Der zerbrochne Krug
by Heinrich von Kleist
Village Judge Adam faces the case of a broken jug brought to trial. The plaintiff, Marthe Rull, accuses Ruprecht, the fiancé of her daughter Eve, of violently entering her room and breaking the vessel. Ruprecht, in turn, claims to have seen an unknown stranger fleeing through a window. However, what no one suspects at first: none other than Village Judge Adam himself is the culprit. He had pressured Eve the night before, was surprised by Ruprecht, and in his escape knocked over the fateful jug. And although Adam becomes increasingly entangled in his web of lies throughout the trial, he tries until the end to shift the blame away from himself…
With overflowing wit, pointed dialogues, and a delight in exposing a hypocritical society, Heinrich von Kleist has created a bitterly funny comedy about lies and abuse of power.