Witty trick played by three students on an innkeeper, and what then befell them with four thieves.
Madrid: Despacho de Marés, 1873

The simple and unsophisticated images on these clearly printed items suggest that they may have been intended as a pair; one with a trick played by students, the other by women. In both cases the three images chosen give an approximation of the characters in the narratives. Both describe a “witty and entertaining trick” played upon an innocent victim; the first is an innkeeper. The text tells in detail of the plotting of a trick by the four students, so that there is an implied pleasure in the capacity of the reader to follow the reasoning of the plot-line. The come-uppance at the hands of four bandits is much more direct and violent than the initial trickery.

The second story tells of a nouveau riche recently arrived from the Americas, intent on marriage. He may have made his millions, but seems more than susceptible to two plotting women. The independence of the plotters – they make off with his money, buying themselves tickets to Paris – shows a model of an early ‘new woman’, and there is no apparent censure of their actions.

F180.b.8.1(126)
F180.b.8.1(128)