Cheeks Are Not Enough
The story commences with a marriage. A duke has fallen in love, though of course the narrator puts things more poetically. Nevertheless, it will turn out that neither being fine or cheeky will prove enough for the duke in the long term, but it is enough to kickstart the story:
“There was a duke in Austria who married a very beautiful lady who had the complexion of a lily and cheeks like roses.”
Satan’s Stepbrother
The plot turns on the duke blaming his wife for having rosy enough cheeks, but a barren garden below. And so demands a divorce. Jumping head a little: the wife consorts with a fiend with the face of the husband and she winds up pregnant and gives birth to Gowther. Gowther is not a nice boy:
“We suspect that you are not Christian, but some fiend's son, perhaps, come to torment us. You devote yourself to evil, never to good, and behave like the devil's sibling.”
Remember, Dumb Means Mute
The story takes a strange twist when the fiendish Gowther learns the truth of his conception and decides to go straight. Anonymously battling off the advances of a lusty sultan intent on marrying the emperor’s daughter becomes an aspect of his salvation. The daughter’s state of being described here through metaphor will prove to be a vital plot point in this road to redemption:
“I have but one daughter,” said the emperor, “and she is as dumb as a stone, although she is as fair as the fairest.”
Dogged Pursuit of Penance
The process of penance is far from limited to battling for the empire and slicing off the head of sultans. Much less heroically, it also extends to eating only food that has been inside the mouth of a dog, and so:
“a greyhound brought him food each day, as though he were her pup.”
