aspects of the poem. As such, considering the intersection of gender, speech, and silence as it appears in Das Häslein exposes the ways in which individual texts integrated different strands of writing in order to disrupt boundaries and ultimately to reinforce social mores and ideological systems.